Professional Development Plan

Personal and Professional Goals

It is almost hard for me to believe I am finally pursuing my Ph.D. My childhood, adolescent, and young adult years were full of situations and obstacles that hindered me from fully appreciating my aptitude for learning. So I arrived at the study Psychology by way of an erratically meandering path. However, I firmly believe my experiences in life have allowed me to have a deeper appreciation for education and pushing yourself beyond basic standards. As an African-American man, academic and life standards are set dismally low for us by society. I am grateful to have had the caring and compassionate influence of my grandmother, who was an educator, to always apply myself in academic pursuits, learn about my cultural history, and to never be satisfied with getting by or achieving the bare minimum. Her influence has kept me going even until now, and I am ever grateful for having this strong and long-lasting motivation.

I grew up in a poor neighborhood in South Dallas. Seeing someone killed or not having enough food to eat was a daily occurrence. My mother has a diagnosis of Schizoaffective Disorder and her condition directly impacted the early years of my life. I did not understand her condition. I doubt much of my family understood it either. No one ever talked about why my mother spoke or behaved as she did. My mother is very intelligent. She used to play piano and was a singer. She also learned sign language, which came in handy after she had a series of strokes. Signing was her only way of communicating during that time. I have to admit; I do wish she would have taught me more sign language. Now I find myself yearning to learn more as I live very closely to Gallaudet University, the University for the Deaf. I look forward to increasing my signing skills and using it in my practice in the future.

I remember first feeling depressed in the first or second grade. As my family did not talk about mental health or illnesses, I do not believe I knew I was depressed at the time. My mother’s mental health continued to deteriorate. Moreover, for a very long time, we were homeless. We would sleep on the steps of churches, on park benches, and rummage through grocery store dumpsters for food. Soon, my mother developed a drug addiction. I remember one time she took me along and left me in the car while she went to get high. My purpose for being there was to make sure no one stole her car. My mother’s addiction severely impacted her mental condition and she began to be highly irrational. She would use all of our public assistance to trade for drugs. Soon, we began going from church to church, various denominations, just to get food.

My grandmother did her best to make sure my brothers and I had food and clean clothes. We lived with her for a while. It was cramped, but it was better than being homeless. Around the age of 10, I began working a local video store. I was paid very little, but it was enough to make sure we had food. My mother was still trading public assistance for drugs and also stealing money from my grandmother, who was already on a limited budget. These events caused me to have to grow up very quickly. I never knew my father, and I still do not know who he is today. However, even at my young age, I began to feel it was my obligation to help take care of the family. Not long after I began middle school, my mother put me out of the house, so I began to live in a homeless shelter. It was difficult, but I made a few friends. I was eventually adopted by one of my high school teachers. However, even this situation became one full of abuse and was one of the toughest times for me. I contemplated and attempted suicide several times. However, I survived, graduated late from high school, and was accepted to Howard University.

By this time, I was heavy into music. I sang opera and my grandmother adored my performing. She was so very proud of me and was my biggest fan. At night, I taught myself computer programming, teaching myself how to code websites and other things, as I did in high school. Soon, my grandmother passed away and I found it difficult to continue singing. She was my constant and once she was gone, I felt adrift in life. Not long afterwards, my grades began slipping again. My adoptive father withdrew financial support from and I lost my apartment and all of my belongings. I was again living on the streets, sleeping in professors’ offices, and in the chapel. It was a very rough time for me mentally and physically. Soon, I found a place to stay and I began working part-time in computers. I always considered programming as a hobby but knew I needed to take care of myself.

This began my 17+ year run working in the IT field. During this time, I excelled to become one of the highest-paid contractors in the area without having a degree. I have been blessed to work for several government organizations and have learned many programming languages and techniques along the way. Now, I mentor and teach others how to code and program in addition to working full-time. While I enjoy IT, it is a lonely and solitary profession. I spend most of my time in front of a computer rather than interacting with others. I enjoy meeting new people and helping others. A few years ago, after taking a class for family members who have loved ones living with mental illness, I had a severe mental health crisis. I was hospitalized and diagnosed with Borderline Personality Disorder. As a result of being hospitalized, I lost 90% of my friends. It was another trying time for me, so I began to seek out ways to deal with my illness. I began reading more about influence and persuasion and joined a group of men who use these techniques in dating. I never used what I learned for dating, but I did find these techniques useful for personal and professional improvement.

