SOLES Alumna Spotlight: Juliana Abercrombie ‘16 (MA), Clinical Mental Health Counseling

SOLES Alumna Spotlight: Juliana Abercrombie ‘16 (MA), Clinical Mental Health Counseling

SOLES Alumna Spotlight: Juliana Abercrombie ‘16 (MA), Clinical Mental Health Counseling
Please share about your degree program and why you chose SOLES to pursue that degree.
Earning my Master’s in Clinical Mental Health Counseling was kind of a journey. I started with my Bachelor’s in Psychology and Spanish, and I loved it. But, I specifically did not want to do counseling – that’s what I told all of my advisors when I was graduating from undergrad. Pretty frequently, I got these nudges: “But you know, you should consider it. You like people, you like psychology. Those things really come together.” I did some more exploring post-undergrad, and that's when I got to know more about what it means to be a mental health counselor and a therapist, and I kind of took myself out of that stereotype of what a therapist is. Once I actually understood more of what it meant - it was beautiful.
 
I reached out to my undergraduate professors and learned more about what their experiences had been, kind of the practical applications of psychology, and decided that I did want to be a licensed professional clinical counselor at some point. As I was looking into programs from there, USD immediately jumped to the top of my list. One, because San Diego is gorgeous, and being from Texas, I knew I wanted to move somewhere that had better weather. Looking into USD, the focus on social justice and the international experiences and I for a very long time had a strong connection and passion for serving and working within the Latinx community. That’s how I identify, as well, so that work has always been really important to me. USD has such a strong foundation and collaboration within the Linda Vista community, which is very diverse and has a lot of immigrant and Spanish-speaking populations, which was everything I wanted to do.
 
I applied to USD and didn’t hear back for a long time, so I committed to a different graduate program with a slightly different focus area. I was able to connect with Dr. Ana Estrada and talk to her more about the program, getting a firsthand account of what it’s like to be a student and a Torero. Talking with her made me realize what it could mean for my professional and personal development to be in San Diego and at USD, and have the opportunities this program offers. That is ultimately what got me here. I love people, I love service and especially serving those who are traditionally under-resourced or traditionally, maybe not considered for some programs, especially in the world of mental health. USD offered me every opportunity to learn how to meet that need and to do it in the best way I possibly could. So it was kind of a match made in heaven, and it worked out really nicely at the time. So I was very, very happy that I got to ultimately switch my decision and come to USD for my graduate program.
 
Who would you say was your favorite professor during your time in the program? 
I have to start with Dr. Estrada – she was amazing and the reason why I came to USD, as well as the reason I survived the experience. She was such a wonderful mentor and colleague. I loved her Positive Psychology class and that kind of fed that interest area for me. Her mentorship was huge; she was there for me professionally and personally, in navigating what it’s like to be an out-of-state student coming to USD, and what it’s like to sit and wrestle with my own identity and how that was impacting my professional development and my personal experiences. I identify as white Latina – I am bicultural, and biethnic. Dr. Estrada helped me to explore that and what it means as a counselor. How is that serving me in my personal life and in my self-care, as well as does it show up professionally? What does that mean for me in the passions I serve and the populations I want to work with? Huge shoutout to Dr. Estrada. She was also really great with advice and mentoring after graduation as I moved into the professional roles there. 
 
What was your favorite class in the program?
I have to say my favorite class was Positive Psychology because I just loved it. It was something I had already had a personal interest in, and I was already involved in research with Dr. Estrada and positive psychology at that point. Being in the class allowed me to get information and perspective on parts of positive psychology that we hadn’t touched on in our research group since we were very focused on interventions and experiences of immigrant youth, in particular. The class was more wide-reaching – we got to go over a lot of different topics. We got to select and deep dive into areas that particularly appealed to us. I even got to create my own intervention plan – my own positive psychology program that was informed by the research I was doing with the group, but was uniquely my own, so it was great. Through that because of the topicality, themes, and pillars of positive psych, it’s also really informative for personal growth. It became a space to hone in and strengthen myself, and that’s something I’ve definitely carried with me and still use within my professional focus on positive psychology.
 
Can you explain briefly what Positive Psychology is? 
Positive psychology, in the simplest terms I can think of, is the study of thriving. How do we move from being someone who is surviving in life to being someone who is thriving? That includes making space for negative and positive experiences. How do I recognize that when bad things happen, maybe I can learn from it and my strengths – like resiliency – can support me in overcoming whatever the negative experience might be? On top of that, how do I savor it? How do I find ways to practice gratitude or practice savoring and being mindful of the present moment? In my experience, positive psychology is all about taking what's working and reinforcing it – having it work even better, and expanding it so it works in different areas of our life.
 
