MSP Webinar and Q&A Session with Alumna Emily Leedom

0:05Welcome. I am Maria Elise Dunlap. I am the admissions advisor for the master's in psychology program at Divine Mercy University. Some of the really awesome aspects that we want you to know right away, as I get into this is that our master's in psychology program is 100% online and there is no GRE required for our master's program. So here's a little table of contents for us as we go through this program. We are going to start with a little bit about DMU. I'm going to introduce you a little bit more to the program, we're going to dive a little bit deeper into some of the, aspects of the program, we'll introduce you to the faculty, we'll go over some of those acceptance requirements to the program, we'll go through some of the next steps for when you're ready to think about applying or make that, that leap to apply and then scholarship opportunities.

1:03And throughout this whole journey that we're gonna go on tonight, Emily is going to interject at different points and share some of her story, which Emily actually right now before we even get into this, and go through this, I'd love for you to take a minute to introduce yourself and share, what you're doing and maybe just kind of like just a quick how your MSP from DMU really was the catalyst for you getting into your position. Yeah. I'd love to. So Emily Liedam. I'm from Sioux Falls, South Dakota. I am currently the executive director of the Lourdes Center, which is primarily a counseling clinic, but we do a lot of programs and education presentation, that sort of thing. I graduated from the master's program in 2019.

1:50I started when I was pregnant with my first baby and finished holding my second baby, excuse me, which was just such a gift to kind of, yeah, get into the get into the, student mode as I was growing my family and all that kind of stuff too. So, I, as the executive director, I really oversee our agency. So, I have, nine staff underneath me. Some of them are clinicians. Some of them are, kind of front desk administrative people, and we really work to really to fulfill and carry out DMU's mission, but on a local level. So, I'm sharing with Maria you ahead of time. If you were to look at our mission statement for the Lord Center, it sounds a whole lot like DMUs because I was just super formed by my experience of DMU.

2:41It made a lot of sense to me. And so now we're working to carry that out here in the Diocese of Sioux Falls. So in a nutshell, we integrate the best of the psychological sciences with a Catholic vision of the human person in the service of human flourishing. So really that desire to help people, step more deeply into who God has created them to be, and to discover, yeah, the process of healing along the way. And so by integrating, what we know of the human person with that Catholic vision, yeah, we're just seeing, great fruits and great growth, here at the Lord Center through kind of the integration of this mission, which I really received, from DMU. I I should probably, like, give credit or something like that on our website.

3:22Like, hey. I stole this from Divine Mercy. Yeah. I've just been really formed by it. So That's awesome. Awesome. Well, I am so grateful you're here, and I'm sure that everyone who's on this webinar and the people are gonna watch this webinar, after we send it out again, you know, in a few weeks that everyone's gonna be so appreciative to all the things that you're sharing with us and bringing to the table. And so I I thank you for being here. You bet. Alright. Well, let's go ahead and get started here. So DMU is a Catholic graduate university that's actually comprised of two different schools, the Institute of the Psychological Sciences, which began in 1999. And then in 2014, under IPS, the MS in Psychology was added.

4:04Then in 2015, the School of Counseling was added and that's when it was time to take on a new name, Divine Mercy University. So DMU is accredited by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Colleges to award master's and doctorate degrees. So that is like we are in the same league as big name colleges that you may know, like Duke, Georgia Tech. So just so you know, we are accredited. Even though we might be a smaller school, we definitely have that same accreditation. And then DMU was also formed, chartered, and established in the Commonwealth Of Virginia in 1998. So how is our master's in psychology different than other degrees? And Emily, you know, I can go through this list of why you know DME is different.

4:56You know we have distributed learning that's you know has an asynchronous style which we'll get into a little bit more but essentially you'll use your own time management skills to fit your coursework into your schedule. We have amazing faculty members that are well known in the field that are so passionate that they, you know, saw a gap and wanted to make sure that we're infusing everything single student with such a strong psychology, that they're able to be transformational leaders. What you learn, you're gonna be able to directly relate to your life professionally and personally. And then every single class, the DMU is infused with that Catholic Christian meta model of the human person, which is looking through every single course that you take through that lens of faith and upholding people to the dignity that God created them to.

5:43So those are some of the four key things, but Emily, from your perspective as being a student, as now being, you know, a professional working, in Sioux Falls with marriage and families. What are some of the things that you would say that set DMU apart from other opportunities? Yeah. I think the two things that landed me at DMU, Number one was, how the class structure was ordered. So it was kind of this this process of eight week classes at a time. And so for me, I was working full time. Like I said at the beginning, I was pregnant with our first baby. And by the time I finished was holding our seconds, it allowed me as a full time working mom, to to do it. And I honestly just don't know that I would have been able to to do it any other way.

