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Undergraduate Studies ePortfolio

Mark BertucciBachelors: Psychology, 2010

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Personal Statement

I’ve held more than a few jobs in 28 years, a few career directions and aspirations. These have been answers to the question that seems

less significant now, and a question that illustrates my development not only as an aspiring professional, but as a person. The question I

asked from middle school until only a few years ago was, “How can I use my intelligence to make as much money as I can?” My

development has brought me so far from this ideology that I am somewhat ashamed to even admit it now, but that feeling of

embarrassment allows me to understand that I have changed. The question that I now ask myself, one that I can find no embarrassment

in asking myself is “How can I use my abilities, skills, interests, and passions to allow me to not only flourish in a profession, but

continue to grow and learn as a person while contributing to growth in others around me?” The answer to this has brought me 400 miles

to this very place with an opportunity to learn, train, and contribute to the most thought provoking and personally engaging concepts I

have ever found.

Topics of the mind have always intrigued me. I remember reading books such as Carl Sagan’s Dragons of Eden and Broca’s Brain as a

middle school student while others would read Stephen King. I would travel to the busy malls to just sit and observe people, always

trying to interpret people’s actions. As I grew older, I found I had an ability to empathize and listen to others. This became apparent

when a coworker presented me with a gift before his wedding. It was a pocket watch with the word “perspective” engraved on it;

referring to the hours I had spent with him at our job, trying to gain insight on his troubles. These instances were all pieces of a puzzle

that took me years to put together once I started to ask myself the right questions.

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Personal Statement (cont.)

All of those pieces: empathy, passion for learning, perspective, ability to listen and observe combined with my ability to think

critically, find patterns and meaning in behavior and thought directed me to the profession of clinical psychology. The

decision was then, what would be the best program that would fit my aspirations? It became clear that a PsyD program,

which emphasized clinical practice over research would allow me to learn the most and be trained to be a more effective

clinician.

Although research is integral to clinical psychology, I know that the training I can find at Argosy will give me

the opportunity to grow not only in areas that I already have begun to hone, but also in areas that need much more growth to

be an effective clinician. I can often begin analyzing a person before I know enough about them. Making uninformed

judgements in a clinical setting would lead to an inability to fully hear what the client is trying to express and create a barrier

to empathy. It was Carl Rogers that showed through research that a clinician must be able to empathize with the client to

facilitate an effective relationship with the client (Rogers, 1961).

Patience and subtlety are also aspects of my self that can be aided through this educational process. I find that when I can

come up with some insight for another person or if I have an issue I need to discuss with them, I can jump into the topic

abruptly. Abruptness could not only shut a client down and evoke defense mechanisms, but also give them the impression

that I am being forceful. Forced insight is not as powerful as self-discovered insight (Hill, 2009). What can make a client

effective is often the subtle, artful way of letting the client think that those insights are of their own discovery.

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Personal Statement (cont.)

I can also seem overconfident with my knowledge and think that I know more than I actually do. This

overconfidence would lead to alienating clients, cohorts, and supervisors. A client that feels that I am talking down to them

would certainly be a client that I can’t help effectively.

The areas can be improved through the experience of practicum and further experience dealing with clients.

Such experience will allow me to transfer knowledge into relating to the other person. I also plan to enter my own therapy to

further develop my understanding of myself. Therapy will hopefully develop insight into blind spots of my personality and

cognitions, and allow me to be an effective clinical psychologist. I have also found personal growth in these areas through

Buddhist readings dealing with mindfulness and loving kindness. It has allowed me to be more patient and accepting of

others and myself. Further understanding of myself and how I deal with others will give me the insight I need to develop into

the person and clinician psychologist I wish to become.

The field of professional psychology seems to offer me all the aspects of a profession I could want. The

relative infancy of the field provides excitement for what we will learn, and allows me to find areas of the field in which I am

greatly interested. Our interpersonal relationships and childhood development have always attracted me. There seem to be so

many questions yet unanswered and so much variability.

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Personal Statement (cont.)

It is this opportunity that I hope to possess to further growth in others, myself, and this very field of professional psychology.

Although that question that I now ask myself will evolve just as it did from my earlier years, there now seems to be

congruence with who I am and who I want to continue to develop into.

References

Hill, C. (2009). Skills for facilitating insight. Helping skills: Facilitating, exploration, insight,

and action (pp. 223-251). Washington, DC: American Psychological Association.

Rogers, C. (1961). On becoming a person. New York, NY: Houghton Mifflin.

