[Webinar] Transform Your Career and Faith with a Psychology Degree

0:01So today, we're happy to present to you ways that you can transform your career and your faith with a psychology degree, from Divine Mercy University. This is a master of science in psychology, that we offer here 100% online. So, we'll be going through the curriculum, student testimonials, skills that you'll gain, and even how you can present this to a future promotion or management position. Your moderator, Ebony Schamberger here in the marketing and communications department, and I'm happy to have Michele Drennen. She's here in our master's in psychology admissions department, and she has been in the role of admissions for many years for professions ranging from nursing, IT, and now psychology.

0:57She has advised thousands of students, graduates in their field, and towards their dream career pathways. Her philosophy is that you spend more time with the people with whom you work. So it's always a good idea to love that job while you're in the midst of it. Make sure you love it while you're doing it for a living, and she has also been married for thirty years. She has four children, 10 grandchildren, and loves to play tennis and sing in church. Hey, Michelle. Thanks for joining us. Oh, you always make the nicest, introduction, and I appreciate that. And, Angela, I saw that you're on this call, and I owe you a call this afternoon. I had five interviews yesterday. So promise you, while we return your call, I saw your email.

1:44So thanks everyone today for your gift of time, and I think you'll enjoy some of the information that we have put together. And, as Ebony says, we do have a chat feature. So if you wanna ask questions during this, please do so. So we're gonna enjoy getting started and hope you'll all put, different comments in the chat box. There comes one from Angela. So let's go forth. So what is Divine Mercy? Divine Mercy is a university that's a Catholic institution comprised of two schools. We are totally dedicated to the scientific study of psychology with a Catholic Christian understanding of the person, marriage, and family. Why is that different? Because no one else does that. And we know that when you're studying psychology, if you're not studying the entire human being, something's left out.

2:32From a historical perspective, so you all know, we were founded in 1999 as the Institute for the Psychological Sciences or IPS. And when people fill out their FAFSA, it still says IPS. Sometimes our government's a little slow to change things. So in 2014, we launched the MS in psychology program, and I'm the representative for that program. And we focus on educating working professionals. Not that it doesn't have priests and nuns and all of that, but we have a lot of laypeople in there as well and has one of the largest populations in our school. In 2015, we were renamed Divine Mercy University when we added the school of counseling, which is a, not a degree that's entirely online, but, many people look at all the degrees.

3:15So today, we want you to give you the purpose of what degree is best for you and give you some ideas on vocation, which I know a lot of you are looking at. So when I select the university, what is the most important thing that I could look for? And one of those is obviously accreditation. Many individuals use us as a springboard to go get their PhD. So for instance, our main accreditation is the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools, same as, say, a Duke University. And so many people, if they're gonna go on to a PhD, will spring off this master's, or they're trying to get a new role in life, or they're trying to obviously go up in the job they have. So in addition to that, we have accreditations to award masters and doctorates through the American Psychological Association, the State Council of Higher Education for Virginia, and the Association of state and provincial psychology boards.

4:17And before we go forward with some of the vocations and things like that, I think it's important to realize that with Divine Mercy University being a 100% online, it's not a walk in the park. It's not a easy degree, but what it is is an opportunity to take it on 100% online while you're working and find that two hours a day that can grow you into your next area of wisdom. It is regionally accredited as well. And as I said, it is 36 long. You have to have a minimum 2.5 g pay GPA to get into the program. We have a lot of international students as well, And it is very much for helping professionals either they're whether you're in that career now or going forward in that career, and we are rooted in the Catholic Christian teachings of the human person.

5:07One of our biggest sources of students who come to Divine Mercy University, because we're small, we're 20 years old, but we have so many referrals, and I think that's evidence of the job that we do. And these are three of them. One I know personally because she's my student, and that's Alma Campos. And her little quote, I'm gonna continue on in a minute because it was one of the finest compliments of my life. But she says, I've been blessed with such compassionate professors and advisor who are all understanding and helping and along the way to accommodate classes in my journey. Because that's a question that's often asked. You know? How do I get answers back? This is all online. Do your instructors care?

5:46And they're very, very dedicated towards your success. So I wanna read just something that Alma wrote me and really touched my heart. I truly been enjoying this program, and I've been blessed to have found this pathway to further my education through divine mercy. Since starting in May, it has been a new challenge, but a wonderful journey. I remember during my interview process for admissions, and I'm not gonna name that name, but it was me, encouraged me to start a new chapter after I'd suffered a miscarriage in a way to continue to heal. And I'm happy to share now that I'm 23 along with a baby boy, and we hope to welcome him in April 2020, which she did. And while that may bring on a new challenge, I've been blessed with such compassionate professors and an adviser who are all understanding and are all helping me along the way to accommodate classes along my journey.

