WEBVTT 00:00:00.066 --> 00:00:03.856 A:middle >> I'm Mark Pettishenauk [assumed spelling] and I'm a licensed psychologist and the director 00:00:03.856 --> 00:00:07.396 A:middle of student counseling and psychological services at Augusta University in Georgia. 00:00:07.756 --> 00:00:13.606 A:middle It's really a career in which you learn about other people and you learn about what matters 00:00:13.606 --> 00:00:18.946 A:middle to them, what's not going well in their life and you use your training and expertise and research 00:00:19.426 --> 00:00:29.826 A:middle to enter into their life and through therapy and to help transform them and their path forward 00:00:30.286 --> 00:00:33.536 A:middle so that they're in a place where their life is more worth living. 00:00:33.536 --> 00:00:36.806 A:middle Where they're not struggling, where they're really ultimately becoming the person they're 00:00:36.806 --> 00:00:39.866 A:middle meant to be and to try to figure out what's preventing them from doing that. 00:00:39.956 --> 00:00:42.546 A:middle You know, what it means to be a psychologist in that setting is that you need 00:00:42.546 --> 00:00:44.646 A:middle to a very strong general practitioner. 00:00:44.646 --> 00:00:50.616 A:middle You need to be able to be very comfortable with diagnosing, assessing, 00:00:50.616 --> 00:00:55.846 A:middle treating and really developing relationships with any type of issue and any type of person 00:00:55.846 --> 00:01:01.436 A:middle and from all walks of lives, international students, from simple adjustment disorders 00:01:01.436 --> 00:01:04.676 A:middle and anxiety up to pretty severe debilitating mental illness. 00:01:04.676 --> 00:01:08.356 A:middle And you need to be able to do that pretty fluidly throughout the day 00:01:08.356 --> 00:01:12.486 A:middle in which you might have group therapy, couple's therapy, individual therapy with varying degrees 00:01:12.486 --> 00:01:16.886 A:middle and severity and acuity of concerns and then go do an outreach presentation, 00:01:17.166 --> 00:01:20.306 A:middle go do some prevention work and then a crisis might walk in the door. 00:01:20.576 --> 00:01:25.676 A:middle The most common things students come in and work with and address are depression, 00:01:25.676 --> 00:01:28.746 A:middle anxiety and relationship concerns. 00:01:28.786 --> 00:01:33.526 A:middle Depression and anxiety are each kind of umbrella categories. 00:01:33.526 --> 00:01:38.306 A:middle I mean, there are probably dozens of specific disorders within depression and within anxiety. 00:01:38.466 --> 00:01:44.116 A:middle So, as the director I'm really -- I'm really the liaison and main contact. 00:01:44.116 --> 00:01:48.296 A:middle If anything mental health related to any student at any given time. 00:01:48.706 --> 00:01:53.566 A:middle So, a lot of times I will get, you know, contacts from various dean's offices 00:01:53.566 --> 00:01:57.266 A:middle or faculty members about how do we manage this particular student. 00:01:57.296 --> 00:02:00.726 A:middle Maybe they're engaging in some -- they've had a conduct violation, they've done something 00:02:00.726 --> 00:02:04.006 A:middle that technically is a behavior issue, but they also kind of know 00:02:04.006 --> 00:02:07.276 A:middle that this person has a mental health disability and they're thinking, well, 00:02:07.276 --> 00:02:09.006 A:middle can I -- you know, how do I handle that? 00:02:09.006 --> 00:02:11.406 A:middle Do I have the right to give this person a sanction or am I going 00:02:11.406 --> 00:02:12.836 A:middle to be discriminating against them. 00:02:13.296 --> 00:02:16.556 A:middle So, in that way I'm kind of a mental health consultant at large 00:02:16.556 --> 00:02:18.776 A:middle for the university any time it relates to a student. 00:02:18.956 --> 00:02:22.196 A:middle So, any given day I don't know what I'm going to get. 00:02:22.196 --> 00:02:22.976 A:middle It keeps things exciting.