It was always my intention to ‘make a difference’ with my life rather than merely to ‘make a living’. Since my earliest days, I have been very interested in how the mind works and the wide differences between individual reactions to similar situations and challenges. All my adult academic and working experience has been devoted to the study and practice of psychology and counselling except for a period spent in a ‘call centre’. This experience was also very useful as one cannot function well in that field without acute listening skills, a genuine ability to empathize and then to find and apply effective solutions.
I now seek to extend my skills and knowledge in Counselling Psychology to maximize my utility to clients, to enable me to eventually pursue a Ph.D., and then to practice and teach as an expert in the field. My interests are wide but I have developed a particular area of interest is in assisting child patients and their families because of the levels of distress and sacrifice that I have observed.
Once I had been awarded my Bachelor degree (B.Sc. (Hons) Psychology with Counselling) I was fortunate to be offered an internship at a prestigious center for the treatment of ‘special needs’ children in Dubai in January 2013 and, once the internship was complete in August 2014, to be offered a full time position there as an ABA/VBT Therapist. I believe that this appointment was made in acknowledgement of my enthusiasm, effectiveness and commitment to clients and their families during my internship.
I have been the beneficiary of first class training provided by expert therapists and specialists. I am now allowed much autonomy in my current role but always with easy access to expert support and oversight. I have acquired significant ‘hands on’ experience of cooperating with other team members, relating well to clients and their families and in planning and flexibly implementing treatment plans. I have found enormous satisfaction in the work to date. To see even small incremental steps achieved and the smiles of the children and their families, once reached, has been highly rewarding. My experience to date has fully confirmed me in my career choice and my wish to acquire all the skills and knowledge of which I am capable to assist as many clients as possible and to enable others to do so by sharing the fruits of my own advanced studies and work.
While my work to date has been limited to child therapy, I am also very interested in acquiring the skills to enable me to treat adolescents and adult clients in such matters as substance abuse, the making of educational or career choices, family problems and living with disability. It is my hope to be able to assist those facing one or more of these challenges during the program.
I am excited at the prospect of assisting in some area of research and hope to be able to do so in one of the following areas: Positive psychology, happiness, humor and the effect of work status on psychological well-being.
I am a great believer in the saying ‘all work and no play makes Jack a dull boy’. The sometimes distressing situations faced at work call for absorbing and demanding hobbies to provide ‘balance’ in life. I find that soccer is a great physical outlet that also demands a ‘team mentality’ in order to be effective, as at work, it is also a splendid way of making new friends.
I have happily studied, worked and socialized with people of many different ethnic and social backgrounds. I enjoy sharing knowledge of my own culture and enjoy learning from others about theirs. I am regarded as an amiable person and find satisfaction in learning from others and in sharing my own knowledge and skills. In addition to being fully fluent in English, I speak Hindi and Konkani with reasonable fluency and have a basic grasp of Arabic. I have visited the US, the UK and Singapore and am a frequent visitor to India.
This particular program attracts me by reason of the prestige of the faculty, the scope and success of its history in research and the professional success of its graduates. It is my firm intention to seek to add some ‘lustre’ to its, already high, reputation during my participation in the program and in my subsequent career.
To summarize, I have a highly relevant grounding in terms of study and work to date which, I believe, will enable me to ‘add significant value’ to the program and, even more importantly, have a genuine passion to help others, in an empathetic and effective way, to deal with the challenges that they face and to do so positively and creatively. I can assure the reader that I will apply myself with great enthusiasm and diligence to the program for my own benefit and that of my colleague students, the faculty and all those that I hope to treat and to train in my future career.
Thank you for considering my application.