6:34With God, anything is possible, and I won't be the first person to have a baby while in grad school, so I know I can still reach my goal. So the second individual on here, I met at my first graduation I attended. It was the most beautiful place in the world, and that's in the Washington DC Basilica. She was a very, very stronghearted, wonderful woman, and I'll let you read that for a moment, and then I'll tell you what the title of her capstone was. So she was born in Lagos, Nigeria, and we do have a lot of international students. And so you learn about each other's ethnicities in their life. But she wrote her beautiful capstone on how do you help heal people who have lost nearly all their family to the Ebola epidemic.

7:21So we have people with heart and knowledge in this program. And Samantha's a really interesting study. My daughter's an athlete, so I really appreciate this. She used her psychology to launch something called fierce athlete. As she says, human behavior is very complex. I work with college athletes, and many are under a lot of pressure and carry a lot of brokenness. This education helped me find the antidote. DMU looks at the science, psychology, and religion as a holistic approach to the person, mind, body, and soul. So this you're just three of some great people who told what they loved about the masters in psychology online. Alright. And this slide is more so of we, we're very aware of the various roles that people are in right now.

8:16When we looked at the registrations, we saw there's a background in nursing management, some priests. There were also educators, school teachers. And so you may be wondering what other skills could I get from this degree that could help elevate me in my current role or into a new position. And so we just wanted to list a few here, deescalate difficult situations. This could even be, you know, now with COVID nineteen, trying to figure out the best ways to create different strategies for managing a hospital space. Also working with children, which can, you know, sometimes be situational, building crisis plans, counseling parishioners or clients of any sort, creating proper safety measures, effectively managing teams, and learning how to budget.

9:16And that last one is actually one that you may not have expected from a master's in psychology, but it just goes along to show you that you'll be equipped to, not only lead a team, but manage, the actual operations and provide input as far as how to build the business and make sure that it can be maintained during such crises as the one we are in right now. Thank you for sharing that, Ebony. And I think that's the unique thing about a master's in psychology that does indeed have a faith platform because you are given the tools in this degree to really prevent problems before they happen rather than end up with people who are broken. I think that's a really good analogy. So what we did was is we took a lot of the things that are learned in each of our courses.

10:13So the very top part is the name of the course, and the first one is helping people flourish. So that happens with online learning, creating a professional development plan going forward. And as you can see, that manifests itself in all careers. The next one, which I feel very, very strong about, and whether you're a teacher, a minister, a manager, an HR person, with people coming back from COVID, there is going to be some situations where an HR manager may have had to lay off a 150 people. And can we when can we introduce these people back in? So relationship and intervention skills include things like case management, in a hospital, in an environment, group facilitation, negotiation, crisis intervention, teachers who have very difficult students, for instance, deescalating a difficult problem, and decision making.

11:05And especially right now in emergency services and social service managers and in really in many different environments, those skills are crucial to your ongoing success. The third one, that we kind of have in yellow is how faith manifests itself in the inside of this master's in psychology. Because if you look at the foundation of individuals learning to understand the human person and to flourish, it does help a lot of people decide to be directors of vocational discernment. It does help people that are already in maybe teaching RCIA or a priest. So that's where it is just that part of it that helps you with both the biblical, the theological, the philosophical, and the psychological. So we're proud of our intervention again of the faith piece.

12:01Number four is exceedingly important, and that is the human growth and development portion of our curriculum. From an emotional, cognitive, interpersonal, moral, and spiritual development standpoint, This can relate over to school counselors, directors of religious education, principals, and learning what questions to ask and knowing how to use the answers. My my hope is after COVID nineteen is over, it will be a kinder and gentler world, but I think we're gonna have some incredible needs to have some development happen that helps you be better in what you do now or what you're gonna be doing in the future. The fifth one is the common psychological problems in treatment. Understanding depression, anxiety, marital distress, parent parenting problems, substance abuse.

12:50And this can be anything from a parole officer to corrections officer, social service manager, drug and alcohol specialist. And I'm gonna tell you a little story on this particular slide. In the state of Ohio, it's very remarkable that the criminal justice system got in touch with the medical, field, and they made a decision because of all the heroin addiction to have a a program that if you went straight through it for eighteen months, you didn't stub your toe, you know, similar to an alcohol type of program. But if you went straight through it, they would allow you to get your felony taken off your record. Because when you think about it, if people can't go back to work and they don't have a way to support themselves, sometimes they're drawn back into the incredible, substance abuse issues.