6:32I think it it set a really helpful pace, for me knowing that I wanna go back to school. And at that point in my life, it just set a really helpful pace for me to be able to do it. So, that was the the number, one of the first things. And then probably the most important thing for me was really that integration piece. So as I was looking at the course curriculum and the classes that were gonna be offered, the way in which each of them integrated, like you said, like you alluded to that Catholic vision of the human person. I just found that super attractive and super helpful, because I didn't wanna have to sort through, I didn't wanna have to sort through truth, you know, not that I'm not willing to to dig or or anything like that.

7:15But there was just this this joy in this experience of knowing that the professors that were teaching me were aligned in in a vision of the human person in in an authentic way of what it really means to be human. So the integration piece was, was super helpful, and knowing that I wasn't gonna be, being trained in things that were contrary to what was good for the human person, was was super a selling point for me. That's awesome. Yeah. I when I, like, share a few, I'm like, it's holistic with the w. Like, it's like the whole thing, which is super awesome. You definitely alluded to that. Thank you for sharing and adding that. And I just realized too, I didn't tell the people that came on maybe after I made this announcement that if there are any questions that you have as we go through, please be sure to put them in the chat or in the question and answer, and we'll make sure that we get to them, as we go.

8:11Yeah. Amanda, she also feels like the CCNP was a huge selling point for her as well. It is so important. And then, Antonia, you have a question about the application deadlines and we'll get to that as we go through the program towards, that part of of, the webinar. So in these next three slides, we're going to share with you some of the benefits, of the master's in psychology program and some of the advanced skills that you may receive through this program. And Emily, I mean, I would love for you to jump in at any point. I'm just gonna kind of pick a few of these to talk about and you know what other ones do you feel like have been really strong for you graduate as a graduate. I'd really love for you to share that.

8:53So you know that first one the analyzing the major concepts theories and methodologies in psychology this is a very very strong psychology program that is infused with the Catholic Christian Meta Model of the Human Person. So you are getting that very holistic psychology. Also you'll be able to evaluate evaluate critically your own biases, assumptions, attitudes, and their effect on your decision making, planning, communication, working in teams, all all the things that we do. And Emily, I mean, I think you kind of even alluded to that as you were just sharing, about some of the healing that you went through. Like, there's flourishing yourself that goes on through this program. Yeah. Absolutely.

9:36It's and I and I appreciated too that there was definitely a breadth to the education, but there were, particular, psychological theories and that sort of thing that really I mean, they impacted my marriage. They impacted how I parent. They impacted how I show up for my friends. Those kinds of things. They, it gave me the skills to be able to recognize, like, one of the critical things I remember was, was, unhealthy patterns of behavior and, how to interrupt unhealthy patterns of behavior. And I use that all the time. So I I think just the real life benefit of some of those things has been really great. That's awesome. I appreciate that. That is in that one key example of interrupting unhealthy behaviors.

10:17That's so important, especially I think in today's day and age. So that's a great skill set to have. Another one is evaluating attitude, skill sets and strategies for being a transformational leader in a service delivery setting. And then some of those advanced skills as I shared, the, ability to recognize and respond to mental health challenges, how to lead a team through crisis, strategies for program evaluation, and fostering increased cultural awareness. So before we move on into more in-depth of the program, I mean, Emily, on that skill set, I mean, is there any other big key things that you want the people that are on tonight to know, like, this is something that you're gonna walk away having the confidence to be able to utilize in your life that's really going to be transformational, not just for you, but for the people that you're working with?

11:11Yeah. Absolutely. I think, and we can talk about this a little bit later. But, I know for me, one of the questions that I had early on was this program, knowing that it didn't lead to licensure, would I still be able to utilize the psychological principles? That was a fear, that I had. And yet at the same time, I knew that I didn't really wanna sit one on one with people all day long back to back on a client schedule. My my, husband kinda came from that background, and it just I knew that we needed one of us to be able to be flexible and to not have that, you know, client, online schedule. And so one of my concerns was will I be able to utilize these skills, these, you know, psychological skills in another way.

11:54And really my heart in choosing the master's program was because I wanted to integrate it, particularly in ministry. And and I just saw over and over again in presentations that I that I give that I gave, you know, three years ago, upon completion and continue to do now the way in which I'm integrating the psychological principles, and it has elevated my my ability to do ministry, really well. And that that sounds that sounded really prideful. I mean it in the most humble way, but it just has elevated what I've been able to bring to the table, from kind of a clinical perspective, which I've just been really grateful for. No, I don't think that's prideful. I think it's just the reality right of just what you're really attaining from this program.

12:37I think that's a great great testament to that. And on this slide you'll see as Emily kind of pointed out too as the master's in psychology is not a licensure track degree. So, you know, as Emily I mean, that was a perfect segue into this statement is that, you know, there's a lot of times when people are wanting to do master's in psychology and they're thinking the only way that they're able to really help people is that one on one, kind of counselor client relationship. And in reality, you know, we all have psychology and not every person is gonna be in that setting. And so it's, you know, depending you we have and we'll go through this too as as we go on but there's people from all different walks of life and careers that are really diving into the this MSP so they're able to have a better understanding of the human person and feel more confident in how in their skill set to be able to react and respond to other people.