Can you talk a little bit about your position as a Research Assistant?
I was a part-time research assistant, first for Dr. Mae Gonzales, and then later officially for Dr. Ana Estrada. The research was specifically focused on the experiences of immigrant communities. What does it mean to be a Spanish-speaking immigrant coming to the US and San Diego? How do you access resources? How do you foster internal strength for yourself and for your community? During the three years I worked with Dr. Estrada, we created an intervention plan and got to work with local Linda Vista schools to implement programs. We did a couple of two-week programs and a couple of every other week programs working with local middle schoolers, and older elementary students, as well. It was really neat; we did it in English and Spanish.
 
Did you have any other involvement on campus as a student? 
In addition to Dr. Estrada’s work, I worked with Dr. Gonzales and we did a lot of research presentations, as well. We went to several local conferences, and the national AMHCA conference, and we presented on the actual research we were doing but also the actual practical application of the research knowledge. I was a SOLES Student Ambassador, and we went to a lot of the different events on campus for incoming and current students. I had an official Graduate Assistant (GA) position through undergraduate admissions. I did that for 2.5 years, and that was about 25 hours a week. That was in addition to working a part-time job off campus, too. I definitely kept busy during graduate school!
 
Can you talk about your international experience?
We were a relatively small cohort, but I want to say that almost half of us ended up going on a trip to Madrid. We got to be in the USD Madrid Center for the program in Central Spain for a summer international experience traveling with Dr. Ana Estrada and Dr. Moisés Barón. While there, we took Group Counseling and Multicultural Counseling, and we lived with a local family. I rode the metro to class every day and we had longer weekends so we could explore the city or other parts of Spain. We were doing our own independent research into different multicultural topics. I was focusing on the experience of immigrants in Spain, and how they may have similar or different experiences to those who are immigrating to the United States. It was amazing! We got to explore the culture – as much as you can in three weeks in a different country. We got to get close to our host family…our host parents taught me local recipes, gave me pointers on my Spanish, and gave us recommendations for where to go on the weekends so we could get to know more about the country.
 
One of my absolute favorite experiences was when a group of us took a long weekend and went down to Southern Spain so we could explore Granada and Sevilla to understand more of what it’s like to be in the southern portion of the country. Central Spain, the capital is beautiful and amazing. It has so many incredible people and areas to explore. Southern Spain feels very different. Seeing what it’s like for immigrants in that part of the country and for us to be able to explore a different side of the culture and history of Spain was amazing. That became a big part of the culmination of our international experience, too. 
 
As for the living situation, we all got paired up. My housing situation in particular was me and two of my classmates. We each had our own room, so we were staying in a house that had 3 spare bedrooms so the 3 of us had our own space. We had dinner every night with our Spanish family, and oh, they were just wonderful! We were there over the Fourth of July and we came home from classes that day and our family had sparklers out on the patio for us, she made hamburgers and said they wanted to celebrate with us as well. So we had a fun Spanish celebration of American Independence Day, and it was so cool to have that exchange of cultures. 
 
Can you talk a little bit about your experience as a student during your practicum/fieldwork? 
My practicum year was the third year of my program, and it was probably the hardest year of my program because it was a chance to take everything I’d learned for two years and go do those things. For my practicum year, I was an intern at the Alvarado Parkway Institute (API), which is an inpatient psychiatric hospital in La Mesa. 
 
I was there as part of the psychological services team. I did individual therapy, I did group therapy, and I did rounds checking in on clients or patients in varying states of need. It was something I specifically chose because I wanted to challenge myself. I wanted to put myself in what felt like the most intensive experience I could find during my practicum year because I had so much support. During my practicum placement, I had individual and group supervision at the psychiatric hospital with their team, and I had individual and group supervision on campus with the faculty and professors. So doubling supervision everywhere, I felt ready. It was really hard serving folks who voluntarily, and a lot of the time involuntarily, were in the hospital for an assortment of needs. It was hard and I’m so glad I did it. I got to try out all the skills I had been learning, adjust, and find more of my style as a counselor. I loved the clients I got to work with, and my team there; it was great. 
 
