Harold Pickett

My path to becoming a Clinical Psychologist started in my first career as a Physical Therapist and my rehabilitation work with those suffering traumatic brain injuries. I realized that the brain was a very complicated and complex organ that could give great insight into a persons strengths even after injury. I also became curious about such concepts as brain development, perception and motivation as concepts that were driven by other forces than just the simple physical concept of recovery from injury and disability. I initially started to study psychology in the field of exploring what motivates a person to return to their lives after they have suffered a significant tragic event that drastically altered their lives as they previously knew it. That led me to a unquenchable thirst for learning about the brain, its development and its functioning.

The best advice that I think has been the most helpful is that though academics may not be a youth's strong point, everybody has strengths. Many times the anxiety is fueled by the expectations felt by family and school to perform well with academic grades. Research has shown consistently over the years that social skills and ability to get along with others in society leads to more success in life than grades. Technical, art, music, sports are also very valuable skills. Those of us that fall under the bell shaped curve in the average range are absolutely necessary for running this world.