Child Psychology as Tool to Protect Future Generations

Cognitive development, socio-emotional adjustment, behavioral adaptation and health status can all be influenced by family and other social factors. Understanding this and basic psychological needs plays a big part to the clinical child psychology world. Child psychology covers a wide variety of different factors that contribute to or are experienced by children and adolescents. As a child I experienced a lot of trauma and have seen firsthand how psychological disorders can affect your daily life and beyond to future generations. As a kid I was the one that kept my family together and was a safe haven for my mom, who was struggling with depression and a drinking problem. I witnessed one of my sisters starting to do the things my mom had been doing over the years and I started to realize that my family had a pattern. At this young age I began to wonder why. Why are my mom and sister this way? What makes them think the way they do? By high school I knew that studying psychology was for me, especially focusing on children and adolescents.

I started to work with kids more and saw a lot of the struggles they were going through. Many of them didn’t really understand why they were the way they were or so many parents did not want to believe that their child needed help. Children are the future for our world, and they matter. Helping them understand themselves and giving them the ability to be comfortable in their own skin and develop is what I want to do most. I feel that society has a lot of negative views towards certain newer generations, but if the previous generations aren’t willing to help show them the way and give them the foundations to be successful how can we expect them to reach their full potential?

Advocate for Future Generations

Half of all adult mental health disorders begin by age 14, 75 percent are evident by age 24 and one in every 5 children is living with a serious mental health condition. With all the research done in recent years proving the importance of mental health and how it affects our children, there are still many stigmas and barriers preventing these children from getting the help they need. Suicide is the second leading cause of death in teens and young adults. As kids grow they are shaping their sense of self, and adding in a mental health disorder can throw off normal development therefore causing potentially lifelong damage. I made a commitment to myself to be an advocate for our future and each of the kids I cross paths with on my journey. I want to fight the stigma surrounding mental health care and give children the care they deserve.

Working in therapeutic foster care services, has shown me how many kids have been let down by the system and their parents. Some kids were more resilient than others, while some essentially had self-destructed. With proper help and guidance, I have seen many of the children on my caseload be able to flourish and have a chance at a normal life, but I have also seen how some weren’t able to bounce back and are still struggling to get through their issues. I have now moved into behavioral health in a hospital setting and I am able to have 1:1 care with my patient each day as they are awaiting treatment at a psych facility. I am not sure where I am meant to be long term, but I know I am in the right direction. In this field you may not be able to see the impact you have made come to light because these things take time but knowing I have tried and done all I can possibly do is okay with me. I take it one child at a time. Rome wasn’t built in a day so we can’t expect our kids to transform quickly. Patience goes a long way when dealing with behavioral and mental health.

What is Required to be a Successful Psychology Professional

“Tolerance of difference and ambiguity is linked with compassion for life and a commitment to improving the human condition”. In my opinion, to be truly successful in psychology you must be passionate about your work and care about what you are doing and how it will affect the people. You must also be willing to learn, grow, and utilize different techniques, especially as more developments are discovered. When practicing psychology as a professional you have ethical standards and general principles. Compared to Ethical Standards, General Principles do not represent obligations and should not form the basis for imposing sanctions. Both are equally important but have different meaning and purpose. The development of ethical standards for psychologists' work-related conduct requires a personal commitment and lifelong effort to act ethically; to encourage ethical behavior; and to consult with others concerning ethical problems. Professionals must be honest and committed to themselves and their work throughout their whole career and beyond.

Professional Development and the Practitioner-Scholar Model

In the practitioner-scholar area of the continuum, learners will build their ability to synthesize theory and application with an emphasis on application by: acquiring information, processing information, evaluating new strategies or approaches, and applying and monitoring new strategies or approaches to the discipline. Being that this model is used at the master's level, it will be helpful in my development as I go through my master’s program and work in the behavioral health field. What I am learning throughout school I can take and process and will be able to utilize while I am at work. I can actively evaluate different approaches and apply them to the different children I interact with. No one person is the same and as time goes on new developments are coming out, so being able to add a variety of knowledge to your practice and re-evaluate as needed will help better your understanding and ability to apply what you are learning to who you are trying to reach.

Research and Its Importance

Knowledge is power and gives you the ability to think differently and utilize different techniques, especially with new advancements and discoveries. The more research we can conduct the better the care we can provide to our patients and parents. Child and adolescent research is important because being able to get a handle on their development (behavioral and mental) will help provide more understanding and strategy to help set kids up for their future. By understanding and dealing with issues as a youth it will impact life at adulthood and provide incite for future generations. The more we know, the more we can grow. Starting from the bottom will be impactful, not only for the science world, but also for real world functioning.

Conclusion

Understanding the basic psychological needs of children and how other social factors can play a part in development is important to the specialty of clinical child psychology. Research helps develop the care of patients and gives a better understanding to behavioral and mental health which coincides in helping rid the stigma associated with mental health. There are many skills that come with practicing psychology as a profession, with being passionate, honest, and caring at the top in my book. Child and adolescent psychology is for me because I care about our kids and want to help them develop and understand themselves for their future and beyond.