Anastasia Sullwold, Ph.D. L.P., Licensed Psychologist, CSB '95

Name: Anastasia “Stasi” Sullwold

Age: 32

Career: Pediatric and Clinical Child Psychologist

Location: Minnesota Epilepsy Group, P.A., St. Paul, M.N.

Hometown: Shakopee, M.N.

Interview Conducted 09/28/05

 

Why did you decide to come to CSB/SJU?

            My first experience with CSB/SJU was visiting the campus when my older brother attended school here.  What really made me decide to attend CSB/SJU, though, was that I loved the smaller and intimate college environment and the experience of a broad Liberal Arts education.

When did you gradate from CSB/SJU?

            I graduated in 1995 and then took one year off of school to be the Psychology Department Coordinator.  From 1996-1998 I attended Minnesota State University at Mankato for my Masters degree in Clinical Psychology.  After this, I attended Auburn University in Alabama to obtain my doctorate degree in Clinical Child Psychology from 1998-2002.  As a final requirement to finish the doctoral program, I completed a one-year internship in Missouri at the Kansas City Children’s Mercy Hospital (2002-2003) and graduated with my Ph.D. in 2003.  After that, I stayed at the Children’s Mercy Hospital to complete a one year post-doctorate Fellowship, during which I was able to obtain further training in pediatric psychology and to complete the supervised hours of practice necessary to get licensed. In September of 2004, I moved back to Minnesota and have been working at the Minnesota Epilepsy Group ever since.

What did you like about CSB/SJU?

            I benefitted greatly from the training in critical thinking that was emphasized and applied in every class.  The faculty was very empowering toward students, helpful in providing their expertise as mentors and willing to share their knowledge for guidance.  I also just had a lot of fun while attending school there!  I loved everything about it and look back on those days quite fondly.

What changes have you noticed since attending school here?

            I have noticed that there are many new buildings and housing for students.  In addition, there are so many more places to gather and just spend time with friends.

What was your favorite Psychology class?

            I found Tests and Measurements to be a fascinating class!  It was so interesting to learn about the various methods used to evaluate individuals and to gain first hand experience with some of the tests that are used. 

What other groups/organizations were you involved in on campus?

            I participated in band, orchestra and also the pit orchestra (on a few occasions).  I was in campus choir and participated in one of the campus political organizations.  I was involved with VISTO as a volunteer for Special Olympics and as a member of the volunteer choir “VISTO Singers”. One year I also was the director of the VISTO Singers.  These were all very rewarding experiences for me.

What experiences at CSB/SJU led you to your career choices?

            My love for psychology started with Introduction to Psychology where I found myself reading ahead simply out of curiosity.  The more classes I took the more interested I became.  I took a wide variety of classes that gave me a broad base from which to make a decision as far as choosing a career path.  Also, talking with the faculty and discussing options for the future really helped me pinpoint my interests in the field.  The year that I was the Psychology Department Coordinator was pivotal in allowing me resources and time to make decisions about my career, especially with respect to learning about the process of getting into graduate school.

What opportunities would you recommend to current students?

            I feel that my volunteer experiences were very important and I would suggest volunteering as an important experience for students to have.  More specific to school, I would highly recommend participating in research during your undergraduate years.  This can make you marketable for employment, and is absolutely key to getting into graduate school for psychology. I would also recommend building relationships with the faculty, as they are a great resource when it comes to making future plans. Set up appointments to get to know them outside of classes. I also thought that the Career Resource Center provides a great place for students to research career areas and gain experiences through networking even as a first-year student.  It is never too early to start researching or checking out possibilities for the future.  Start planning for graduate school in your Sophomore year. In terms of the Psychology major, I would highly recommend the Teaching Internship (TI) course.  I found it to be rewarding and a great asset to have when applying to graduate school, as a large majority of graduate students do at some point teach for income.

Did you do an internship while attending CSB/SJU?  If so, what classes were helpful?

            While I never did an internship while I attended CSB/SJU, I did do one at the post-graduate level and I found the classes I took here at CSB/SJU to be a great foundation for my future learning.

Can you give our readers an overview of how graduate school compares to undergraduate?  Also, what is a typical day like at the graduate level?