13:38So listen to this. Eighty two percent of those people that had the opportunity to make it through that rehab successfully. If anybody wants to put it in the chat, what do you think the common bond was between those 82 peep eighty two percent of people who made it through that rehab program? Any guesses? Oh, there you win, Michael. It is faith. Each of those individuals had at one time in their life, whether they were children or, you know, they turned to a religion or whatever, they had all had that foundation. It's like the wonderful bible, you know, raise a child up in the way you should go, and when he's old, he will not depart from it. Because people lose faith. They lose hope sometimes.

14:23But to get people back to their center is very important, and that's what rehab is all about. And that really joins into the next one again, how the faith is incorporated. Vocations and virtues is the name of that course, and that's developing practical reasoning, moral character, spiritual life. You could be a seminary president to the president of a company. And I had one of my students who started in January telling me the other day. She says I had this really moment when all of a sudden I realized that it's not about me. It's about all the others that we serve as human beings. And and to find that people become a better parent, a a better community member, a better husband, a better wife is is really exciting that you can take those values into your personal life as well as your vocation.

15:15Number seven, sometimes people hate the word statistics, but it is statistical analysis for psychology, meaning that you're using the things that are happening today. Why is there so much suicide? Why is there so much things like shootings? To get that solving, that practical problem solving, intelligent consumer perspective, to have yourself with your radar on all the time by learning through research and program evaluation. So there are people that may end up being a market research analyst, which needs you need statisticians in all areas of growing businesses of saving lives. And so statistics from our end is a little bit different than the one that you had in your bachelor's degree. Number eight is a favorite of many people, to be able to recognize common psychological problems, their treatment, to understand the depth of not being ashamed because you have depression, understanding why you have anxiety.

16:09And there's not anyone that's married that doesn't go through some marital distress, but how do we bring that back? Parenting problems, referral processes. And so you do see in just the human beings that you are, but also in social justice, advocates for children getting out of difficult situations, coordinating human resource analysts. So there's just so many areas that it touches. And oftentimes, when I'm interviewing a person for the master's in psychology, that's the biggest thing. It's going way back in their past and found out what did you wanna do when you grow up. And then going forward and based on the wisdom and the things that have happened in their lives, helping them determine which vocation do you wanna serve.

16:48What job do you want to wake up and be happy every day? And remember, out of question Yes. Absolutely. Is referral process. What exactly is that? That is in a that would be in, say, for instance, a medical area. In fact, Ebony and I were just talking about this yesterday. There's situations where, after COVID, you have, what we call a discharge planner in a hospital. And that person is gonna have to say, is this person able to go back home? And that can also be when grandma broke her hip and she can't go back into her house. And so really and truly, that person is going to be a person who coordinates all of that and make sure that rehab, home situations, all the children that are in the family are all referred to the right individuals to help them.

17:40And that can also be in life and in all kinds of efficiencies where maybe a student in a high school, has a problem. And so you as a master's in psychology graduate can refer them on to the right place for them to go next. So So that's really what a referral process means, helping all people, whether it be hospitals, schools, business to go forward. And if if they're starting to be broken people, help them to get fixed. Does that make sense? Yes. Thank you. Welcome. Thank you for the question. The next one is very, very big in the education arena and the guidance arena. Parents are finding out right now staying home during COVID nineteen and coaching and teaching their students. I think there's gonna be a greater value of teachers after all of this.

18:30But in this, you learn personality, individual difference, and intelligence. What makes a person the way they are? You know? Is it going to be the way they were raised, what they were taught? And so to learn those theories, to learn that, you know, each person has a different spark that, you know, god ignites that spark and how to help learn that, psychoanalyze it, And from a biology excuse me, biological standpoint, behaviorist, learning social cognitive personality dimensions. I would bet if I had to be a betting woman that many of you on the call today are people that people naturally come to. Trust their guidance. Trust that they won't share what you're sharing with them because you have that gift of maybe giving information or asking questions.

19:18And a a very high percentage of the individuals piece, that wisdom. And so it's very interesting as they explore deeper, they learn even more each of you what you're better at and how you're gonna impact the world and whether, again, it's in your community, your personal life, or in the job that you choose. Those are the big five. And somebody just said very true. I like that. So as we get down to, 11 ten, eleven, and 12, because there are 12, coursework, one taught each eight weeks. Course 10 is the practice and program evaluation. How do you read research critically and apply it? How do you evaluate programs and services of an organization? So one of the things that's very important is you look at all these stores that are never gonna reopen again, all these small businesses that put their heart, their help, their life into what they did.

