Kansas State University

After I graduated with a master’s degree in May 2006, I moved to Phoenix to work at the Youth Development Institute, a residential treatment center for at-risk children where my therapeutic specialty was working with clients with problem sexual behaviors.  These behaviors range from sexually reactive behaviors due to trauma to people that have committed sexual crimes.

My amazing major professor, the late Tony Jurich, introduced me to this field. I chose K-State y specifically to work with him. My passion has always been working with adolescents and their families. Through my work with Tony and an internship through Riley County Community Corrections I was able to begin working with adolescents with sexualized behaviors.

Not only was he my major professor, but he was a friend, a father figure and my mentor.  He reminded me to take the things I was passionate for and to make them a reality for myself.  He taught me it is okay to laugh and smile with your clients.  He taught me that the most important thing that my clients will take from me is the relationship and the way I treated them.  I laughed with Tony, I cried with Tony and strive each day to make him proud of me.  I know he is watching over me and I hope I am doing right by him.

I count my three years at Kansas State as the best in my life.  The relationships I created at KSU have lasted well beyond graduation.  I found happiness and joy in doing what I loved to do each day.

Candy Russell challenged me consistently.  She encouraged me to step out of my comfort zone and gain new experiences.  The experiences she challenged me to seek out made me understand my clients much more.  She taught me that although I will not always directly understand what a client may be going through, if I allow myself to be open their stories and their struggles I may learn and grow with them.

Mark White challenged my brain in ways that I would sometimes like to forget.  Learning the DSM is definitely challenging, but Mark did his best to make it fun for us.  Nancy O’Connor was beyond amazing; she told us over and over, “process over content.”  When I catch myself listening to stories and the same information over and over in a session, I hear Nancy’s voice in my head and I am able to pull myself away from the content and focus on the process of what is happening.

I worked with more than 100 children in my six and a half years at YDI.  There I developed relationships with court officials, probation officers and others that specialize in this field.  It was a difficult decision to leave but I was offered a job at The Resolution Group where I now an outpatient therapist doing what I love on my own terms.

I have more fulfillment with my clients and I have learned the healthy balance of work and personal time.  I am encouraged to create new programs and to try new techniques.  I am currently creating a program for children with autism and developmental delays with sexualized behaviors and a training program for therapeutic foster parents who work with this population. I also teach Psychology of Human Sexuality at Paradise Valley Community College as an adjunct professor.