Associate Professor of Psychology, Clinical Psychologist
About
What was your first step after undergraduate graduation & how did it impact your career path?
I graduated in December and was heading to St. Louis, MO for graduate school the following August, so I had a gap of about 9 months during which I worked both as a research assistant in a developmental psychology lab as well as a cleaner at the campus recreation facilities. The gym job was good and basically just helped cover bills, but the RA position was a huge step in the right direction for building my career—a really crucial positive experience for me. I learned a lot and was able to travel to conferences with the lab manager.
What are you doing today?
I work as a clinical psychologist. I teach undergraduate psychology courses full-time at SVSU, and I also have a small psychotherapy private practice where I see clients once a week. My coursework has some variety but mostly deals with mental health topics (e.g., clinical interviewing, psychological assessment, psychopathology), and I also enjoy running a small student research team. My private practice is geared toward routine adult outpatient counseling / talk therapy services, with an eclectic orientation (e.g., psychodynamic, existential, humanistic, CBT) toward treatment of issues including depression, anxiety, grief/loss, relationship difficulties, and other concerns. If anybody would like to learn more about me, you can check out my profiles on ResearchGate (https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Travis-Pashak), YouTube (https://www.youtube.com/profpash), Twitter (https://twitter.com/profpash).
How do you use your psychology undergraduate experience in your work?
I use it constantly! In teaching undergraduates, I frequently reflect back on my own undergraduate experience and try to offer my students many of the same positives while also growing and adjusting my pedagogy to serve the current cohort as best as possible. It's always about balancing high expectations and rigor with understanding and supporting students. I was in the Michigan Marching Band during undergrad, so reflecting on how that intersected with my studies helps me relate to students with other big time commitments (e.g., student athletes, students with demanding work schedules). And my junior year I developed Guillain-Barré Syndrome and needed to take a semester off while in rehabilitation, so reflecting back on that experience helps keep me sensitive to the wide variety of needs, barriers, and disabilities which my students may face on their journeys toward their eventual careers.
What inspired you to enter that field/job/profession? What excites you most about the future of your profession?
I have a hard time answering this question (the first part), because I have wanted to be a psychologist since learning the word "psychology" in third grade. It's one of those flashbulb memories that seems so vivid—the teacher was explaining that some people have this job which involves studying other people's minds, assessing their intelligence, etc., and I was immediately intrigued. For years I wanted solely to do applied clinical work, but the latter years of my undergrad helped me see the value in empirical research; so my goals shifted and I ended up pursuing a scientist-practitioner PhD program in hopes that I could land a career which blended teaching, research, and psychotherapy. I feel extremely fortunate to have done so. My excitements about the future are largely geared toward my students--I am always eager to see what kinds of questions my research team wants to explore, and to see how the landscape of mental health professions continues to grow and change with the influence of my students and alumni.
What advice do you have for students getting a degree in the UM Psychology Department or considering your profession?
Explore all your options and talk with people in your desired field to get a sense of what they do, why they do it, how satisfied they are, and whether they would recommend you to pursue it as well. You might be surprised to learn about the vast diversity of roles for which a psychology degree can help prepare you. The process of exploring, applying, and securing your eventual career might seem overwhelming but I encourage you to remain optimistic and flexible. And if you are specifically interested in a mental health career, check out this website I've been building (https://mimhhp.com/). It's a free resource intended to help answer common questions about available career paths, licensure options, training programs, etc., for those aspiring toward mental health helping professions in Michigan.
What was your favorite experience while studying in the UM Psychology Department?
I think I would have to say the experiences I had working with Dr. John Hagen (developmental psychology) were some of the most memorable, encouraging, and important to me, of all the time I spent in the UM psych dept. He invited me to join his lab and become a Research Assistant, and together we eventually presented at numerous conferences and published a few manuscripts. His model of small-teams research work, getting to know his students deeply, and building a strong mentorship relationship were uplifting for me and are characteristics I try to embody with my students today.
