by Samantha Hellberg, UNC Chapel Hill
Dr. Shannon Blakey is a postdoctoral fellow at the VA Mid-Atlantic Mental Illness, Research, Education and Clinical Center, a translational research center at the Durham VA Health Care System. She received her PhD in Clinical Psychology from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (UNC) after completing her clinical internship at VA Puget Sound in Seattle. In her current position, she spends approximately one-third of her time engaged in health services and approximately two-thirds of her time engaged in research and didactic activities. She also serves in various services roles, including serving as Chair of the Student Membership Committee for the Association of Behavioral and Cognitive Therapies (ABCT) and as Associate Editor for ABCT’s the Behavior Therapist.
I had the privilege of interviewing Dr. Blakey (SB) about her path to her current fellowship position, as well as her reflections on her clinical science training. Here, she shares advice for making the most of graduate school.
How did you end up in your current position, and what were some important choice points along the way?
SB: Two answers come to mind. First, I prioritized optimizing mentor/mentee fit at every juncture of my training. For example, I accepted a graduate school offer from the University of Wyoming because I found a fantastic mentor match there [with anxiety disorders expert, Brett Deacon, PhD]. After Brett unexpectedly relocated to Australia, I transferred to UNC to work with Jon Abramowitz, PhD, with whom I already had a positive working relationship (Jon previously mentored my undergraduate honors thesis). Most recently, although I was attracted to multiple postdoctoral fellowships, I came to the Durham VA because of the outstanding circle of mentors I get to work with here.
A second critical juncture in my graduate training was entering the VA Health Care System. Specifically, I completed a year-long UNC clinical practicum at the nearby Durham VA, which led to collaborations with several Durham VA researchers (who are now my outstanding postdoc mentors). My VA clinical work was stimulating and challenging in the best sense. It was because of my positive training experiences during VA practicum (and my subsequent VA internship) that I decided to pursue a VA research career.
Reflecting on your graduate training, what were the most impactful things that shaped your journey and growth?
SB: First, finding the right mentor—someone who would address my skills gaps, support my professional goals, and complement my personal style. I was fortunate to find many such mentors at Wyoming, UNC, and the Durham VA!
Second, I pushed myself to (respectfully) change the status quo to shape my training experiences. For example, the Durham VA practicum did not exist when I transferred to UNC—I had to create it. This involved more planning and paperwork than I anticipated, but the extra effort was worth it. Generally speaking, communicating honestly with my program/mentors about my training goals helped me tailor my graduate school experience while still meeting APA and UNC requirements.
Third, VA training significantly influenced my professional trajectory and growth. Prior to VA training, I had a limited understanding of potential clinical psychology career paths. Yet as a VA practicum student and intern, I witnessed a host of exciting psychology careers! Accordingly, I would encourage all PCSAS program students to seek training opportunities at an integrated healthcare setting.
Looking back now, anything you wish you had known during graduate school?
SB: Yes—many things! Mostly, I wish I had been more patient and tolerant of uncertainty. Early in, I thought I had to strategize a step-by-step plan to succeed in graduate school (e.g., develop a clinical specialty, publish in the “right” journals, get the “best” internship) and just stick to the plan. But what proved far more helpful than my anxious over-planning was ongoing self-assessment. Every semester, I would set aside time to intentionally check in with myself about how I was feeling. What were the activities I found most and least rewarding—was it teaching a class, mentoring an undergrad student, writing a research paper, or learning new assessments or interventions? Which settings, populations, and colleagues made me feel excited about the work I was doing? I enjoyed graduate school a lot more once I let the answers to those questions guide my decision-making.
Graduate students nowadays report a lot of pressure to develop clear long-term goals and expertise early on… to take on leadership roles and responsibilities, to publish, to apply for fellowships and awards, the list goes on. How have you navigated finding life/work balance as a clinical science trainee?
SB: The pressures you mention are real, and I wish I had shown myself more compassion around those pressures during graduate school. Nevertheless, I found it easier to balance these competing objectives when I spoke honestly with my mentors about what was required versus recommended or optional. By meeting program requirements as early as possible, I could be more selective in which opportunities I pursued (or declined) later on. Personally speaking, my outside-of-work life is much easier to enjoy when my work life is balanced, so calibrating my workload usually freed me to better engage in values-consistent activities with the people I care about. That said, I made it a point to never sync my work email to my phone—establishing that boundary was a healthy strategy for keeping life/work balance.
And with that: What are your thoughts on establishing the boundaries you need with mentors or supervisors to support your training (and life/work balance)?
SB: In my personal experiences, I found it helpful to delineate process from outcome. The outcome is some agreed upon metric or product (e.g., pass your classes, submit one manuscript per year, defend your thesis by Semester X). Clarifying the outcome was a helpful first step toward identifying my mentor’s or program’s expectations of me. Yet the process—how I went about achieving the outcome—was really up to me. Jon empowered me to set my own work hours, work style, and boundaries (within reason), and we assumed each other had the best intentions. It might be helpful for other students to remember that caring and invested mentors/supervisors want you to succeed. As such, I would hope that effectively communicating one’s professional and personal skills, limitations, and goals to one’s mentors/supervisors would lead to successful life/work balance.
How has the PCSAS framework been reflected in your training, and how have you been able to apply your training in clinical science to your current work?
SB: My training experiences in graduate school and the VA Health Care System prepared me to put the clinical scientist framework to practice in all of my professional work. In particular, my VA experiences allow me to simultaneously pursue cutting-edge research and empirically driven clinical practice. Although I appreciate the difficulties around the oft-mentioned “science–practice gap,” I am fortunate to experience a science–practice pipeline by working in an integrated healthcare system. That is, the VA stakeholders want research to be clinically driven and applicable, and professionals delivering clinical care look to the VA as leading generators of state-of-the-art scientific knowledge.
Do you have any thoughts about PCSAS, and how to improve our field in terms of clinical science training, implementation, or research?
SB: I would be excited to see more opportunities to develop interprofessional cultural competence (i.e., comfort and skill around working with people with different professional beliefs, attitudes, and practices) during graduate training. Unlike in traditional academia, many clinical psychology graduates work in interdisciplinary settings and teams comprised of physicians, psychiatrists, social workers, counselors, nurses, and spiritual care providers. Engaging with professionals from diverse training backgrounds during graduate school might afford clinical science trainees a better understanding of other models of mental health, which could make clinical science graduates more effective in their work. There are several practical barriers to interdisciplinary training, but taking classes, completing practica, or attending other learning experiences with trainees outside of clinical psychology could help us better communicate and collaborate with our colleagues from other disciplines. I optimistically believe that the quality of clinical care, the translatability of mental health research, and the integration of clinical and research endeavors would all be enhanced by improved interdisciplinary communication.
Do you have any closing remarks you’d like to share?
SB: I am incredibly grateful for the individuals—my mentors, supervisors, and peers—who supported my professional development. I gave graduate school my 100 percent, but I benefited tremendously from the help of others who, for some reason, wanted to help me. I urge every PCSAS trainee to pay it forward by helping others…we are all united in our goal of improving people’s health and wellbeing through the application of clinical science!
Author acknowledgements: Dr. Blakey is supported by the Department of Veterans Affairs Office of Academic Affiliations Advanced Fellowship in Mental Illness Research and Treatment. The views expressed are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the position or policy of the United States Government or Department of Veterans Affairs.
Interested in nominating a post-doc to be featured for a future edition of the Newsletter? Reach out to the PCSAS Newsletter at pcsascontributions@gmail.com!
Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed in this newsletter are those of the authors alone and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the Psychological Clinical Science Accreditation System (PCSAS).