13:33So one of the great things that we offer now in our Master's in Psychology is our five concentrations and they are Marriage and Family, Human Services, Leadership, Pre PhD, and Self Design. And Ryan, from Sioux Falls, he's also debating between choosing marriage and family and leadership and wondering if could the self designed option be designed to take classes from those two options only. Well that's a really great question and we have a lot of people that are kind of in between different concentrations and so we have the self designed option which is a really great option for individuals that maybe don't want to just focus in that one lane. The self design is created with one elective from the marriage and family, one from the human services, and one from leadership.

14:21And in these next slides you'll be able to kind of see what those could be. Does anybody have any questions up to this point? You can feel free again at any time to just shoot them in the, in the chat as they come to you. But I just want to take a pause really quick to see if there is anything that I could address, Emily could address at this point. Do students move along through the program together? That's a great question, Amanda. So you'll start in your cohort, which the next, oops, didn't mean to do that one. The next cohort begins on January 11, that's our spring start. You will move primarily with the same people, but we do have two tracks. We have a sixteen month track, which is our fast track and our twenty six month track.

15:12So there may be some times where, the sixteen month track gets a little ahead of the twenty six month just because they're going at a little bit of a faster pace, but overall you will be with primarily the same individuals. And Emily I don't know if you have you know a testimony to that of how you know one of the questions that we'll get to this too down the slide but since this question has come up is how is a like how are student relationships formed with were solely online? How does that work? Yeah. I just commented on a Facebook post of one of the students from my cohort, like, earlier this week or something like that. Yeah. It was, you know, it is it's to be honest, it is kind of what you make it.

15:56If if I had my choice, I would love to sit in a classroom with people. That I would I would love to do that. That wasn't an option for me. I would not have been able to get my master's and and do so in a way where I had to sit as a working full time mom. It just it wouldn't have been wise for me. I think the online option, it allowed me to pursue my masters. I knew that that was a platform that I needed to to to take, and and decided kinda consciously that I was gonna make the absolute most out of the opportunity, and I was gonna connect with students. And it definitely it's it's just funny how that works, like, in the online era. You know, we just we we live in this, so we know how to do it.

16:40And the and the ways that I connected with people, and I email back and forth with a religious sister that was in my cohort. And, you know, when we got stuck on an assignment, you kinda have those people that you email, like, help. How do you do how did you guys do this? Because does anyone wanna get together and study for this? Or can we talk about the paper? I'm not quite understanding. Or I'm gonna reach out to the professor. Hey, here, you know, I'll CC you on it because I know you have the same question. So we just found ways to connect, and it sort of created a little community, as we went through, which was really beautiful. Which is so cool. I love that. So in these next few slides we're going to go through the, curriculum and it's broken down by concentrations.

17:20The first one is the marriage and family concentration and as what you're going to see in these next few slides is that the core classes are all the same. So your core classes are not going to change regardless of which concentration you choose. The electives are what are creating your concentration. So as you can see at the bottom for the marriage and family the electives that you will choose from are marriage and family systems theory, human sexuality, flourishing relationships, and marriage and family interventions. You'll choose three of those. Now you'll see in this every single, cohort begins with this helping people flourish a Catholic Christian approach to psychology. And I have loved these past few webinars that I've done with, different faculty members and a few different alums because every person comments on something different about this first course.

18:11That was so monumental for them moving forward for the program. So I don't know Emily, if you have anything to share about just that first class that everybody starts with. Oh, yeah. It anchors the whole thing. I'm looking. I, here's my book. They, they put that class into a book and it's great and we're using this book in our, in our office to go over, with as a staff kind of the whole thing. But it's really it's it anchored the entire program in what a Catholic vision of the human person really is, and I just found that so helpful. It gave me language, to describe in some ways what I already had had known, just because of my own formation and my own journey, into the faith and that kind of thing.

18:58But it just laid out in the most beautiful way language for me to be able to articulate it. And it it helped anchor every other, every other area of study, in that way. And so, yeah, I think it's it's one of the most, in in my opinion, it's the most important course in the entire thing because it lays a firm foundation with what is a human person. It just offers anthropology, and really orients us towards the fact, that the gospel promises that he came so that we might have life and have it to the full, and that's what flourishing is. So it gave this vision of flourishing, that is freedom and is joy and is connectivity and is goodness and truth and beauty. And, so, yeah, it just anchored the whole thing.

19:49That's awesome. I love that. That is not a word that I've heard, in the description yet of it anchoring the whole thing, but it's been kind of the the same idea. I love that that anchoring, but it's been interesting because every person that shares their experience of that first course has a similar thing. It really sets the tone for moving forward and that's absolutely so cool. All right so move to the next concentration which is the human services. Again you'll see those same core classes and then the electives that you would have to create that concentration are relationship and intervention skills, theory and application, personality, individual differences and intelligence, and then group counseling and group work.

