Psychology is my second career. Although I now recognize that my interest in psychology extends well into my childhood, during high school I thought I wanted to be a doctor because I was fascinated by learning how organisms worked. I entered Harvard on a pre-med track but soon discovered that my interest was more in research. After taking a year to work as a biologist’s assistant in Panama, I entered graduate school and received a Ph.D. in evolutionary biology from the University of California at Berkeley in 1995 (my dissertation was on the evolutionary relationships of toads).

I first moved to Austin for a postdoctoral fellowship at the University of Texas, and then moved on to Chicago for a tenure-track job as a research scientist at the Field Museum. However, by then I was having serious doubts about biology and secretly wanted to explore my passion for psychology (especially therapy). Since I felt comfortable in Austin, I took a leave of absence from my job and returned. Later that year I took the plunge, resigning from my job and enrolling in the graduate program in clinical psychology at UT. My mentor was Jamie Pennebaker, and with him I explored my interests in the mind-body connection and the use of expressive writing to heal both psychologically and physically. For my dissertation, I explored the benefits of expressive writing for adult children of divorce. I also pursued training with a wide variety of therapeutic models and populations.

Although going through graduate school twice is not something I would necessarily recommend, in my case it was exactly what I needed to do to explore my interests and end up in a profession I love. An additional benefit is that my own career experiences help me counsel others who are struggling with their own career dilemmas.