Were you the only student doing your practicum there?
There were a bunch of us. API keeps a pretty big psychological services office because they serve so many folx in the hospital. From SOLES, there were probably five or six of us who were all interning there at the same time, in addition to master’s and doctoral level interns from a whole bunch of other programs across San Diego. We would come in, and everybody would be comparing notes from classes and comparing notes from the clinical perspective of their faculty members. It became a cool growth opportunity and it expanded my perspectives professionally. It was also a really great networking opportunity; I’m still connected with a lot of those interns, either as friends or colleagues. 
 
Where would you say your favorite place on campus is? 
It’s different now than when I was a student. As a student, it was absolutely Bert’s Bistro. The outside patio has to be my favorite, whether it’s for studying or just catching my breath and staring off at the bay in the distance. Everything about Bert’s somehow always matched whatever energy or vibe I needed. Every time I walk in there – even now – I instantly just get a flash of the memories of meeting with my groups, working on projects, or even coaching myself to make sure I eat before I go to class. I would say Bert’s was my favorite spot. 
 
Now as an employee, I've shifted to across the street, and I love Garden of the Sea – the garden behind the Joan B. Kroc Institute for Peace and Justice building with the reflection pool and benches. It is always calm. Without even saying anything, people seem to know and respect that it is a quiet space to restore. Whenever I can, I will take a little stroll down to the reflection pool to just have a sit and breathe to recenter. I didn’t spend enough time there as a student. 
 
What would you say is your favorite memory from your time in the program?
Oh, gosh! Favorite memory? That is really hard because I have a lot of them. I’ll name this: one of my absolute favorite memories is through the research assistantship. We were doing an outreach program with a local middle school. All of us who were involved were preparing to do day three of our program. Dr. Estrada was there running command, making sure everything was coming together, and each of us students was in charge of different interventions for each of these students. That day nothing was going according to plan. It became an exercise in flexibility for us. How do we adjust to being able to carry out the interventions, the programs, and activities that we had planned for these middle school students today in a way that respects the heart of what we're doing, which is to be there and present and nurture strength and positive psychology themes in our community? We ended up pivoting and having to do emotion charades with the students to teach them how to effectively identify their own emotions and recognize emotions in other folx. Our team put our heads together and adapted. Dr. Estrada was behind us, making sure the school administration was on board. We had such a flow. It was so clear to me at that moment how much we all cared. How engaged and invested we were in the research, in the work, and in the community. It was a really strong reminder for me why I chose USD, and why I wanted to be a mental health counselor.
 
Can you talk about ways you’ve remained involved with USD as a SOLES alumna? 
I did teach one course, Positive Psychology, during an intersession term. It was during the tele-learning experience, which was interesting and unique. It was a quicker course because the intersession courses are only about three weeks long. It’s such an important topic and I was able to co-facilitate that with another SOLES alum, my colleague and cohort mate, Colene Lippman. It was a great experience, I’ve also come back to campus several times to do panels for current CMHC students. I’ve done alumni panels on finding jobs after graduation and panels on how we’ve used positive psychology in our work with individuals who have really severe and persistent mental health conditions. I've come back and done some things around conferences on campus and been an alumni rep at some of those, as well. For the most part, my involvement was coming back and participating in the panels to give an alumna perspective, and teaching the course. I currently work on campus in the Counseling Center, but previously when I worked in the community mental health clinic, I also had the opportunity to supervise some of our clinical mental health interns during their practicum year. That became a great way to foster and carry forward some of my experiences and share them with new interns. 
 
Can you share a little bit about what's happened since graduating from SOLES? 
Not long after graduation, I accepted a position at the Maria Sardiñas Wellness and Recovery Center, which is an outpatient mental health clinic in South Bay San Diego that serves around 600 clients who are all experiencing severe, persistent mental health conditions and typically have challenges accessing housing or food resources. A lot of folks who are uninsured or may have Medi-Cal insurance. I did that for five years; starting as a clinical case manager, stepping into bilingual roles, and working my way up into management, which is where I had the opportunity to supervise some of our CMHC interns who came to the site for their practicum. I loved that work. The research, the classes, and even my practicum while a student at USD prepared me to be able to do community mental health during that time. I absolutely loved it and learned so much. 
 