20:32Our leadership psychology concentration, the electives that form that are Transformational Leadership, Leading People, Programs, and Organizations, and then Applied Leadership Skills. Our pre PhD, actually we need to kind of change this elective part. It's, it's in the process of change, which is really exciting for individuals who are interested in going into this concentration, you know, pursuing further education after their MSP is that it's actually going to be consisted of six one hour credit courses that will create that elective. And you'll be working one on one with an academic advisor through that to create a thesis to then present or to publish, which is super exciting, and makes you a more competitive candidate for other PhD programs.

21:26And then we'll get to self design. Ryan, hopefully this will answer some of your question, is that you'll have again those same core classes. And then you will choose the electives from one from each of these blocks right here. So you would choose you know one for marriage and family or one you know based on which elective spoke the most to you, you would choose that, and then figure out in that block, which ones go with that, in correlation to the other, concentrations. And does anybody have any good options? Yeah, aren't they? I know. I really think it's super cool. I was just talking to somebody today who it wasn't the right timing a few years ago for them to start the MSP, but now they're feeling like it is and they are so excited about these concentrations, which is a really great thing to offer for our students.

22:18And also I would say something that sets us apart a little bit too. So at this point as you know we're kind of concluding going through the curriculum are there any questions that anyone has about any of the concentrations, about any of the curriculum, any questions for Emily about any of the courses or give you guys a minute to post anything. And Ryan, did that answer your question? The self designed can a person do more than one lecture? No. No, Ryan, typically not. That would be you would add those classes on to like onto your program. So these electives are broken up based on the schedule of when things are so these little ones that go together. But if you did want to take another course you can definitely take another course either at the end of your program or double up at some point if that's something that you wanted to do.

23:28But these are how they're blocked out at this point. Does that answer your question? Awesome. Alright, great. Well then we will just keep moving on here. So I have a question for all of you as we get into these next like 10 slides of career opportunities which is super exciting. Also can be very overwhelming if it's all just coming at you. So I love to know before we go into this part of the presentation. For those of you who are here on the webinar, are you looking for a new career? Is that why you're furthering your education? Are you looking to enhance what you're currently doing? Are you looking to receive a promotion? I'd love to just know if you can just click in the chat just kind of let us know what your career focus is for going into the MSP.

24:30And, Emily, while they're, like, you know, writing, why don't you share with us, you know, you said you want to further your education, like I was just gonna say while they're typing that, Maria, I'll I'll, answer mine. I, I really had no desire of changing, changing my career at the time that I started. I really desired to elevate what I was already doing. I was the director of marriage and family, working for the diocesan church. Absolutely loved my work, loved my job, and it was hey. Yeah. Honestly, I can point all the way back to a psychology class that I took as a sophomore in college. I think that changed my life. Like, it just was so powerful. I absolutely loved it, and wondered how people went through life not knowing this stuff.

25:18Mhmm. So, you know, fast forward nine years later, here I was working as the director of marriage and family, and I was like, I still have this desire for more psychological knowledge to understand why do we think the way that we do? Why do people behave the way that they do? What happened? What's what's happening in marriages? You know, like, what anchors, marriage? I'm using that word a lot tonight. But, that's that was really what drew me to to pursue my masters at the time. And then, yeah, as God would have it, I finished and a new door had opened up, kind of in a similar but but different role. That was just absolutely where God was calling me to be. So it ended up taking a little bit of a career turn anyways, but still kind of in that same thread, you know, that same path.

26:02Yeah. That's awesome. God is just, like, kinda sneaky like that. Right? Sometimes it's just like, oh, hey. I'm doing this for one reason. And then it's like, boom. Actually, surprise. Totally. It's actually why I wanted to do this. That's so cool. Yeah. And I love too. Like, I don't know why it keeps sticking out to me. I love that you keep saying, like, it was nine months after you graduated. Like, you keep talking about, you know, you had your first baby. You graduated with, like, your second baby. And then nine months later, here you are on this job. Like, there's, like, a whole, like, circle of life here going on. I feel like. Oh, it's so true. It is so true. And I have to tell you, I came, when I came here to, the Lord Center, we were formerly known as Catholic Family Services, and I knew that the agency was just ready for a major change.

26:46We needed something different. And, nine months after I came to Catholic Family Services, we changed our name and, like, rolled out this new vision and mission. So apparently, that's the theme in my life. That's amazing. Yeah. Yeah. The Lord just has that funny timeline for me. So. Oh, that's so cool. I actually kind of got a little little goosebumps on there. So, yeah. All right. Well, it looks like we had a few people that have responded in here. Let's see what we got going on. So it looks like Stacy Stacy wants to start a new career, that incorporate incorporates her current skills. Antonia is looking to change course from her accounting background. Amanda, I had an amazing conversation with Amanda yesterday.