This when I began mentoring friends and co-workers, where I helped them secure higher paying positions and other achievements. One of my best mentees not only secured a position that gave her a $40K raise, but she also was successful in getting married earlier this year. All of these interactions caused me to seriously consider heading back to school to get my degree in Psychology. I wanted to learn more about how the brain works and how we influence and persuade others. I found Walden to be the only university that provided a BS of Psychology, and this was very important to me because I had the goal of wanting to conduct research and possibly become a professor in the future.

While in undergrad, I was determined to do my very best while still working full-time. I have no idea how I was able to achieve the immense amount of success I did. However, upon graduating with my BS this past summer, I graduated Summa Cum Laude with Presidential Honors for maintaining a 4.0 GPA and I joined every honor society available, including Alpha Sigma Lambda and Psi Chi. The only sad part about my graduation was that my grandmother was not able to see me graduate. However, I am very grateful and thankful for the experience and discoveries I have made about myself and others during undergrad. I discovered that I enjoy speaking about my illness and helping others to navigate their journeys to recovery. My time in undergrad has guided me to become a teacher and presenter with the National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI) and to pursue my Ph.D. in Social Psychology with a minor in Clinical Psychology. Additionally, I have come to discover that I immensely enjoy researching the positive and negative affects of Religion and Spirituality and how groups can transform from congregations to cults.

When my Ph.D. is conferred, I plan to continue to conduct research on indigenous domestic religious groups, discrimination, prejudice, bias, and possibly pursue an academic position. However, I believe I would only accept a professorship from an overseas university. My main focus is research and applying my expertise in other areas. I plan to continue to mentor others and further my work to eliminate the stigma of mental illness. I feel it is my responsibility to speak and advocate for those who cannot do so for themselves. With my current knowledge, I have been able to learn more about myself and others. I understand and have more compassion for my mother than I have before. Moreover, being able to understand myself, why I have reacted a certain way and how I may need to change my views of someone, has afforded me more patience and the ability to help diffuse difficult situations.

Currently, I conduct presentations for law enforcement to help them understand their encounters with citizens living with mental illness. Recently, there has been a steady occurrence of law enforcement officers fatally shooting or abusing citizens going through mental health crises. Through my work with NAMI and other organizations, I hope to bring about a change of perspective and policy concerning how citizens living with mental illnesses are treated and addressed by law enforcement during a mental health crisis. I want to use my story to help others from similar backgrounds and situations to see that we are not defined by what is done to us but rather how we take that energy and those experiences to help ourselves by helping others. I firmly believe my attendance at Walden University has positively shaped my abilities and guided my goals to be successful in promoting and sustaining social change in my community and the world at large.

Educational Background and Research Proficiencies

I received my bachelor’s degree in psychology from Walden University. I do not believe I would have been able to achieve this milestone had online learning not progressed to its current highly functional and intuitive state. During undergrad, I took courses in developmental psychology, personality, brain function, statistics for behavioral sciences, abnormal psychology, social psychology, influence, persuasion, and applying psychology to social change. These courses have provided a solid foundation to expand my knowledge as I pursue my Ph.D.

Currently, I have not conducted or participated in any research studies. However, I have made several connections with some of the leading researchers in my chosen specializations. My wife is also pursuing her Ph.D. in Social Psychology at Walden. Once I began telling her about some of the research I had read concerning the Psychology of Religion and Spirituality, she also became interested in the specialization. She is focused on personality and identity development, group dynamics, peacebuilding, and conflict resolution. On a whim, my wife and I decided to attend the 2014 APA convention in DC. This decision proved to be very fruitful for us. From the connections we have made, both local and abroad, we have been able to map out a preliminary research plan, including on-site and remote projects, including partnerships with the University of Maryland, Ohio State University, Tel Aviv University, Cambridge University, Oxford University, and the University of Texas at Austin.