20:19Development of specialists out there, they're gonna help very much to try to get everything back on track. I think we've done some wonderful jobs in The United States and all over trying to support small business, and it's gonna be a whole regroup, and it's gonna have to be done with heart and head and evaluating how are we gonna get the wheels back on this this war that we're going through. This we gotta run through the streets and make sure that we're gonna conquer this war and get back to work and also get back to work emotionally and physically and critically as we solve these problems. So I think this program and program evaluation is gonna be a very important part for a lot of people going forward.

20:58And then next to the last course is leadership. One of the things that I found many years ago when I was in HR is that was a time when maybe people weren't always looking at online degrees as, top notch place to hire people from. Well, now it's completely went to the other side because you learn such good critical thinking skills. You have to be disciplined to be in an online program. So a lot of what we teach is program planning, leadership, collaboration, communication, supervision of teams, and budgeting. The church is a business. The church is in a business from the standpoint of saving lives and, you know, priests go out and they get theology and philosophy, and I've heard so many of them say, but then I have to come back and I have to run, you know, the business of saving souls and helping my board and and making sure that, you know, we have children that are coming up in the faith and have joy.

21:51And so, again, this can apply to school principals, presidents, community service leaders, directors in the health care field, and also, of course, obviously, in church. And the last one is the crescendo to your beautiful symphony of education. Throughout the whole program, you are looking at very small, meaningful papers, 200, 300, 500. But your transformational leader, capstone is your title. What you have decided has been your goal or what your background is and what you really wanna explore deeply. And we're gonna tell you in just a few minutes, some of those actual, capstones were written, and we feel so strongly about the capstone. We actually publish it next to your name in your graduation program.

22:41Because if you're a problem solver and you can help people identify goals, you're a good manager. So here's some samples, and we love these samples. How to prevent burnout in a lifetime missionary. That actually came from one of our graduates who, is in training, out at Focus Missionaries in Colorado. One of our graduates wrote wrote, the weekend retreat on human formation through the introduction to positive psychology and virtues. A workshop for foster caregivers and children in building a secure attachment. If you stop and think, these are really heavy duty, great capstones. Mental health awareness in the workplace to increase empathy. It's there, but it can, in fact, work very well in an organization if you have the types of leadership skills to do that.

23:30A big one in schools right now. And so this is a wonderful capstone, bullying and suicide risk, a proposal for a mentor mentorship intervention. It's facing that problem and and guiding before it becomes a very broken person. And, again, that's what happens in a master's in psychology. And now we're gonna oh, we had some more on there. No. We don't. No. So now we're gonna look at, Ebony telling you some of the ways that you can really advance your career in this curriculum. Alright. So Michelle just went through all of the curriculum specific skills that, you would learn, but I feel that a lot of times connecting the dots to how this can help you in your career can be a little difficult. You're thinking about going back to school, but, you know, what is the end result?

24:28So we came up with four different ways that you can present this degree, either you're, you know, stay at home mom, you're already working, or, you're looking for a new employment, ways that you can implement your capstone. So if you were to write a capstone on how to avoid burnout or how to help a foster child, get through bullying or suicidal tendencies, our idea is to actually help you, make sure that you implement it within your local community. Not only will that allow you to show that the skills that you gain throughout the program, but you could actually turn that into a real life experience that people can actually benefit from. The second is to develop a proposal to get a raise or promotion.

25:21So let's say you go through the whole program, and then you need to present yourself as a new person who has gained so much, information on budgeting, crisis, management, negotiation, deescalation, and make sure that your manager and your team is aware of these skills so that you can be elevated and maybe even reposition within your own company. One thing that we're all very familiar with is, social Internet searches. So, this one is searching major career engines. That's everything from LinkedIn, Indeed, Glassdoor. Looking at jobs that currently require a master's in psychology and seeing how you can be positioned in your field more directly so that you can, be at the level that you want to.

26:18Maybe you're not really passionate about what you're doing now and you wanna, have something more meaningful that you're doing. Make sure you check out those search engines, and then you can actually figure out how to position yourself in the job market. And then the very last one was actually one that Michelle mentioned, to me was reaching out to people, who have your dream job. So if you are currently a nurse and you're interested in leading a team, reach out to them either in person. It could be a virtual coffee. It could be through LinkedIn. Ask them questions. How did they get into the position that they have with their masters in psychology, or how did they actually, you know, change their role in their career or in their organization to actually be the best fit for their passion.

27:09So we actually do have a question. See a hand raised right now. I'll allow you to talk. Are you let's see. Is your mic on? Are you able to speak through the mic? Alright. Well, if you don't have, anything, that can be shared, feel free to put it in the chat box. You don't want it shared publicly, but maybe you're just agreeing. Is your mac your mic on now? Hello? Hi. Hi. Good evening from Nigeria. Hello. Welcome. Hello. Hello. Hi. Did you have a question? Good evening from Nigeria. This is Felicia. We're we're glad you joined us. Do you have a specific question for the folks on the webinar? Alright. I don't believe that she does. She might have just came out on the wrong line. But, you know, that last point that Ebony made of reaching out to people with your dream job, you know, I relocated, gosh, 37 times in thirty one years of marriage.