            Everyday at graduate school is something different and you have to learn how to multi-task very well!  Each day you could spend an hour or two taking a class, an hour or two of seeing clients (in a clinical program), a couple hours on research and a couple hours in your assistantship (teaching or researching) and then when you are at home you work pretty much non-stop on projects, papers, or reading .  In graduate school you have a constant work load that is more intense than at the undergraduate level.  Sometimes the workload seems impossible, but you learn quickly how to manage your time well and prioritize the tasks at hand.  Usually, for me, that meant carrying work with me everywhere I went.  There’s not really such a thing as “holiday breaks.” Even when school was not in session, there is usually work to be done. So you have to be pretty dedicated to not having a lot of freetime.  However, I really enjoyed graduate school as it was getting actual experience doing things and learning about areas that I really love.  You get to start applying all the knowledge you gain first hand when working in a clinical setting, which can be nerve wracking but exciting as well.  Sometimes I was pushed out of my comfort zone, but I gained so much knowledge from those experiences that it made it worth the stress. I feel like a changed person after having gone through the experience of graduate school.  The personal and professional growth has been well worth the efforts.

What does you current position with the Minnesota Epilepsy Group entail?  What is a normal day at work for you like?

            I am the sole pediatric psychologist for Minnesota Epilepsy Group, which is a neurology clinic that serves individuals of all ages (newborns up to elderly) with various types of seizure disorders from a multi-disciplinary perspective.  I work in the clinic for outpatients and I also cover psychological consultations for the inpatient pediatric epilepsy medical unit of the Children's Hospital of St. Paul. This hospital unit is so specialized that it is staffed and run by our clinic.  My outpatient practice consists of cases (children, adolescents, and young adults through about age 21) referred from either the physicians or nurses of the clinic or from the community. These are both kids/families affected by seizures as well as the entire spectrum of other types of cases that do not involve seizures.  In other words, I take referrals from outside the clinic for just about any emotional or behavioral difficulty. My outpatient practice involves diagnostic evaluations, psychoeducational testing, and interventions.  For the inpatient unit, I am asked to evaluate and provide recommendations and/or interventions for patients on the unit to address a variety of emotional or behavioral disturbances.  I often then coordinate plans of care to ensure the patient's mental health needs are going to be met once they are discharged from our unit.  In my work on the hospital unit, I work very closely with physicians (pediatric neurologists, pediatricians), medical students/residents, neuropsychologists, social workers, nurse clinicians, nurses, EEG technicians, and psychiatrists. I am involved in the education of medical staff with regard to mental health issues and behavioral strategies that can be effective in maximizing the benefit of the patient's hospital stay.  Finally, our clinic has ongoing research projects in which we pursue increased understanding about the large number of issues that are present in the population we serve. I am involved in research as much as possible. In fact, I will be presenting results from my first research project with this clinic at the American Epilepsy Society annual meeting in Washington, DC this December. 

As a pediatric psychologist, a typical week for me typically includes one day dedicated to outpatients and the rest I work on the inpatient unit.  On a typical outpatient day, 4-5 patients are scheduled for 50 minute sessions.  In between sessions I am doing paperwork or returning phone calls or running up to the hospital to see a patient there.  The other 4 days are flexible and constantly fluid. The degree of intensity of my daily schedule changes frequently, depending on the patients admitted to the hospital unit. Our unit houses 10 patients at a time, usually 1-2 of which have had brain surgery or are in the middle of high-risk invasive evaluation processes to try to improve their functioning with seizures.  On any given week, I may be called in by the medical team to work with anywhere from one to all of the patients on the unit.  I participate in patient rounds (when the entire medical team sits down and reviews all current patients on the unit to discuss plan of care and anything important that has happened in the last 24 hours) as needed, and then I may spend the rest of my day researching the patient files, contacting other professionals already involved with the child (such as psychiatrists, psychologists, physicians, social workers, etc...) to maintain consistency in care, coordinating care with the nurses and other medical staff (e.g., providing a behavior plan or recommendations to help the child cope with the hospitalization), and actually working with the patient and their family.

Do you have any other basic advice for students (school or other)?

            Yes -- take debt seriously!  You may think at the time that it is no big deal to “charge it” or take out more loans than you really need, but when you have to pay it back it hurts.  Also, I can’t stress enough the importance of networking, even if you’re not sure how that person might connect to you down the road!  You never know who can provide some great opportunities.  I have stayed in contact with friends and teachers from High School on up through my post-graduate training, and it is amazing how many times those connections have made the difference in opening doors for me in my career.  In fact, I found out about the job opening at the Minnesota Epilepsy Group last year because of connections I had in the area.  I otherwise might not have known about it.

            In addition, use the resources that are available to you like faculty, the department coordinator, and the Career Resource Center.  Study for the GRE so you don’t have to retake it (this happens more than you know)!  Also, do your homework about graduate schools and the assistantships they offer.  Find ones that will pay you or give you a stipend to make ends meet. Finally, be sure to take time to balance school and fun, personal interests. Staying well-rounded in your life is attractive for employers and graduate programs who look for students who not only excel in their field but also maintain a sense of self, have interests outside of psychology, and are (at least somewhat) mentally balanced.

 

Thanks for taking the time to share your information with us Stasi!