帮助他人成功

With various commitments outside of school, including a whole design and photography business, Elizabeth Burgin ’21 MA-MFT has learned how to accept that sometimes you have to just roll with the punches.

皇冠体育：你为什么想从事助人的职业？ 你对婚姻和家庭治疗的热情是如何开始的？

SK: 我总是被帮助别人成功所吸引。 我的大脑在思考上也是非常抽象的，所以在我决定从事这个职业之前，我做了大约8年的设计师。 I don’t believe in black in white, which is part of my passion for marriage and family therapy, everything is a grey area depending on how you look at the situation.

皇冠体育：你想为什么样的人群工作？ 是什么吸引了你？

SK: 起初，我的工作重点是妇女和家庭暴力，但我也喜欢青少年群体。 在那个时期，他们真的经历了一个很大的变化。 Ultimately that’s the population I want to work with, people going through hard changes that need support because we’ve all been there.

“我觉得Mount Mercy有一个亲力亲为的方法，有一个很好的时间表，这将使我能够收集到我需要的信息，并以更快的方式完成它。”

皇冠体育: What attracted you to Mount Mercy’s Master’s in Marriage and Family Therapy program? What was your motivation for pursuing a master’s degree?

SK: When I was pursuing the option of a master’s degree, I was between school counseling, social work, and psychology. 最后，我觉得Mount Mercy有一种亲力亲为的方法，有一个很好的时间表，这将允许我收集我需要的信息，并以一种加速的方式完成它。 I wanted to change my life and fulfill my own passion for directly impacting people, which is how I ended up in Mount Mercy’s therapy program.

皇冠体育: How do you see yourself using the skills you’re building in the program? The program incorporates clinical hours—how has this impacted your experience?

SK: I see myself using all the skills I’m gaining here in practice, from the theory classes to the more specific classes that incorporate techniques, I know I’ll come across those scenarios in the therapy room. 我有机会和一个二年级的学生一起工作，在诊所获得一些客户，这将有助于我的技能发展。 它将把它从理论带到现实生活中。

皇冠体育: What’s the biggest challenge you’ve faced so far? 你是怎么克服的？ 慈悲山在这次挑战中是如何支持你的？

SK: 我想说，我所面临的最大挑战是我自己的怀疑。 我开始了这个项目，很多生活事件都发生在我身上。 最后，我去找了一位教授，询问我的学习进度，以及我的成绩是否达到了全班的水平。 那次谈话很重要，因为我需要知道教授的想法。 教授让我知道这只是一个艰难的过渡，但我正在做我需要做的事情，以达到班级的期望。

皇冠体育：哪一堂课让你印象深刻？ 你认为它为什么会影响你？ 有没有一个特定的人或项目让你更容易获得学位？

SK: 我记得在一堂精神病理学课上，我们谈到了阿片类药物使用障碍。 我发现这是一门非常吸引人的课程。 它挑战了我们对药物使用的看法。 I know in the last few years I’ve personally been noticing people out in public or on vacation that are struggling with opioid use. I think it’s fascinating that once again, America is treating the symptom and victimizing users instead of getting to our root cause or problem.

皇冠体育: You also are a professional photographer—how do you balance school and other commitments? 是什么帮助你做到这一点？

SK: 平衡是一种神话。 当我开始这个项目的时候，我在全职工作、摄影和几个委员会之间徘徊。 我很快意识到我需要一个优先级列表。 我坚持摄影，因为这是除了学习之外我最喜欢的事情。 This profession allows me to be flexible and work from home more than someone dealing with an 8–5 position. I would say the biggest thing I’ve done to manage is a written calendar. 我也有一个电子日历，上面有更大的任务，但每天写下一周内需要发生的事情对我完成工作很有帮助。

“平衡是一种神话。 当我开始这个项目的时候，我在全职工作、摄影和几个委员会之间徘徊。 我很快意识到我需要一个优先级列表。”

皇冠体育: What’s one piece of advice you would give to future students?

SK: 多接受一些。 这个项目会在很多方面挑战你。 从逻辑上讲，这将挑战你如何平衡你在课堂上的承诺。 在心理上，你会想要挖掘和发现更多的信息。 Emotionally, you might feel like you’re being battered by the hard things you’ll be learning, as well as just emotional bandwidth, sometimes you can only give so much. Overall, it will help if you just remember that this is just two years of your life, it’s so important, and that in the end, it’s worth the struggles. I know that for me right now it’s a lot of surrender. No giving in, but the kind that lets you just accept things you’re wrong about and things you’re not going to get to for a while.