28:35So it's really kind of fun to reinvent yourself. But if you're gonna try something new, it's amazing how people love to offer advice. And so if you have your mind on a specific career and I talked to my applicants in in the interview when I, you know, do a online interview with them, to say, what did you always wanna do? And if you know a person that you feel like, oh, gosh. I'd really like to work in that position. Pick up the phone and call them and or go visit them or write them a note or send them an email and say, tell me some of the the top three things that helped you get where you wanna go. So I think that's, a real I'm glad we put this one together because it made us us think about what are the ways, that you can use your masters because sometimes the position requires just a masters.

29:22And if it's in psychology, that's even better. So thank you for your review on those, Ebony. No problem. So many times when people are looking at grad school, one of the most important things is, well, how can I afford this investment in myself? And that's exactly what it is. Well, the good thing about Divine Mercy being an accredited institution of higher learning is there are many, many eligibility for you. There's still Federal aid, that you can take out small, loans for whatever is not covered by some of the scholarships that we offer, and we'll talk to you about that. Employer tuition reimbursement. Sadly, not as many folks do offer that anymore, but there are employers that do. And we are indeed VA funded as well.

30:09We just signed a lovely agreement with the archdiocese of the Catholic church. So there are many, many opportunities for different ways to make grad school affordable. And some of those others that really aren't on that past slide, though, are the fact that I often say, if you're Catholic or Christian or if you're in any, arena, there are places out there that you can apply onto your own, like, Catholic charities, Knights of Columbus, women's and men's organizations, rotary, the Lions Club, the Lady Lions, people who are trying to help people go back and get additional education. But your first line of assistance is through Divine Mercy University. Because since we are a nonprofit, we are able to allow you to write two or three essays each, academic year so that you're awarded two scholarships.

31:03And, actually, right now for our May 5 class, which will or May 20, excuse me, class that's starting, you actually can get an additional thousand dollar scholarship. So we are very excited that we have wonderful financial aid people who will monitor your essays, and whatever applies to you are the essays that you can write. And this is just a smattering. When you look on our website, there's about 20. And so people look at that and say, wow. I can make this affordable, and I'm gonna take the time to write an essay and see if I can't get some reduction in my tuition. So as my grandma used to say, where there's a will, there's a way. And so if you're truly interested in in in being a great help to hundreds and hundreds of people, there's a way to invest in yourself and make that happen.

31:49But you don't know if you don't apply, so we want you to at least get out there and apply for those, scholarships once you do apply. Yeah. And, there is actually for the most part, most of our students qualify for a scholarship. I did see a question that came in earlier. The scholarships on your site that I reviewed don't apply to me. Could you speak a little bit about that, Michelle? I'm pretty sure something applies to all of us. Sometimes the, the financial aid people, when they're having your initial guidance will help you interpret these scholarships a little bit more. A Newman scholarship, for instance, and most people who are Catholic know about if they attended a, a Newman scholarship school, Most people have done something in the faith and hope arena if they're at all, you know, active in their church.

32:43If you're a a veteran, the 10% is a patriot scholarship. Obviously, our international students have some big ones. But, again, financial aid will explain to you more. They'll say, okay. They see what you've done for a living because they usually have your application in there. And, traditionally, there's gonna be at least two that they can direct your way. And if you wanna have a offline conversation about that, they're gonna give you my, contact information at the end because I really don't think there's hardly anybody who hasn't ever been able to well, first of all, get the thousand dollars off the bat. But there should be two more that would help you reduce your tuition. So we can kind of discuss that based on what your background is and where you've come from.

33:27We can find some scholarships for you. Alright. And we do have another question. Sure. School starts real soon. Is financial aid for this school year realistic? Absolutely. So I had a student who applied a week ago. She put in her letters of recommendation, her essays for the scholarship. She got her transcript to me, finished her personal statement and her resume, and she's already accepted and going through orientation. Because one of the things that I do is I send each person, a checklist. I send them the steps for applying and then the steps for what to do financial aid. Filling out a FAFSA was not that difficult. And once you send that information to our financial aid, like, the confirmation page, boom.

