Delving into the minds of others can be an interesting and dangerous thing but for clinical psychologist Eunice Perez, it’s part of her career. After graduating from University of Guam in 2011, Perez moved to St. Louis, Miss., to pursue a Ph.D. in clinical psychology at Saint Louis University. Visit http://psychology.ucmerced.edu/graduate-program and get all the details about this career.
During her Ph.D. program, Perez was required to work 10 to 20 hours per week in different clinical settings to gain clinical experience. Perez did this for four years.
On her fifth year, she was matched with an internship in Hawaii.
She moved to Honolulu and she served a one-year pre-doctoral internship at the VA Pacific Islands Healthcare System. There, she provided psychological services, including individual therapy, group therapy, crisis intervention, and psychological evaluation.
While working in Hawaii, Perez enjoyed many of the hikes the island had to offer.
“Hawaii is a pretty amazing place,” Perez said. “Pretty expensive.”
Today, Perez currently works for the Guam Behavioral Health and Wellness Center as a psychology resident, which is a required position to practice clinical psychology on the island, while she works on her licensure.
The center is the main facility where people get mental health services.
Perez recently started working at the center and is comfortably adjusting to the workspace. Perez hopes to acquire her licensure in a year or two in order to be permanently employed.
Reminiscing on her college life, Perez distinctly remembers some of the fun times she had at the University of Guam. Perez and her friends would hang out in at the English and atrium building between classes. Luckily, Perez and company did not get rebuked for being loud in the building.
She also had fond memories of the annual Charter Day festival and the gone but not forgotten Blue Night where she got the chance to mingle and socialize with her fellow classmates and friends.
Originally from the Philippines, Perez immigrated to Guam with her family in December 2004. The following year, she got a taste of island college life attending University of Guam at the age of 21.
“Well, the transition from Philippines to Guam wasn’t really very difficult for because there’s big Filipino community over here so I felt at home,” Perez explained.
To her surprise, Guam’s community was really diverse and she had the excitement of meeting new people from different backgrounds. UOG also felt like home for Perez with the campus demographics being diverse as well.