Professional Development Interview Essay

The professional development interview was very insightful because it provided me with useful knowledge and information for the career path I hope to follow. I conducted my interview with Dr. Julia Felton, who is a child clinical psychologist and a faculty at the University of Maryland, College Park. In addition to working as a researcher and Director of the Clinical Psychological Sciences Masters Program, she also works in a private practice, providing clinical care to primarily children and adolescences. Her research focuses on Dr. Felton’s research focuses broadly on gender differences in developmental psychopathology.

I decided to pursue clinical psychology for the professional development interview because it is very fascinating to

For example, I learned within the field of clinical psychology, there are various aspects of the field. Currently, Dr. Felton does clinical work, research, and academia. This information was valuable because I am interested in both clinical work and research, I had previously assumed I would have to pick one and could not combine both aspects. Another important information I learned is after graduating from a clinical psychology Ph.D. program, you have to complete at least a year of clinical internship and postdoctoral fellowship. Dr. Felton completed her internship her clinical internship and postdoctoral fellowship at the National Crime Victims Research and Treatment Center at the Medical University of South Carolina. She really enjoyed it and decided to stay an additional year before she accepted her current position at the University of Maryland. Through the interview, I began to understand clinical psychology could be an emotional draining career at times. For example, Dr. Felton treats victims, specifically, children and adolescence of abuse and crime. However, she did explain that children have a lot of resilient and it is very rewarding to see them get better over time. Some of her responsibilities in her private practice includes identify and diagnosing psychological, emotional or behavioral issues, developing treatment plans for clients, and helping clients reach their goals through various therapeutic