34:14You get in. You have an opportunity to speak with them. You talk about, you know, if you wanna pay any out of pocket at all, if somebody's gonna help you, if you wanna take out small loans, they'll spread it out to make it comfortable for you. But, indeed, you still have plenty of time. We actually have a deadline for this class, which is May 6. So I have yesterday, I had five interviews. And, you know, going to school is like paying your taxes. Everybody waits for the last minute, but that's okay. If you do what you're supposed to do, we'll be right there beside you and get you through orientation because we have orientation modules so that the day a person signs into class on the May 20, boom.

34:54They start off having have some experience on posting their subjects, on the essays that they need to write for their classes. And and I talk very deeply to people who have not done a lot of online because we do a good job of instructing people so that they're ready through the orientation process to go forward and then are often, you know, very much supported by student, success folks, your instructor, me. So, yes, there's still plenty of time and time that you won't even feel rushed if you follow the steps that I give you. That's a great question, by the way. Alright. You actually made a good point about taxes. It hasn't been too long ago that I've submitted financial aid for my master's degree.

35:37And, the good thing about taxes and IRS is that it's all altogether, in the financial aid application. So it's an electronic process that can just pull up all your information with a click of a button so that you're not doing all that manual paperwork. So if you're comfortable with that, that's another option that you have as well. That's a great reminder that it is an electronic world, and that's the value of an online degree because you can help other people and be good. And that's a very important part of what's going on in job opportunities this way. We didn't discuss that that most people need to come in having some some computer skills and and understanding, you know, everything from, you know, writing abilities, things that are gonna be communication skills.

36:27And so an online degree and how learning how to navigate the computer is very, very valuable in that essence. We've got people who in our program who took their bachelor's twenty five years ago. So getting back on that horse and riding is is not always easy, but the outcome is worth it. So that's important part. It it does go fast to get approved, to get through the system. And one important pick point to make on that question, there are some colleges right now that are on, just a small amount of people that are in the college, and maybe one person's working from home or one person's working in the facility. They will get your transcripts out electronically or by mail, but we will also get you accepted on an unofficial transcript and give you plenty of time to get that in because of the certain situation that's going on with COVID.

37:14So that's something I need to put out there for people who are feeling urgency, but they want it to go through quickly that doesn't hold you up. So these are some additional scholarships and grants that I actually talked about briefly. And for that individual who says, you know, none of these match up with me, we do in fact give you other ideas as well, but I, again, I can't remember an instance where there weren't at least two that financial aid can help you apply for. And some people go after private funds. You know, we've got folks in international countries that are very poor, and sometimes they get a benefactor. Maybe their parish helps them. Some agencies and organizations do have matching funds.

37:59There's gonna be such a need for people in all walks of the mental health fields after all this is over. You know? And I don't have a crystal ball, But I know beyond a shadow of a doubt knowing that we have lost as many people to the COVID virus as we have to Vietnam. There's gonna be a lot of people out there needing help. I don't think that you see your loved ones, you you know, put in a refrigerated truck and not be able to bury them or see them. It's not gonna affect many, many people. So you choosing to be a healer and going out there and helping people is going to be very important, And this investment is in you as well as all the people you touch. So we can find fundings. Yes. You have to you know, sometimes people just put it on their charge card and, you know, bill it out monthly and pay it back.

38:46Sometimes they spread payments out over a long period of time. But there's a lot of opportunities out there if you're worth you know, if you're willing to look for them. Now this last one, I don't want there to be any, confusion. The National Health Service Corps is a wonderful organization, but this is something that you have to do. And what often happens is you can get as much as $50,000 towards student loan debt after working three months of a two year agreement in an area designated by the federal government as low income or undeserved. This is a student driven thing that you have to do. But if you remember many years ago, and it is still very possible, there was a lot of teachers that just weren't coming into the industry.

39:28Well, if an area was indicated by low income or underserved, then what they would do is apply for assistance after they had worked in these areas, missionaries, teachers, for the National Health Service Corps. So this isn't after the fact, but it will continue to be in effect for people who are willing to go into difficult areas. Alright. So this wraps up our webinar for today. Before you leave, please make sure you, submit any questions that you have in the chat box. We have, one more that I see that's in there. But, for those of you who have to leave, thank you for joining today's webinar. You can learn more about our degree programs at divinemercy.edu. And as Michelle mentioned earlier, if you apply by May 6, you will receive a $1,000 scholarship, and you'll also be able to apply for free, which is valued at $55, until that May 6 date.

40:37Please jot down her contact information. She's always online for your services around the clock pretty much. Her phone number is (859) 414-5999. And, I see someone is here on the phone, so I'll read that off again. (859) 414-5999. And her email address is mdrennen@divinemercy.edu. So that's mdrennan@divinemercy.edu. And I think we had a couple questions in the chat, as you were talking here. So you might wanna bring those up as well, Ebony. Alright. Sure thing. So, yes, this webinar will be recorded, and sent out via email. So I will be making sure that we get that out to you. Another question we have is, will this program allow me to study the work of Edith Stein as it applies to psychology and the philosophy of psychology to develop mental health programs.

