Massey University has started this thing called Stream... actually Moodle but I think they wanted a fancier name. One of the students mentioned that she had started blogging about her PhD journey.
Often I'm asked how my PhD is going and I, often quite rudely, give a 'don't ask me about my PhD' look or spend the next hour of that person's life going off on a diatribe of what current hurdle I'm trying to overcome.
Upon further reflection, especially in the last couple of days, PhD life is probably far more positive and rewarding than I make it out to be in those awkward moments when I'm trying to figure out what I should say in response to the inevitable question.
As a brief update (and partly because I'm using this blog to procrastinate from my PhD right now): I am a 25 year old Massey University doctoral student in New Zealand. I am 1 year and 4 months through completing my PhD. I have spent the last 5 and a half years at University studying Psychology. Alongside my PhD I am training as a Clinical Psychologist and currently working as a Graduate Assistant in the School of Psychology, teaching undergraduate students and being one of those horrible people that give out far to many C's for anyone's liking.
I still can't represent my PhD in a single sentence but I will try. Basically, the overall aim of my PhD is to help increase the sensitivity of mental health practitioners toward their clients' spiritual and religious beliefs. The PhD has two parts. The first asks whether or not clients of mental health services in New Zealand feel that their spiritual and/or religious beliefs are being taken into consideration. The second involves developing a framework to guide practitioners in taking their clients' spiritual and religious beliefs into consideration.
The next year and a half will be an interesting journey for me - it already has been.