27:29I was so inspired by her. She was hoping to have credentials to support her children in case something happened, God forbid, like her husband passed away or something crazy. But now she wants to have a different career so her kids are getting ready to go to school. Many careers require masters. Yeah. And, let's see. Ryan's looking to enhance his skill set in his existing jobs, but is also open to potential career opportunities. So and Antonio continues to say or Antonio has continued to say I'm still exploring so my path could continue in business where I could go all the way to a PhD. That's awesome. So it sounds like we got a little bit of everything. People are wanting to enhance their skills, people that are maybe wanting a new career, people that are you know just kind of open to what happens but know that you know that next step is continuing education and getting your master's.

28:25So that that's really exciting for me to hear because one of the awesome aspects of, the master's in psychology is that there are so many options for individuals that have this master's. As you can just see on this screen, you know, there's five different areas where we see masters in psychology just like seeping into you know the social mental health services, industrial organizational ministry, education, government and law enforcement. You know we we have seen that there is a need for masters in psychology especially ones that have this very holistic education in so many aspects of the working world. One of, you know, when I first started, I just started in in July so I'm a newbie here too but one of the things that I loved learning about is on our website there is a testimonial from Jerome Placido.

29:17He is an alum and he is in the Silicon Valley and he does IT and he was kind of at a cross point where he could choose the MBA or an MSP and his his desire was to enhance his skill set and grow in in leadership roles. And his whole thought process was you know what better way to be a good leader than to understand how people work and how people think. And he went through the MSP and he's excelled quite wonderfully in his position. So it's definitely an opportunity in all different areas of career opportunities. All right. So like I shared, we have a lot of slides with career opportunities that can be a little overwhelming, but also can maybe spark some interest, some thought process that you may have about, you know, if you aren't exactly sure what you want to do with the MSP, maybe something might stick out with you.

30:11I was talking with someone who's starting actually in the spring cohort, which is amazing. And as we were talking, she works at a community college and I just happened to say to her, you know, if you had your master's in psychology, you know, you could potentially teach in a community college psychology. And she started like, her voice just started shaking. Like, she was just getting so emotional. She's like, that's really a huge desire of my heart because I went to community college and I have such a passion because it's so like, it's like not good enough. People don't see community college as being good enough and really it is so great. I had such a great experience. And so it was just really cool that you just don't know what opportunities are going to be unlocking for you.

30:55And I apologize, but I do have a little human walking down bringing me my water bottle. So, this is real life. Thank you, honey. I love it. I love it. So here are some of the health care and mental health services that you could find some opportunities with your master's in psychology. There's also career opportunities in business, sales, marketing, and advertising. Yeah. Go upstairs. Right? So some great things. Human resource manager, employee trainers, sales reps. There's also opportunities in parishes and diocese and in ministry. You know, there's another slide about ministry. Community colleges and universities. I was just sharing kind of a little bit about that. Children and family service organizations.

31:41We have, a few individuals that are actually starting in the fall cohort that are going to be drug and addiction rehab counselors, which is super exciting. There's such a need for that. And the master's in psychology is gonna give them the skill set to be able to really hone in on those skills and, be able to do that and be able to impact more people. We also have, you know, in the government, parole officer, social services manager. I talked to a woman who wants to be a criminal profiler, and getting her MSP is what she needs to be able to take the next steps for that. And then again in ministry, you know, we have Emily's, you know, the prime example of how working in ministry is so effective.

32:23I mean, now that we're at this career opportunity slide, you've kind of shared with us your journey and kind of some of the things that you're doing and how you're working in in really creating this center for people to come and have their whole person really seen and and supported. But for you, Emily, as you're looking at this, you know, career opportunity, you said even, you know, nine months after you graduated, this was an opportunity that presented itself because you had your MSP. What do you feel like, is a skill set, you know, that you've learned or something that you're you take from your from your MSP that you're like, this totally set me up for moving forward in this career? Yeah.

33:03I would point to the leadership education. So I think it was I think at the time, it was one of my last courses that I took, was about, leadership integrated leadership or something like that. I apologize. I can't remember the name of the course. But I I really found that course to be extremely helpful in understanding my own style of leadership and understanding my desire to be a servant leader, in understanding, yeah, kind of what, what we do and what we don't wanna do and, yeah, how skill sets can transfer or not transfer to various, you know, work areas and that kind of thing. So I would say, and just and I and I always hate this because in some ways, it sounds like we're a little too obsessed with letters after our name or something like that, and I really don't mean it that way.

34:01But I do feel like having my MSP elevated my resume, and elevated my ability to engage in conversation to say, hey. I think I'm a really eligible, applicant for this position. And I remember even talking to our HR representative at the time when I was first looking at this position that I'm currently in and her saying, well, we were kinda looking for this. And then her saying, well, you have that, actually. You know, it just was this beautiful moment, and we laugh about it now. She's a dear friend of mine. But, where I was able to say, hey. I've completed my my master's in psychology. I I understand the human person. I understand, leadership. I understand an integrated vision of the psychological sciences.

