Statement of Purpose PHD Clinical Psychology

Clinical Psychology PHD Personal Statement Service

The PHD Program in Clinical Psychology at ____ University is my first choice for studies towards the terminal degree in my chosen field for a variety of reasons including the location, especially the sheer excellence of your program. I feel drawn to the lab, and want to learn all about laboratory work following in the footsteps of the masters at ____, studying under Drs. Lowe, Kitzie, and Fox, in particular, who are doing what are for me especially exciting things in their labs that align closely with those aspects of Clinical Psychology that I have been most looking forward to exploring for some time. Since I live not far away from ____, I would have less time on the road and more for my studies. I also look forward to continuing my involvement in community activities in our area. Most recently, I have been giving considerable effort to assisting the organization Be The Change, among other organizations, involved in a range of humanitarian and social justice efforts in our community.

I especially appreciate how Sarah R. Lowe’s research focuses on the long-term psychological consequences of traumatic events, including natural and man-made disasters, community and interpersonal violence, and childhood abuse and neglect. I find her thoroughgoing treatment of the multiple ecological levels - from genetics to neighborhoods – to be especially compelling. Mark Kitzie’s work in the area of resiliency and assessment of cultural diversity in children is another of my major inspirations; especially as concerns the needs of bilingual children. 

I keenly look forward to a long lifetime of education and professional development centered around the subject of assessment of culturally diverse children. Jeremy K. Fox’s research interests, to cite another important example, include the developmental psychopathology of anxiety and depression, temperament and emotion regulation, screening and early intervention for childhood anxiety. I share these concerns for school-based mental health initiatives and programs. One of the projects that I have been dedicated to has been Dream Big, a young women’s leadership initiative for at risk youth from multiracial and multilingual families who receive housing assistance from our coalition partner. We employed several mentorship and education activities to empower these young women, helping them to reflect critically on their futures and the challenges they face. We organized people and resources to address issues in disadvantaged communities with the goal of improving community health intervention outcomes. We do a lot of homelessness relief, adopting vacant lots in urban areas, for example, turning them into gardens for families, raising food for the community on space reclaimed from drug dealers.

The daughter of immigrants from a small village in Brazil, life was hard for my parents as I was growing up; often, this made things difficult for me as well. Looking back, however, while it was always a struggle to make ends meet, until we got the terrible surprise news that my older brother had a mental illness, Bipolar Disorder, we were actually quite happy. He was all set to be the first member of the family to attend college – and this illness all but put an end to his hopes and dreams of professional success. While there are several reasons why I have chosen to build my own career in Psychology, my brother’s Bipolar Disorder is one of the most prominent and readily identifiable.

When my brother became ill, we had limited to no knowledge about mental illness; let alone the cognizance to navigate an exasperating mental health system and access much needed resources. For this reason, it often felt as though mental illness was the front runner and my family stood no chance. Since then, I have learned as much as I can about mental illness and I realize that we are far from alone, as countless individuals and their families grapple with the grip of mental illness and the great challenges that arise in its wake.

I have learned a great deal from the young women and girls at Dream Big, most of them from multicultural immigrant families, 10-17 years of age; it was a great privilege for me to assist in the development and implementation of the curriculum. Here began my focus, the center of my life’s work: trauma and resilience. I am especially excited about the prospect of examining the lingering influences of trauma in childhood, in light of cultural and other contextual considerations. I plan to always foster resilience as an integral part of my work for positive mental health outcomes and frameworks for appropriate, evidence-based interventions for at risk-youth. As a doctoral student, among a vast array of related topics, I hope to spend a lot of energy on the study of gaps, deficits, unequal care provided to different groups and why, along with possibilities for alternative care options for economically challenged communities.

I thank you for considering my application to Clinical Psychology at ____ University.

Statement of Purpose PHD Clinical Psychology