Career Reflection on Psychology Content, Ethics and Diversity

Shania Kelly

Dr. Lisa Grinde

Senior Seminar
 The Loras College Psychology program has taught me some major life skills, such as

communicating and articulating important scientific findings properly, not only in spoken words

but in writing as well. I learned how to do research via participating in and performing various

research studies throughout my four years. These skills will allow me to enter the real-world job

market someday and practice them in the psychology realm of counseling psychology. Upon

graduating from Loras College in December of 2021, I will take the learned skills developed at

during my time here and apply them to a master’s program and eventually in a doctoral program

in order to practice counseling psychology. Getting my bachelor’s degree in psychology at Loras

College has taught me how to be successful in the field, apply various ethics principles, and how

to work with those who come from varying backgrounds and around the world.

While the core classes for the degree in psychology at Loras College help students

develop a general understanding of the major, there are also many diverse electives which can

help people explore the major in a deeper manner and understand their personal, psychological

interests. By taking remarkably diverse classes of my choosing, I was able to gain a substantially

wider variety of career interests and knowledge of what all the areas of psychology really consist

of and study. At Loras, I was able to take cross-cultural psychology, human sexuality, social

psychology and physiological psychology—just to name a few. While all these classes are

psychologically based, I learned how diverse the field is and what I enjoyed and disliked within

the study of psychology. Of all of my classes, cross-cultural psychology was the most life-

changing for me—never before had I considered the large impact societies could have on one

another’s mental health diagnosis and just how different places and people studied, felt, and

understood mental illness in general. My biggest take away from this course was American

influences—such as realizing just because America seems to have more advancements and a
higher status in the world, does not mean Americans understand the suffering of someone in

another culture nor do we understand everything in the realm of psychology as a whole—there is

still an abundance of research to be done and a lot to learn regardless of current advancements.

Human sexuality was one of my absolute favorite classes I took in college because of its

uncomfortable yet stellar discussions within the classroom. In this class, I learned just how

different each person is and how important it is for all of us to accept each other and take care of

those in need of stability. While the class covered a variety of topics, from gender identity to

sexual violence, I found it powerful that the professor made the classroom a safe and open space

from day one, and if someone was caught breaking the rules—they were removed from the class

indefinitely. While this was instilled because of the topics involved, I find this to be necessary

and something all classrooms and psychology spaces should adopt because people should always

feel comfortable saying what they feel and think within the classroom without receiving ridicule

or judgement from their classmates.

Social psychology taught me how fun and unique psychology can be and how

psychologists assess human actions and norms. This class supplied me with a large toolbox of

research techniques since much of the research done in social psychology is usually performed in

a natural setting versus a laboratory setting as to not disturb a person’s natural habits and

reactions to events.

Finally, physiological psychology gave me a deeper insight on how interested I was on

brain health and how various brain illnesses could affect the person’s overall health and function.

This class was the moment neuroscience and psychology fell together for me and gave me a rush

of endorphins in my mind with all the connections I was making and the breakthroughs
happening in my college career. This class lead me to desire a doctorate in counseling

psychology.

Psychology is a very versatile field and explains so much of human nature and begs to

answer all of life’s whys. I like to humor a future where we can fully understand why someone

may feel, act, or do something a different way than the others in a population. I imagine a time

when we can help to change unwanted behavior through practical, healthy and sustainable

products and services. Lastly, within a psychology program, having a diverse groups of

professionals is very important and Loras does a great job hiring professors who all come from

varying psychology backgrounds, so students get the most out of their studies and unique

electives can be offered.

The psychology ethics code is like the bible to psychologists, and while all the principles

constructed in this book will be relevant as a counseling psychologist—for the purpose of this

paper I will focus on the on the ethical principles I believe relate most to my current life and will

carry over into my future career. I will outline and give personal examples of principles A, D,

and E, respectively.

First, principle A: beneficence and nonmaleficence (doing good and avoiding harm)

states psychologists will take care and do no harm to their patients, researchees, or communities.

As someone who has struggled with others not understanding my mental health challenges, when

helping someone suffering from a severe mental illness, I would ensure I am not causing any

greater harm by serving them incorrectly or cueing triggers for them. This goes along with the

next statement of safeguarding patient welfare. I want to run a clinic where each person feels

safe and can say anything while trusting me from day one and are aware, I will only do things

out of their best interest. This means I will always take care of them first, even if that means I
will have to find another person to help them because I cannot give them the full energy and

knowledge they deserve and need. When working with a patient, if there is a problem which

abstains me from giving the best care possible, I need to find a responsible way to fix the issues

and then return to a mindset where I can take care of my patients in a professional manner. As a

well-educated and opinionated person, I need to be sure I never force my beliefs onto another

human. I need to protect the personal, financial, social, organizational, and political factors of

myself and my clients. Lastly, principle A states I should strive to be aware of my own physical

and mental health to be able to help those whom I serve. This is extremely important to me

because I have struggled with both my mental and physical health in the past and am still

learning how to know when I need a break and beneficial coping strategies—even psychologists

need psychologists.