About a year and a half ago I made the transition and came back to USD, now as a mental health counselor with our Wellness team and the Counseling Center on campus. This is kind of coming back to the heart of what I originally wanted for counseling. When I first applied to USD, I talked about the passion I had for serving my Latinx community, the passion I had for serving Spanish-speaking individuals, and the passion I had for serving young adults, which was something I just hadn't had the opportunity to do as much. Being back on campus, getting to continue serving those passion populations, and coming home to my Torero family – to my USD community – has felt very full circle. Giving back to it and getting to serve all those populations, especially on a campus where sometimes, looking around, we don't realize how much diversity there really is here. Being able to intentionally create a space for students to be. Whether you're an undergraduate or graduate student, a professional continuing education student, anyone coming into our Wellness office is a human first and foremost. How can we support you in whatever state you may be in? It's been like coming home, and a cool opportunity to bring it all back together and come back to campus.
 
How did you find your way back to campus? 
It was through the professional network. When I was leaving my position in community mental health, I was kind of looking out to see where I wanted to go next. I knew it was time for a change. I wanted to come back to something that served my passions. I reached out to Dr. Ana Estrada and said, “I'm considering this. Can we meet up for coffee? Let's talk more about this”. Through my conversation with her, I got reconnected with Dr. Christopher Burden. I started talking with the team here and some opportunities were coming up, so I applied and rejoined USD as a temporary counselor to help fill the need for a lot of folks coming out of the pandemic quarantine seeking services. Around the same time, one of my cohort mates also came on as a temp counselor to help out. It was through that network, the USD family. Within the mental health realm, but especially in the USD Counseling realms, folx keep in touch. We know and recognize the heart of what drives us, and it's been a really good community to stay connected with. It's very helpful and very supportive, professionally, and really warm and nurturing, too. It's a much closer connection than I expected to have with any of my professors. There are a number of them that I've kept in touch with since graduation. Dr. Estrada and Dr. Burden are the primary ones that I have the most contact with, but definitely not the only ones.
 
How would you say that your education from SOLES has impacted your career and helped you set career goals for the future?
I mean, it's all of it. I came in with a lot of raw material. I knew I had an interest in people. I had some background in psychology. I knew vaguely where I wanted to go, and the kind of work that I wanted to do. SOLES gave me clarity and it gave me direction. Not in the sense of someone else deciding “This is the path that you're on”, but really empowering me and encouraging me to find the path that felt right for me. Through the CMHC program and my graduate education, I learned the practical skills I needed to be a therapist. But I think the larger impact was the personal growth in figuring out who I am as a therapist. That includes where I wanted to go with it. The people that I want to serve, the work that I want to do, the advocacy, and expanding my own experiences that I wanted to keep exploring. SOLES planted a lot of seeds and then helped those grow in a direction that felt true and authentic to me. I like mental health. I like being a therapist. I'm so glad I found my way back to counseling after my undergrad.
 
What do you do for your own self-care, mental health, and wellbeing? 
It changes depending on what's going on for me. That was something I thought was big during my graduate education. We always talked about self-care. We talk about it, and you need to do it, and you need to learn it, and you need to get something that works for you. But no one ever actually tells you what yours is supposed to be. It is intentional because it is unique to the person. But for me, something I found my way back to during graduate school was running. I had always found running to be an escape when I was younger, but not something I had intentionally done outside of organized sports. Running is a big self-care for me now – and walking my dog. Through my master's program, but especially during my practicum year, I realized how restorative it was for me to be outside. There is absolutely nothing better to me than sitting under a big leafy tree when the wind is blowing. That is my happy space. So I will gladly take a run, take my dog for a walk, drive, row, whatever it takes to get to a spot where I can spend some time outside. It's very calming for me.
 
What advice would you give to a current Clinical Mental Health Counseling student?
I would say to take it all in and breathe. The graduate experience is incredibly busy and challenging regardless of your program. I can say from the CMHC side that it was really hard. It was something I was passionate about and something I knew I wanted to do, but it was really hard. Having the chance to catch my breath to pause, really look around at what I was doing, what I was learning, and where I was starting to figure out to go next. Taking that time to catch my breath, I can remember the things that I'm grateful for, the things that I'm driven for, and that I don't have to do it alone. Professors and classmates, and grabbing a snack at Bert’s after class. Remember to catch your breath and take care of yourself. It's just as important as ever to eat, sleep, and drink water – things that are pretty quickly shoved to the bottom of the to-do list when you're a busy graduate student. Just remembering to pause and breathe, and check-in with each other, is the biggest advice I would give to somebody.

Contact:

Amanda Gonzales
amanda@sandiego.edu
(619) 260-4539

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