41:46So Edith Stein, not particularly, but, I'm sure you can read that work on your own. But we do have our integrated program, with the philosophy and psychology. Those two courses that were in yellow are actually the integration of philosophy, theology, psychology. And as far as developing a mental health program, that would be more so of your work with your capstone. So you're very well and open to, create that program and implement it, which will help you propel your career. I can help on that one, author. One of the things that often happens is, in the the guts of the actual curriculum, if you will, there may be times when, you know, you're using AP writing style that your, instructor may wanna be introduced to something.

42:37Yes. We have a specific curriculum that's designed especially for this degree, but there are gonna be times when you're gonna write a paper based upon the assignment that may bring in information and statements from a specific author. So that's not, ever something that doesn't happen. And I saw another class assist. Does this take one to two years? It does take two years. However, you do have a month off in the summer and a month off in the winter, each academic and some breaks in there. So even though you're taking one class every eight weeks, you need a breather to go on vacation, to, you know, have your worship time around Christmas. So, that's one of the things that people find very valuable about this degree as it can be integrated into their life.

43:23And, again, I'm not gonna tell you that it's a walk in the park, but indeed, you get out of here, you know, whether you're in management, administration, or on the front lines in emergency response, we don't want you to feel burnout. We want you to fill a robust education that's gonna help you with lots of wisdom in areas that you're gonna need and want and use the rest of your life. Alright. The next question we have, are there any online degrees and just research and pure psychology topics? I'm not sure if we may have confused anyone out there. Well, I think that sometimes people will come in and they just want a specific kind of psychology like, organizational behavior or whatever. One of the things that I've found in the world walking around a few years is you don't wanna limit yourself because if you have an overview of many, many dimensions, then you can be hired into more areas.

44:22I repeat the question one more time so I can make sure I answer it correctly. Alright. Are there any degrees in just research and pure psychology topics, not a business related degree? Absolutely. There is research in many of these, like, in that statistical arena that that we recognized. And sometimes in our gusto to find vocations that match up with everybody, we don't wanna eliminate anything. Would you mind sharing with me what your what your dream job opportunity is in the text? Thanks, Angela. I'll talk to you later. I see your your chat. So what what job opportunity is the person who asked that question looking for so that I can kind of tie it together? Okay. If I could take a look at that.

45:12Question that came in is can you join part time? And what is the difference in time frames for full time versus part time? One of the things that's joyful about our financial aid, if you will, is that because it is considered full time, it's easier for you to get funding. However, if you think back to your bachelor's degree, how many classes were you taking? You're only taking one class, one subject over an eight week period. So what I say to students, stop and think. Can you carve out in your life approximately fifteen hours a week? You know, average is about two hours a day. Keeping in mind, you can take your classes instead of them anytime night or day. You're not required to be on taking those classes.

46:01If you're disciplined and that's the way you do it, you're gonna find that's a much more reachable way to do it. You can't wait till you get online to get look at the next class. But as long as you're getting things in on time, you may have an occasional Zoom meeting with an instructor or, you know, get a group of people together, but it's almost as part time as it can be when you're only having to dedicate about fifteen hours a week. Any other, you know, bachelor's that most people have been in or master's usually have to put a lot more time in it. So that's why we structure it the way we do. I hope that answers your question on part time hours. Well, I think they're referring to the how long they'll they'll be a student.

46:41Well, they'd be a student the same time whether they did it part time or I mean, you if you if you did do it part time I don't know of anybody who's ever taken it part time at the masters of psychology. So it's two years to complete the whole master's degree. Again, you graduate in two years and four months because you have two months off each year. Is that a better answer? Okay. Maybe perhaps you could talk to our our registrar if you got to that point. Yeah. They help students who study part time, but we have plenty of part time students. So Well, more in the other programs, though, than the masters in psychology because ours is the the commitment is a lot. But you can just call me offline and tell me what you're looking for specifically, and I can also, you know, talk to you about the the day because we want you to be able to get as much funding as possible and sometimes going to even though it seems part time, it really is full time.

47:37Does that make sense? Okay. Alright. So to expound on the last question, as far as pure psychology, I believe this is connecting to our previous question. So, being interested in doing research, writing on a topic, and possibly teaching at the university level. Absolutely. We have many people who are in this program because they know that a master's will get them into a college teaching role. It's different in every state, obviously, but there's a considerable amount of research and the pure part of psychology in addition to the face based component. And that's why I would say, the person that's asking this question, if you wanna shoot me an email, I can send you the course descriptions as well, and you're gonna find the answers to what you're looking for because, yes, you have to do research in any psychology program, and you have to write papers.