Next, principle D: Justice; especially in our current world climate, justice is very

pertinent. I want to make sure all persons have access to the benefits psychology holds. I also

want to take necessary precautions to ensure that any potential biases I may hold, boundaries of

clients psychology competence and the limitations of their expertise do not condone unjust

practices; it is my job to educate, learn and sever those in need. This principle is very important

in the current world because of the call to end systematic racism, the ongoing pandemic, and

excessive personal isolation. As riots and civil unrest occur throughout the country, it is

important to understand the increasing negative impacts which can occur to these populations as

people take to the streets to fight for the rights of themselves and their neighbors. It is important

to hold my old thoughts and opinions of the world climate while keeping my thoughts out of

therapy sessions. I am someone who believes we should empathize with someone when we can
while keeping our own thoughts and opinions out of the conversation when they are our client

because the session is not about me, it is about the client—and their needs—entirely.

The last principle, E: respect for people’s rights and dignity. All people deserve to be

treated equal and with genuine respect—regardless of their past—when they walk through the

door of my office. As a counselor, it is my job to respect the dignity and worth of all people, the

rights of individual’s privacy, confidentiality, and self-determination. This statement means it is

my job to help those who walk into my office with the struggles they wish to share while keeping

their statements private and confidential all the while allowing them to determine where they

want their counseling to lead them. When it comes to privacy and confidentiality, sometimes it

must be broken to care for the client—such as if they are considering harming themselves,

someone who can protect them should be notified because it is outside of my job. Self-

determination is important because the person is coming to counseling to accomplish their

mental health goals with my help. While I may hold my own goals for each client, it is important

not to push my own agenda. The final part of this principle states, the counselor should be aware

and respect their clients cultural, individual, and role differences. I will understand and respect

the client and counselor relationship, sharing personal stories only when it will help build a

relationship with the person and not using sessions to work through any of my personal

problems. I may also be responsible for helping those in very different age ranges than me, some

of different genders and gender identities, race, ethnicity, culture, national origin, religion, sexual

orientation, someone with a disability, language and socioeconomic statuses. This is where my

Loras education has prepared me the most. I am ready to learn about other religions, cultures,

races, ethnicities, etc. in order to help those who come to me and in turn learn from their personal

experiences and understand how these differing things may affect them.
 A crucial part of being a counselor is being able to work with those who are different

than me and come from various backgrounds. As a counselor, I want to avoid judging someone

by their looks, living situation or first impression. Loras College has prepared me for a positive

future serving those like me and those different than me. Coming from a very small, mostly-

white, liberal Iowa town—I understood what it meant to support those who are different than me,

but I never really saw it play out in real life. Upon coming to Loras, I realized how diverse and

different each and every street, neighborhood, and lifestyles could be in a singular town. After

being in Dubuque for almost four years, 2020 has really shown me what it means to fight for

those who are minorities and those willing to give everything just to be treated as an equal. I

recognize my privilege and I realize people of color fight every day to be considered equal. This

year, I have taken a lot of time to reflect upon the ways I could help and change to fight for those

who are not like me. I have also spent a lot of time considering how all of this can affect one’s

mental health, whether a person of color or someone taking a front-line stance for them, getting

attacked and tear-gassed in the process. Cross-cultural psychology taught me just how much the

western culture effects other countries mental health outcomes and diagnoses. In human

sexuality, I was able to learn how one’s differing sexuality and gender descriptions can

drastically affect their mental health because of the stigma surrounding “abnormacly”. Without

many people understanding how fluid gender and sexuality is, one can feel they need to hide

their identity because they are worried about what could happen to them if they were to out

themselves. Hiding one’s true feelings can cause adverse mental health effects as well. Finally,

my involvement in Psi Chi has allowed for me to work and plan with people who work with a

large population and view the world differently than I do. My most recent experience was

planning to work with the Saint Mark’s Youth Enrichment Program. I was able to plan activities
and programs to teach young minds about the brain and psychology—just a few of the things I

am most passionate about.

My time at Loras College gave me a more diverse hometown for four years and taught

me to work with those who have not lived the same life as me. In my 22 years on Earth, my four

spent in Dubuque Iowa have prepared me the most for my future career as a counseling

psychologist and has shown the raw, and very real, adversity. Getting my bachelor’s degree in

psychology at Loras College has taught me how to be successful in the field, apply various ethics

principles, and how to work with those who come from varying backgrounds and around the

world. I feel prepared to apply the ethics code to my job and the rest of my studies to prepare to

help those in need in the future.