Hi! My name is Daniel Holmes and I am a second degree (Psychology) student at Old Dominion University (ODU). I previously graduated from ODU in 2013 with a Bachelor degree in Electrical Engineering. Shortly after graduation I began working as a civil servant, and have been working full-time since. 

After a few years working for the government, and maturing a little…. I found a new passion in reading topics on psychology. After quite a lot of amateur research into the field, I decided to set a long-term goal of becoming a Clinical Psychologist, and getting my undergraduate degree was the first step! I am likely going to pursue the Pys.D path for my graduate studies; however, that is still open for debate as take more classes, interact with professors/advisors, and possibly conduct undergraduate research.

Clinical Psychology interests me because you are able to help individuals through situations which usually requires a lot of critical thinking. Another reason I am interested in Clinical Psychology is because the focus is solely on the patient; sometimes people just need someone to talk to, or someone to listen to them, other times they may need a diagnosis of some kind, with methods for treatment. As a Clinical Psychologist it is your duty to serve the person(s) in front of you. Similar to my job as a civil servant I can apply the same attitude in a different setting. 

I am taking the Social Psychology course because the topic is of interest to me, and could have a significant affect on my future career as a Clinical Psychologist. As an example, although a patient may volunteer to go to a Clinical Psychologist, there are likely some social factors that are involved that may affect the perception the client has on the Clinical Psychologist and how they think/feel/behave in the clinical setting. I am interested to learn if there are scientific studies based on these topics, and how to prevent potential social influences in that particular environment. Being able to understand what influences can/will occur will assist me to better help the patient by allowing me to consider them in my interactions.

So… this has turned in to more than a paragraph, but after all… it is my page 🙂