34:49I think I'm a really good candidate for this. And having my my MSP, I think really elevated me in their minds to say, hey. This person could be a leader for this agency. Not only could they do good good work, as an employee, but they could do she could do good work as as the leader. So that really was beneficial for me, really, gave me confidence, I would say, to be able to kind of have that to stand on, to say, oh, I studied this, or I remember this, or, oh, I did a paper on this, whatever it was. That was really yeah. It just opened a great a great door. That's awesome. I love that. I'm sure they just, you know, are so grateful that you had that confidence to really share with them your skill set, you know, that that you've just been such a great fit and such a great blessing, I'm sure, to everybody at the Lord Center.

35:40And, and to us too here. I mean, this is so great. I'm learning so much from you right now, so it's so awesome. It's been a wild ride. That's for sure. And I definitely yeah. None of us have any of it figured out. We laugh about that all the time. Like, we are building a ship and learning where the pieces go day by day, and it has sometimes feels like it has set sail, and we're trying to catch up with it. But yet at the same time, there's just this, like, this rootedness of of understanding and of confidence. And I attribute a lot of it to the again, I just keep on thinking, like, the language. Like, this master's program, it gave me the language to share, educate, and bring other people along with truth.

36:22And it's been helped. It's been, yeah, it's been life changing. That's amazing. That's amazing. Alright, so now we're going to go into the online classroom. No, Stacy, this is not a master's in counseling. This is the master's in psychology. That's a good a good question. This is a non licensure track degree. So a little bit about the online classroom. Emily shared shared a little bit about how you're able to build these relationships with your other cohort members, but some of the great things that we touched on briefly at the beginning is that this is an asynchronous learning environment, meaning that you will receive your assignments, you'll receive all of the information in the just the real meat of what you're learning on a Wednesday, and then you'll have until the following Tuesday to use your time management skills to fit your study time into your schedule.

37:20And that so there's no specific time that you need to be on the computer. Therefore, the spring start, which is in January, so confusing. I'm always like, that's still winter, but it's it is our spring start. It's January. Hopeful thinking is what I keep thinking. Hopeful thinking. But you will in the first class you will have an online residency and that weekend is February twenty fourth and twenty fifth where you will be on the computer. So that's the only time where you will be on the computer and have the time to meet your other cohort members to do some learning together with the faculty members. So it is something that we know that we can tell people right now that that you know you can mark your calendars for that.

37:57One of the great things and the great feedback that I hear from alums and and current students is that the faculty are so responsive and so willing to be a support for you as a student. And, Emily, I know you kinda touched on that. If if you have a question, just emailing the professor. But do you have any real tangible, experiences with that, just the support that you receive from the faculty? Yeah. I mean, doctor Gross, I actually, in my work, at the time as the director of marriage and family, I was working on a project, and I emailed him about that and said, hey. I'm really interested in this. And they looped me into research that they were doing, and said, you know, he this is an opportunity for you to get published and whatever.

38:48And, yeah, just this collaborative working relationship. And then then I needed something, like, six months ago, and I thought, oh, I bet doctor Gross would have it. So I emailed him again. You know, I'm not even a student anymore. But that that sort of collaboration and their desire to really pay attention to what what was stirring in my heart. You know, they knew that I had a real passion for marriage ministry. And so there was this kind of individualized approach, with several of the faculty that would say, hey, for this paper, you could look at this or here's you could research this. And so they really aligned what they knew of my own interests to fit to the program, which I just thought was really humbling and and, really neat.

39:33That is awesome. I love doctor Gross. He's he's awesome. He's really cool. So, Emily, then I'm gonna kinda put you on the spot again if that's okay. Of course. So we use an online platform called Canvas where it becomes, like, your student portal, your student dashboard, where everything you need is in that platform. So can you just share with us a little bit about your experience of your assignments of how that worked of, you know, kind of what that really looked like practically for a student? Yeah. I found it really easy, to be honest. Each course had kinda all of our reading materials. I also appreciated I don't think I had to buy actually, I don't think I had to buy a single textbook Yeah.

40:12For the program. It was all all my reading materials were available online. Some of them I printed, you know, just so that I could take with me or whatever. But that was really simple, really user friendly. And then a big part of the process for most of the courses were the discussion, the weekly discussion posts, which were just an opportunity to kind of put to practice what I had read or what had struck me, what I was moved by perhaps, and then to kind of comment and engage with some of my other my other cohort. Hey, I feel like this is probably not what I'm supposed to say on one of these webinars. So keep it between us, Maria. But I found as a working mom, there were there were weeks that I had more time and there were weeks that I had less time.

40:56And, and that was okay. I felt like there wasn't a ton of busy work, that, you know, was was constantly like, that I was trying to keep up with. I just I found it manageable in the way that it was put forward, and I just got this incredible this is a bit beyond your question, and I apologize, but I think it's so good. I got this great advice before I started the program from somebody who just said, remember that you are choosing to do this for you. And Mhmm. Oh, okay. Don't feel like you need to approach it with this, like, oh, I have to jump through all the hoops, and I have to do this, and I have to do this. Like, take what you can. Take what you can from it. This is an investment in you and in your education.