Resume

ProfileSeeking career in the rewarding field of direct care and counseling in the human services arena. Looking to use knowledge and experience in interpersonal effectiveness, psychology, and diversity combined with personal high level of compassion, empathy, and patience to create the opportunity for success and professional efficacy.

ExperienceWarehouse manager, Mathews floor fashions; Marquette, MI - 2006-2009Integral in effectively creating level of communication between two labor divisions. Created customer relations department in which customer service was the main focus to alleviated current and future miscommuniations between clients and staff. Managed shipping/receiving division. Managed customer delivery/pickup. Customer service representative. Lone salesperson on weekends.

Shift manager, Wilderness sports; Ishpeming, mi - 1999-2006Lead salesperson. Customer-focused relations and sales. Managed shipping/receiving. Managed FBI record keeping. Trained in customer service. Major focus of job: Customer Service. One of the main focuses was on educating and training incoming staff as to how to treat customers along with product knowledge.

EducationArgosy University, Eagan, MN 2009-present. Major: Psychology

Courses taken: Counseling Theories, Personality Theories, Cognition and Learning, Interpersonaleffectiveness, Interpersonal Conflict, Ethics, Life-Span Development

Northern Michigan University, Marquette, MI 2000-2005. Major: Physiology Minor: Chemistry

SkillsAbility to form strong, stable relationships built on understanding, trust, and confidence. Able to learn and adapt quickly to situations. Strong ability to learn new skills and information quickly enough to teach incoming staff as to proper protocol and information. Strong drive to help others approaching situation with compassion, respect, responsibility, and empathy. Able to resolve conflict with others in work settings through experience at Mathew’s Floor Fashions. Computer skills and knowledge in Microsoft (word and excel) and Mac.

ReferralsJoe Burdick, owner of Mathews Floor Fashions: 1025 W. Washington Street Marquette, MI 49855 (906) 228-9311

Sandra Sundquist, owner of Wilderness Sports: 107 E. Division Street Ishpeming, MI 49849 (906) 485-4565

Jason Congdon, former coworker at Mathews Floor Fashions: Personal Phone (906) 458-6076

Anthony Nault, fellow Psychology student: (906) 362-3930

Reflection

My time at Argosy may not have started like most students. I had spent most of my academic career studying physiology and chemistry. When I had electives I often chose sociological or philosophical courses due to my interest in existentialism and other questions in life.

From my time at Argosy I learned the core tenets of psychology from the philosophical exploration of personality theories to the importance of acceptance, perspective, and diversity. I was able to learn not only from professors but fellow students. All of these people gave me different perspectives on the

material and new ways to think about them.

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Reflection (cont.)

At Argosy, I was able to improve my abilities to think critically and take the material from the level of knowledge to the level of understanding and implementation both interpersonally and intrapersonally. Learning the different theories of psychology allowed me to critique each perspective and find not only the commonalities but the important differences.

I was able to recognize my need to improve my researching skills. Having some background in science gave me the necessary tools, but learning to adjust them to not only be efficacious but ethically responsible was important in my past and future.

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Reflection (cont.)

Courses taken at Argosy gave me the opportunity to hone my speaking skills by not only developing presentations, but engaging in discussions during class. I can often get caught up in my own points, and Argosy courses allowed me to adjust that problem.

Being at student in psychology allowed me to enhance my ability to use the proper APA style when writing. I was able to advance my skills as an effective, concise writer.

Argosy was also a large influence on my ethical concerns along with my emphasis on diversity. Coming from a small community left me with much to learn in diversity and this experience has opened my eyes.

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Reflection (cont.)

This opportunity allowed me to advance my skills in communicating effectively and listen to others. This is certainly a life-long process of focusing on others for a long career as a clinical psychologist.

Table of Contents

Cognitive Abilities: Critical Thinking and Information Literacy

Research SkillsCommunication Skills: Oral and WrittenEthics and Diversity AwarenessFoundations of PsychologyApplied PsychologyInterpersonal Effectiveness

Examples of these abilities can be found on my LinkedIn profile

My Future in Learning

In the past, I would ask myself what I would do if I won the lottery. After the trips around the world and a few investments, my focus always moved toward education. Psychology, sociology, anthropology, philosophy, physiology, and history have always been great interests and usually my final answer to such a question. Learning has always made me feel happy. I feel it a personal waste to not always be learning something new. My focus has intensified in recent years on how to not only learn about the world I live in, but how to contribute also. Continued learning in the field of psychology will allow me to gain the ever evolving skill set of therapists and psychologists.

Contact Me

Thank you for viewing my ePortfolio.

For further information, please contact me at the e-

mail address below. markbertucci05@hotmail.com