48:35And that's really what your capstone is all about. It's like a thesis. And so sometimes when people are interviewing for research positions, with just a psychology degree, they're gonna submit their their thesis or their capstone as part of their application and resume. Alrighty. Our next question, does the school have any total scholarships? And based on academic activities, would the working class be able to cope well? I wish we had full scholarships, and my friends, I get answered that question on a daily basis. Sometimes more from an international perspective, sometimes from folks who, you know, don't come for the best economic situation. They got their bachelor's degree. You know, there's a lot of people right now who are not gonna go back to work and because people just businesses aren't gonna have the amount of money to hire back who they need to.

49:33And we're so, so sensitive to that situation. So that's why we try to be as generous as we can with scholarships, but it you know, many times, it's going to also require an investment in yourself to take out a loan. But, no, unfortunately, we don't offer any full. We are nonprofit, and our scholarships are actually based upon us procuring dollars to help our students go through school. Alrighty. Next question is, is it possible to begin the program at any time during the year? Is there any revolving admissions process? No. Because of the fact that we are cohort driven, and I don't know if you all know what that means, but we like for people to travel together in a pack. They start together.

50:21They graduate together, and it is the most amazing thing how close you get in an online environment. So with the masters, in psychology, January, this class that we're taking applications for right now is May, then we will have another one in August. The advice that I often give is indeed start when you're ready, but don't put it off. If you lose that gusto that you have, you also may you know, although our tuition increases are not large, you know, don't chase your dream. When you're ready, we can make it possible for you. But, of course, some people can't start until they actually graduate with their bachelor's. But, that's the way we handle start dates is, to make sure that plenty plenty of time is there.

51:04Another question. Are there any resources possible to reach out to alumni and speak with them about their experiences? And I'll just go ahead and speak on this. The easy way that you can do this, is to, if you have a LinkedIn account, feel free to look up Divine Mercy University MS in psychology, which is, the degree that you would earn. Feel free to reach out to them. Most of our alumni are very friendly. I've actually done that, in the last few months just to get those testimonials that you saw earlier. So that's one option. And, Michelle, would there be any other ways that you would There are many other options because I, you know, I I keep close relationships with my students. I I do this, and I've done it mostly as my lifetime career because there's no greater joy than watching people succeed.

52:02So I have several people that are always willing. Like, last class I a person asked if they could talk to a priest. I said absolutely. I have a someone actually very close to where I live. I don't usually get to meet my students, but he is, with FedEx. And when he leaves, he plans to become a deacon. And so I have many names. It's just like the one student, Alma, who was on there. She's talked to a couple of my students that have four and five children. I don't know how they do it. But, yes, sometimes people like to match up what their wisdom and what their background has been, with someone similar. And if I can find that in my group of students, I don't think I've ever had anybody say no. I'd be happy to talk to a future student.

52:44So that's a great question and something that we do all the time. And thanks for the reminder on the LinkedIn, if you will, Ebony. That's a great reminder. Alright. And another thing, I'm gonna put this, here in our chat box. But you can go to blog.divinemercy.edu. That's the area where we share a lot of our student, stories, their success stories, where they are now. We have faculty interviews. We have videos from our therapy clinic, that's on-site. And, you can just peruse through that that website, and it kinda gives you a a feel of what the student experience, why they chose our university, the scholarships that they earned. And it's kind of another way to kind of get to know our students and our alumni in another sense.

53:37If you may be more of the, introverted and not wanting to reach out, but you can still learn. So those of you who might be ready, I would be very happy to set up an interview with you. It's just an information interview. If it's in your heart and your soul and gut and God to go forward, I'll help you do that. And if we're not for you, we'll shake hands and part as friends. And having said that, I have an interview in seven minutes. So are there any other questions? Please do hold on to that number, and I will most likely, you know, touch base with each of you to see, number one, how you liked our webinar, and number two, if I can help you with anything, whether it's divine mercy or anything else that you're looking for.

54:17So, definitely, let's keep in touch. And I do have several of you that are on here that are already, about to start an application, so that was nice that you joined today. Alright. And before, we let you go, Michelle, I just thought that since we're all here, if you'd like to get, Michelle to give you a callback today at any point, just type in call call me or, you know, I'm interested in the chat box, and I'll be sure to get that over to Michelle, to be just a phone call away so we can get that over to her. Well, god bless each of you on this journey, and I really thank you for your gift of time. And stay safe out there and wash your hands. Alright. Take care, miss Patty. Bye bye. Alright.

55:12Bye bye.