41:40Take what you can, and it's okay to leave the rest. And that's the part that I know I'm probably not supposed to say, but that really gave me such freedom in my approach, to the program. And, you know, I I did my best to get their all the reading done. There were times where I couldn't. I was up late nursing a baby or whatever. And and so I just approached the program with with probably the most freedom that I'd ever approached education. And in that way, found it so user friendly and customizable to what what God was kinda doing in me and in my life and and that I could take from it. So in that way, engaging with Canva with Canvas and, the assignments and the videos and that sort of thing, like, I just I found great freedom in approaching it, with this spirit of joy and curiosity and hunger for learning, but also not beating myself up for, not getting every last page read or something like that on the assignments.

42:43Mhmm. No. I think that's that's I love that advice of remembering your why is so important, right? Like when you're starting something, it's so important to remember what your why is. And in a very, like, you know, I think we in our society is, like, a really kind of taboo thing to be, you know, on on on both sides of, like, this is for me. You know, it's either you're selfish or, you know, you're not taking care of yourself. Like but this is something, like you said, that, you know, it is for you, but it it's for you to flourish so you can promote that flourishing in other people. Yes. You are. Why you're taking this time for yourself to learn the most you can to, you know, just soak in all the information and to engage with other people and learn from the other people in your cohort.

43:32At the end of the day, like, you want to get the most out of it so that, ultimately, god can use you to the, like, most ability that he can with this knowledge. So I I think that's such great advice. Oh, it's that's so well said, Maria. Like, it's and when approached from that perspective, he just uses it abundantly. And that was absolutely my experience, experience, just approaching it in this real freedom and joy to receive this posture. It's really this posture of receptivity. Yeah. It it was really transforming and, really life giving, and I found great joy then in, like, shouting it from the roof rooftops and telling people about it and, yeah, putting into practice what I was learning.

44:15So it just really flowed out, in that way. And instead of becoming a drag of, oh, I'm I'm gonna have to go back to school. I just never experienced that. I didn't feel the overwhelm of going back to school. I I found great freedom and great joy. Oh, that's awesome. I love to hear that. That's a huge testament to what you learned and what you experienced. And, Emily, you you spoke about Doctor. Gross, our friend right here, and how wonderful he was and receptive. And I will say I I work very closely with Doctor. Julia Clousely. And, you know, there are times when she's I'm getting emails. Like, I'm cc'd on an email that she's responding to someone, you know, 02:00 in the morning or something crazy.

44:54Like, our our faculty are so passionate about psychology. Not just are they passionate about psychology, they're passionate about the students. They're passionate about forming other leaders in psychology that really have this holistic view and, you know, really infused with the Catholic Christian model, the human person, being able to see a person holistically who they are and how they are and being able to to go out and do the work, in real life. So they're they're absolutely amazing. So we do have two I kind of touched on it briefly. We do have two track options in the master's in psychology. We have our twenty six month, which is a more typical track. It's one eight week course per term.

45:39And And then we have our sixteen month fast track option, which is when you're taking two of the eight week courses per term. So there's two terms in the fall and the spring, and there's one term in the summer. So that being said, kind of some differences here is our twenty six month, the more traditional track, we like to say it's about a two to three hour study time commitment per day. So to start thinking it's gonna be, you know, depending on how you break things up and how how you go through the material, you know it could be anywhere from fifteen to eighteen hours twenty hours a week that you're working on school. In the sixteen month when you're doubling up on those classes it could be a four to five hour daily time commitment being more twenty five, thirty, thirty five hours a week depending on you know how you're going through your coursework and how you're you're managing your time.

46:28So with that being said the sixteen month fast track option also comes with a scholarship a tuition scholarship so you would pay full price for that first class and then the second eight week class you would receive a 50% tuition scholarship towards that class So when it's all said and done, if you stay in the sixteen month, it's about a 20% tuition scholarship. Emily, which did you do? Did you do the twenty six month? These were not options. It took me, it yeah. I did I was 26. Okay. Yeah. Yeah. This the fast track is a newer option Okay. For people. Now we're getting into well, first, before I go for it, does anybody have any questions about the tracks That usually causes some sort of stirring of some kind.

47:21So I don't, I just want to give people a minute if they have any questions about that. Alright, well if you have any questions, know again, just insert them in there at any time. We're now going to move into the acceptance requirements. So we require a Bachelor's degree or an international if you are an international student or you received your degree internationally, it just needs to be, an institution that is accredited by an agency recognized by the US Department of Education. Our applicants need to have a 2.5 GPA or higher. We require two letters of recommendation, which I always wanna preface that it is not like something scary where someone has to create something from nothing, which I I have learned that that is kind of, like, really stressful for people to ask people for.

