2. Personal Statement I spent seven years active duty in the United States Army. I enlisted as a Mental Health Specialist (MHS) and underwent nine months of intense training to help me prepare for this field. My first duty station was Taegu, South Korea. My first day there, I realized that I was the only MHS within a 75 mile radius and the closest mental health professional was almost 200 miles away in Seoul. The last MHS was transferred over a month before I arrived, so I walked into the situation blindly. While I was in-processing, I was informed that there was a soldier in need of my services. The soldier was at my office (that I had not seen yet) awaiting my arrival. At that time, I was 19 years old, one day into a 12-month tour in a foreign country, and on my way to counsel my first client. I still remember how nervous I felt as the taxi drove me to my new office. When I arrived, the soldier was sitting in the lobby awaiting my arrival. I could tell that he had been crying as his eyes were red, and his face was still moist from the tears. I think that I was more nervous than he was. He did not know that I was a new soldier, directly out of training, with very little experience with “real” patients. I applied what I had learned from my training in the session. The soldier was very grateful for the service that he received for his acute issue and we scheduled a follow-up appointment for the next week. Through that experience, I grew tremendously. My fears of whether I was able to help people in need had become greatly reduced. I realized that the soldiers that I treated were in the same situation that I was in. In most cases, they were reacting normally to abnormal situations. My fears, uncertainties, and desires did not matter during that first client interaction. What mattered were his, thoughts, feelings, and well-being. I was very thankful for that situation as it paved the way for the following 6 years of service to my fellow soldiers and their family members.
3. Personal Statement continued… Those experiences in the Army encouraged me to continue to pursue a professional career in the psychology field. My educational goal is to become an Industrial/Organizational (I/O) Psychologist. I want to help employees and the organizations that they work for. I believe that my experiences as a MHS, which was more in the realm of counseling psychology, has given me great insight into the art of helping others on a personal level. Maximizing the workforce, encouraging growth, talent management, organizational development, and maintaining a work-life balance are all important aspects of what I want to help an organization that I believe in, achieve. One of the most important aspects of I/O Psychology is the organization in which I will be helping. In the current state of the economy and un-employment, I believe that it is important to help the right companies achieve greater results. The companies that respect their employees and believe in their products are the ones to begin with. Consulting is another large part of I/O Psychology that I am intrigued by. Consulting may give me the upper hand in choosing which companies that I would like to work for in order to help them maximize or change their ways of conducting business. An important aspect of my personality is helping people. Regardless of the scale in which this is accomplished, service to people is greatly overlooked in our society. I am not naïve enough to believe that I can create change on a great scale, but I do believe that I can be part of the change that I wish to see.
5. Reflection The growth that I attained during my tenure at Argosy University has been more than I could have hoped for. Before I attended Argosy, I had no idea that APA was an actual writing style rather than simply the American Psychiatric Association. Although I had already attained experience in the mental health field during my time in the Army, the courses at Argosy helped me to strengthen what I already had learned. On a critical thinking level, I am better equipped to formulate opinions on a wide range of psychological perspectives and theories. I can assess a given topic from multiple perspectives and systematically analyze and appraise the complexities of a given issue. I have also gained significant exposure to research methods and am currently able to summarize research designs, statistical and evaluative tools, and findings within articles. Writing APA-style papers every week allowed me the opportunity to become very confident in my writing abilities. Formal writing can be very intimidating at first, as it was for me. The instructors at Argosy helped me to strengthen my technique and raise my confidence level when writing such papers. Ethics play a very important role in the field of psychology. Every decision made can have ethical ramifications tied to it. Decision-making must always be filtered through a strong ethical lens. In an ever-changing society, diversity is more important now than ever before. Maintaining a multicultural viewpoint enables me to constantly be mindful of others and their beliefs. My personal bias must be accounted for at all times, and awareness is in the uppermost of my mind. The history of psychology lays a foundation to grow from. As time passes, innovations are being made in this field. Theories and practices are tweaked to keep up with technology and the changing culture that we all live in. Applying basic psychological principles in my daily life has allowed me to stay focused and eager to learn. Psychology is in everything that we do, applying what I have learned over the past few years has me wanting to learn more as time goes on.
6. Table of Contents Cognitive Abilities: Critical Thinking and Information Literacy Research Skills Communication Skills: Oral and Written Ethics and Diversity Awareness Foundations of Psychology Applied Psychology Interpersonal Effectiveness **Include work samples and projects with a Title Page and organized accordingly to demonstrate each of the Program Outcomes above
14. My Future in Learning Staying humble is the key to being a lifelong learner for me. The minute that I think that I know it all is when I stop learning. I know that I have a lot to learn in all aspects of my life. If I can keep that in the forefront of my mind, I believe that I can continue to grow as an individual. I understand that I can learn something from every situation that I may find myself in. Obstacles are God's way of teaching us. There is a purpose for every action that I take or do not take. There is a behavior behind every thought and belief. Keeping up with it all may be difficult at times, but I must in order to continue this journey of growth. I can be my own worst enemy or better yet, my greatest asset. Staying humble will get me where I need to be.
15. Contact Me Thank you for viewing my ePortfolio. For further information, please contact me at the e-mail address below. akashmansingh@yahoo.com
