The Flourishing Trainee: Operationalizing Self-Care Education in Clinical Psychology Training Programs
My dissertation used qualitative methods to explore the essential skills, knowledge, and attitudes of self-care on which clinical psychology trainees should be educated, and how to operationalize such education in clinical psychology training. Systematic literature review identified 16 themes, including nine themes on essential self-care skills for clinical psychology trainees.
WEX is always interested in learning from successful writers about their process. Here, Bonnie Zinn shares a few pointers:
How has WEX professional coaching/editing support promoted your academic and/or professional success?
WEX’s editing services were prompt, detailed, and professional. They were extremely helpful in certain areas including cleaning up my references, formatting, and finding all the small errors I had missed.
What advice would you give to others writing a dissertation?
First, commit to a reasonable writing/researching schedule, and follow it. I took the “something rather than nothing approach” meaning that on scheduled work days I tried hard to do some writing, rather than avoiding it entirely if my schedule changed. Avoidance feeds avoidance – don’t feed the monster! Second, try to structure research questions narrowly. Seek guidance from your chair and mentors about them before submitting your proposal.
What are your next steps in your academic/professional career?
Along with my co-author and committee member, I’m working on a book based on my research findings. I also hope to shorten my dissertation and have the findings published as a journal article. I’ll begin informal post-doctoral trauma training once I’m licensed.