48:15We make it really simple for you, really simple for your recommender. There's a Google form that you'll have the link sent to you, and you'll be able to send it on to your recommenders. Those take about ten to fifteen minutes to provide a recommendation for you. We also ask for your resume and then a written stat statement of intent which is 300 to 500 words really sharing your heart why the goals of the MSP align with your future goals. And then for our international or English as a second language students, we do, require the TOEFL exam as well. So then the like million dollar question is, is grad school affordable? We have, this is a big question. I know some of the questions that came back through the emails, that I sent out, yesterday, about what questions you have is about the affordability of grad school.

49:05And I will tell you a few things. DMU is very passionate that grad school should be accessible. And so we have our own in house financial aid department that works very diligently to make sure that they're able to put together the most generous, package for you, financial package for you so that this can become a reality. We do offer payment plans through our student accounts department that if that's something that you would need, you you know, we definitely do everything that we can to make sure that this is, affordable for you. That being said, we do not offer full ride scholarships, but you are able to see the scholarships that we do offer on our, under the financial tab on the website, site, with the scholarships.

49:48So you can see on this next slide the breakdown of the cost for the program. So the tuition is $826 per credit hour. There are thirty three credit hours in the course, which that takes you to $27,258 Then there is a technology fee for each of the 11 courses that includes, you know, any kind of online like Zooms, all of the books that you have accessible to you in the library. So that is $50 per course. So that'll be $550 for the subtotal of $27,808 So Emily, what was your experience working with Financial Aid? Do you feel like it was? Yeah. So, I was actually just gonna say one thing that I really encourage a lot of people to do is to talk to their current employer. If you feel as though going back and getting your master's would aid in where you currently serve, where you currently work, my experience is that so many employers, they wanna keep good employees, and they want to invest in their employees.

50:56And I think there's a real case, especially because this is really a program that's marketed to the helping professional with leadership skills, understanding the human person, all of those kinds of things. Yeah. I my experience was that I talked to my employer and said, hey. I wanna utilize this, and I will be a better employee because of it. And they said, great. We will pay for it. So I just would really, throw that out as an option. So, yeah, by the by great grace of God, I I ended up not needing financial aid. And my, I kind of worked out a service thing with with my employer that I continue to to serve here, in gratitude for the gift of my education. So that was my experience. But that being said, the admissions counselor at the time was super helpful as I was kind of figuring out what that would look like, was really helpful in laying out, here's what you can expect, here's how it works, here's financial aid opportunities, here's additional private scholarships that you could look at, you know, that are independent, those kinds of things.

51:55So all that was really helpful. That's awesome. And that's our role is here to help you. You know, every single person on our team, whether it be in the admissions and the faculty, you know, we're all motivated for your success as a student. And so we will do whatever we can to make sure that this as this process of applying for the program and getting admitted into the program is as easy peasy as possible. And, you know, just that you're given the most support so that you're set up for the greatest success moving through the program and beyond. Ryan, let's talk offline. I'll have to re look, because there are some shifts that have gone, taken place with some of the scholarships. So let's, let's plan a time to connect.

52:47Thanks, Amanda. Thanks for joining us. All right, great. So then our final slide here is this has been the whole webinar. You've been given a lot of information, a lot of great information from Emily. You know, just learning more about the program and what it entailed in joining the next cohort for the master's in psychology. And so here's the questions for you to maybe help you in your decision making process and taking the next right step is will the completion of your MSP help you attain your goals? Is the program scheduling and requirements for successful completion, is it workable within your schedule? Do the financial options discussed in the support from myself and the rest of the admissions staff, you know, is this gonna make the program affordable and attainable for you?

53:42And then are you able to commit to the successful completion of the program if you're accepted? So some things to leave you some little nuggets to chew on for a little bit and as you're continuing to start your next steps and hopefully, your next steps will be contacting me and allowing us to have a more in-depth one on one to answer more questions that you may have to get clarity on any, anything that you're still thinking about or that you, you know, might leave wanting just to understand a little bit better. Also, you know, to go through more in-depth the application process, where to find it on our website, what information you'll need to go through that process. I'm more than happy and excited to answer any of those questions and to support you as you go through this journey.

54:27So I thank you so much for taking the time to be with us tonight. I know that this is a a bewitching time of dinner and getting kids where they need to be. So I appreciate you taking the time to be here with us. Emily, I appreciate so much you being here for all the knowledge that you've shared with us and all of your experience that you share with us. And I just wanna give you the opportunity to just you know, any final last words? What are you know, is there anything else that you really want to make sure that the people that are on here tonight that are listening that are considering the MSP that they know, or you know that you want to encourage them or any any last words? Yeah. My last words would be education is never a bad idea.

55:05And so if this is it's just a matter of timing and if this is the right program. And so, yeah, just really encourage the the great formation and the great gift, that this education was. I really wanna affirm that. And, yeah, hopefully it's the right fit for other people too. Awesome. Well, thank you again so much for all that you're doing at Sousa Falls through the Lord's Center. Thank you for being on tonight. I really appreciate it. And I will be reaching out to each of you that have been here tonight, and I will look forward to connecting hopefully soon. Have a blessed rest of your evening.