I am very dedicated to achieving my academic and personal goals, no matter how long it takes. Recently, my depression flared up and took a turn for the worse. It is frustrating to have to work around this condition, but I am thankful for the opportunities it has given me to help others and discover my weaknesses and strengths. One weakness I have is that I set very high standards for myself. In my current state, I will not be able to achieve them and this has caused me to become very frustrated with my current academic and cognitive performance. But until I become stable, I will have to slow my progress down and remain consistent. Academic excellence is extremely important for me. And I instill this in my children. However, I realize that I cannot try to force myself to work at a level that I am unable to successfully achieve. Instead of taking several classes at time during my doctoral program, I will pace myself accordingly. As long as I remain consistent, I know I will achieve my goals.

One of my main strengths is being able to explain concepts in presentations and formulate solid hypotheses with concrete supportive evidence. Working along with my wife and our collaborators, I look forward to using these skills to conduct meaningful studies and further my personal cause of helping to eliminate the stigma of mental illness. Additionally, through participating in my residencies and continuing my professional organizational memberships and events, I will gain a deeper insight and understanding of new concepts and further my transition from student to scholar-practitioner. Without the flexibility and support of Walden, I doubt I would have ever been able to achieve the newfound success I have in the past three years.

Program of Study

Ph.D. Psychology - Social Psychology

Program of Study

2015-2016 Walden University Catalog

Planned QuartER/YEAR (ex: Fall 2015)	Course Code	Course TItle	Credit Hours	SUGGESTED QUARTER
FALL 2015	PSYC 8000	Foundations for Graduate Study in Psychology	5	1
-	PSYC 8247	Social Psychology	5
WINTER 2016	RESI 8401Y	Ph.D. Residency 1		2
WINTER 2016	RSCH 8100Y	Research Theory, Design and Methods	4
FALL 2015	PSYC 8201	Social Cognition	5
-	PSYC 8221	Psychology of Personality	5	3
WINTER 2016	RSCH 8200Y	Quantitative Reasoning & Analysis	4
SPRING 2016	PSYC 8203	Attitudes / Attitude Change	5	4
SPRING 2016	PSYC 8202	Survey Research Methods	5
SUMMER 2016	RESI 8402Y	Ph.D. Residency 2		5
SUMMER 2016	PSYC 8701	Culture and Psychology	5
SUMMER 2016	PSYC 8204	Intergroup Relations	5
FALL 2016	PSYC 8706	Advanced Social Psychology	5	6
FALL 2016	RSCH 8300Y	Qualitative Reasoning & Analysis	4
WINTER 2016	PSYC 8115	Writing a Quality Prospectus	5	7
WINTER 2016	PSYC 8703	Ethics and Standards of Psychology	5
SPRING 2017	RESI 8403Y	Ph.D. Residency 3		8
SPRING 2017	RSCH 8250Y	Advanced Quantitative Reasoning & Analysis	4
SPRING 2017	PSYC 8XXX	Psychology Elective	5
SUMMER 2017	PSYC 8XXX	Psychology Elective	5	9
SUMMER 2017	PSYC 8XXX	Psychology Elective	5
FALL 2017	PSYC 8XXX	Psychology Elective	5	10
FALL 2017	PSYC 8XXX	Psychology Elective	5
WINTER 2018	PSYC 9000Y	Dissertation	5	11
SPRING 2018	PSYC 9000Y	Dissertation	5	12
SPRING 2018	RESI 8404Y	Ph.D. Residency 4
SUMMER 2018	PSYC 9000Y	Dissertation	5	13
FALL 2018	PSYC 9000Y	Dissertation	5	14

Please note: Students must take courses in the order presented.

The Academic Residencies do not need to be taken in specific quarters; students should plan to attend the Academic Residencies according to these recommendations:

Residency 1: Socialization - as soon as you enroll in your program

Residency 2: Research Methods - within 18 months of your start date or linked to registration in your first Research course

Residency 3: Prospectus and Proposal - by the end of your third year

Residency 4: Scholar-Practitioner - during your third year and beyond

Residency 2 and/or 4 may be completed as a Virtual Residency.