DMU 2026 Testimonial: Sara Benes

0:08Hi. My name is Sarah Benish. I'm from Lincoln, Nebraska originally, and I came to DMU mostly mostly I found DMU when I was a junior in college. And I didn't really know if grad school was for me. I didn't know what my next step would be. I had some people tell me ask me if I considered counseling, multiple times in my life, but it wasn't something that I really thought that I wanted to do because I thought the profession would be very depressing and sad, and I didn't think that that was something that I could do long term. But I met I encountered Divine Mercy University at a student leadership summit in Arizona in 2019 and got to know the program very well. The decision to enroll at CMU was very easy for me.

1:04I it was everything that I was looking for in a psychology program postgraduate. I wanted to I wanted something with a Catholic perspective, and just also to be able to cater to any population and also applying the Catholic Christian meta model of the person was a huge pull for me as well. I really I really enjoyed my time at DMU, and one of the one of the big pulls for me financially speaking was receiving discounted tuition, because of my time in FOCUS as a university student. I was actually involved in some FOCUS bible studies. So when I was going through the enrollment process, a staff member told me if you were involved in FOCUS, you actually get a discount on tuition, and so that was extremely helpful.

1:53I would have gone to DMU regardless, but financially speaking, that piece was extremely helpful to me. It was a huge blessing just as I was, you know, navigating grad school, you know, navigating life in general, and then ultimately graduating. Postgraduate life, I'm currently working I just started working at a, Christian practice in Lincoln, Nebraska, so I'm serving the community that I grew up in, the community that I was raised in, and that's kind of where I could see myself staying. And I also have opportunities. I'm getting involved with a colleague and just other nonprofits. Nonprofit, we're getting the opportunity eventually to travel abroad, and getting involved with the Green Cross, as well.

2:42Getting extra trauma training through DMU has been extremely helpful. So not only am I able to fulfill just my dream of working with people, getting to know the human person and in my community, but I also will get opportunities to kind of take what I've learned and experienced and kind of take that abroad too, which is kind of what I've always wanted to do, in a sense. So I have my home base here, but I can also apply that other places. And so that's been really fulfilling for me just as a human being and an aspiring therapist as well.