Finding fulfillment

Cathleen Lyons, M.A. '26, Psy.D. '29, is building a career dedicated to helping others through hard times. La Salle University's doctoral Clinical Psychology Program gives her the foundation to succeed.

The doctoral Clinical Psychology program's faculty particularly stand out to Lyons as they all care about their students as individuals, taking the time to get to know and support them as they pursue their individual interests.

Growing up in the Washington, D.C., area, Cathleen Lyons, M.A '26, Psy.D. '29, saw the impact of mental illness on people and populations around her. Her surroundings and a high school psychology class are what first piqued her interest in psychology.

As she's progressed through her studies, the individual needs and complexities of her clients are what drives her passion.

"I feel like the brain is still kind of an unknown area, we know a lot about the body, but the brain is still more of a puzzle to us, and I find that very intriguing," she said. "Figuring out the puzzle that is each individual client and trying to learn how to tailor your treatment to fit exactly who they are, instead of a one-size-fits-all thing. Each patient is like a puzzle that we get to figure out, and I love that."

After earning her bachelor's degree from the University of Miami, Lyons knew she wanted to take the next step and further her knowledge with graduate studies. When she was looking for an institution to pursue her studies, La Salle University's doctoral Clinical Psychology Program stood out for two reasons.

"The first was the faculty experience here is really unique," she said. "There was a very wide range of research interests, so I felt like I could explore a lot of different areas."

The second highlight was the La Salle University Community Psychological Service, an on-campus training clinic where students can work with clients while they are completing the program.

"It's an amazing opportunity to get hands-on client experience and extra hours outside of externships," Lyons said.

The program has given her everything she was hoping for, Lyons said, adding that although it takes five years to earn your Doctor of Psychology, students are eligible for their master's degree after two.

"I feel like I'm gaining amazing experience, just really valuable supervision and experience here and the people in the program are fantastic," Lyons said. "I think the program's really strong; we have really strong outcomes. I think La Salle's name is definitely recognized among psychology facilities in the Philadelphia area."

The program's faculty particularly stand out, she said, as they all care about their students as individuals, taking the time to get to know and support them as they pursue their individual interests.

As well as the faculty, the clinic that first drew her to 20^th and Olney remains a highlight of Lyons' time as an Explorer.

"I love being on the clinic teams and being with and getting close to my cohort," she said.

All of the clinical psychology doctoral students work in the clinic for a minimum of three years. Each semester, they are put into teams made up of students from different years that cover clients coming in for various reasons.

Last semester, Lyons was on the depression team, she's currently on the assessment team, working with clients seeking treatment for conditions like attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and traumatic brain injuries (TBIs). There are also teams covering areas including health anxiety, trauma, and child psychology needs.

On top of the educational benefits of the clinic, it's also a good way to meet Explorers at different stages of their time in the program, Lyons said.

The Clinical Psychology Program is not just about academics, though.

Cathleen Lyons, M.A. '26, Psy.D. '29, (picture second from right) and members of her cohort at the Psy.D. Prom.

"Every year we have our PsyD prom, which is very fun," Lyons said. "We get together, we dress up, and we have a little mini prom."

In their second year, students begin externships. Lyons' first placement was at Elwyn, a community mental health services provider, and this year, she is working at the University of Pennsylvania Health System's Outpatient Psychiatry Center.

The hospital setting is one that she hopes to stay in after she graduates and begins her career, citing her enjoyment of working in a collaborative care environment.

"I love talking to their doctor, their psychiatrist, whoever is involved in their care so that we're all on a team together and can create this organized approach to care that's best for the patient," she said.

Teaching is also something Lyons would like to get involved with, and her eventual goal is to have her own practice.

As well as educational and clinical experience, La Salle has given Lyons insight into another facet of her field: research.

In June, she had her first article published in the journal Psychiatry, Psychology, and Law. Titled Peritraumatic Dissociation and Psychogenic Amnesia in Violent Offenders, the paper, which she described as a "side quest," stemmed from a term paper she wrote in a first-year class at La Salle.

Lyons wanted to know if traumatic events could cause memory blocks for violent offenders in the same way as they can for victims. The paper is a literature review of already published research in this area, and Lyons came to the conclusion that there were three possibilities when offenders were claiming memory loss: they were lying, there was an encoding issue in the brain, or the memory was never placed in the offender's brain. While lying was the option that appeared most often, the other two options weren't impossible, Lyons found, but there would be a lot more research needed to understand that.

After completing the paper, she realized it was the perfect length for a published article and decided to submit it. Lyons' paper was accepted, and she went through the steps to make it ready for publication.

"It was an educational experience to learn about the process. Also, it felt like a big accomplishment, especially because this was before I even had my master's," she said. "That they would accept and publish an article from someone so early in their career felt like an honor."

Lyons is also working consistently on her dissertation, which is focused on traumatic childbirth and the role of perceived autonomy, or how the sense of control a person has going into a traumatic birth can predict or relate to the development of postpartum post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). This is a fitting research area for Lyons, whose primary interests are trauma and PTSD with a focus on the perinatal population, or individuals spanning pregnancy through one year postpartum.

Throughout all of her studies, research, externships, and clinical hours, the personal connections and support that she can give her clients remains at the heart of Lyons' work.

"Sometimes we walk through really hard times with them, especially with trauma processing we walk through really, really dark times with them, but that means we also get to walk through the time when they're coming into the light again, and it makes all the hard times feel worth it," she said. "Being a steppingstone to help them live the fullest version of their life is the most fulfilling work in the world to me," she said.

-Naomi Thomas