[PsyD Diaries] Balancing Academics & Travel | LA Psychology Conference Vlog 🌴

[Music] up to [Music] YouTube. It's just for my YouTube channel. [Music] Hello, welcome to the vlog. My name is Na. I am a 30-year-old doctoral student at George Washington University studying clinical psychology. And this week we are in LA for the Believe Psychology Film Festival. I am literally so excited. I wanted to go to the beach today. I wanted to do some sightseeing today, but I just do not have time for that. It is 4:46. I'm currently waiting for the vlog that I just finished editing to upload to YouTube, and I want to publish that and just get that done today cuz it is Friday. I have the belief safe psychology film festival like welcome like happy hour meet and greet today and I'm going to be meeting my professor there. I spent some time. If you guys watched the last vlog, it was kind of like part one of this like little LA trip. And I'm just really excited. Like I feel so grateful and blessed to be able to be here to be able to get be getting a doctorate in psychology. If you guys are not familiar, psychology, doctorate degrees are one of the most competitive docs to get like insane. But anyway, I thought I was going to have a little bit more time to like hang out and chill in LA, but it's turning out to be mostly just a work trip. But I'm really excited. So, I'm just going to sit here. I'm eating my leftovers from Dante. If you guys saw the last vlog, it's like a beautiful place in Beverly Hills. I highly, highly, highly recommend it. But yeah, we're going to get going. I took out the little braids I had in my hair. And I'm going to leave these twists in just because I don't really like my hair in in my face too much. And with the twist, I can just easily tuck them back, put them to the side, like it's all good. I am rambling. I'm going to upload this video. I hope you guys watch it. And then we're going to be off to the welcome dinner at the Believe Psychology Film Festival. I'm still nervous on if I want to take like my big camera or not. We shall see. I'm going to stop rambling. Please make sure you subscribe. I'm trying to get to 1,000 subscribers this year. That's my big goal. And being just more consistent on YouTube this year. So hopefully you guys can see a video from me every week. But yeah, let's uh head on over to the conference and get this video uploaded. [Music] [Applause] [Music] Heat. Heat. [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] I have literally walked so far to catch the bus and I literally just missed it by like 2 minutes. So, I just called the Uber. Hopefully, I'll be here soon. But yeah, I'm excited. This is a really pretty neighborhood and I think I missed the bus cuz I was too busy like taking footage of just how beautiful it is here. You can see like all the houses and the hills and I'm not sure if this camera does it justice. So, I'm going to try to get some little clips on my phone too, but it's just so pretty in California. I can't believe it. I also am wearing a jacket cuz it is kind of chilly today. It's like 66° right now. So, yeah. All right. I will see you guys at the dinner. Heat. Heat. [Music] Not yet. [Applause] [Music] This is the ecstatics the people on my channel [Music] want. Good morning. Welcome to LA Saturday day three. I don't know how long I've been here honestly, but we are going to head off to the conference. I'm really excited. I'm presenting today. This poster has made a very long journey all the way from DC to here and I'm just so happy that it looks so good still. Hopefully, cuz I kind of missed like the hostel breakfast and I did not wake up in time to do a yoga class this morning. So, I'm probably going to do one tonight and I also think I'm going to try to sneak in like a little tarot reading. So, like fingers crossed. But anyway, we just had a really fun day in store and we're going to see a lot of films and I'm just really excited. Last night, the happy hour, like the meet and greet, network and chill, was so cool. It was honestly so funny because we ended up being seated next to like a therapist like network and meeting event. And I was like, "Wow, it just feels so divine." Like psychologists, therapists, filmmakers, all just like talking about films and like their purpose and impact on um the human psyche and like the collective consciousness. But that's a little bit of me like nerding out. Anyway, let's get moving. My arm is hurting from holding this tripod. And then this is my outfit for today. I think it's really cute. I honestly love the pink. It gives Barbie vibes. Definitely. Make sure you subscribe if you haven't already. And yeah, let's go. [Music] It looks So good. That's a lot of information. It is. [Applause] I am not an expert videographer. It's just my YouTube channel. Wait, you're so good. Are we Are we just recording or photoing? All right, we snapping. Okay, perfect. Thank you. This is so good. Do you want to be in the video? Why not? Give myself the right carpet. Yes. Go, Jason. [Laughter] iconic. [Music] Honestly, All [Music] right. Heat. [Music] Hello. Hello. This is so exciting because as the festival grows, we add on more and more activities. So, first it was the film screenings and then the uh screen plays, then we have the resource fair. Wow, it just keeps getting bigger. The student poster presentations for those who were with us earlier and now we have continual education credits for mental health professionals. And so now we have something very very special to do on an educational level. So this is what it's going to be for the next hour. And then at the end we'll have 15 minutes for the traditional Q&A where we'll have the filmmakers come up. How's that sound? Good. Hi. So, uh it's us again. So, uh I am Dr. Tama Damon. I am a licensed psychologist, uh clinical psychology specifically. And I have a private practice downtown LA, the Believe Psychology Group. It has a bit of a ring. Believe Psychology Film Festival. You see what I did there? uh in this last year I was able to take the festival one step further. We became a nonprofit right and uh that is the Believe Psychology Film Academy. We're going with a theme here you see and we're going to continue to grow. So that part is actually very just warms my heart. Uh I have been doing this for don't date me here 22 years. Uh and so it's exciting through doing clinical work to be able to do something on a community level. Okay. Uh and I want you to know about Dr. Marshall Woods and she's going to tell you about herself. Hi, I'm Dr. Katherine Marshall Woods. I actually hail from Washington DC but love to support Dr. Damon um through her passion and dedication to this festival. I too am a licensed clinical psychologist, media psychologist and owner of Psychminded Media where I work with filmmakers to help them build out characters and themes within their work. I help them with diagnostic clarity as well as set accuracy as well as promote their films on the back end as well. Um, and I'm the author of two books that you may have seen out at the resource fair. Best psychology and film and black film through a psychonamic lens. So, um, I welcome you all here today. Thanks for coming. Okay. So, let's give these lovely people a round of applause. Thank you all for being here. So, we all just seen the wonderfulness. I'm sure in making any film, it's a lot of hard work. It's a lot of time, blood, sweat, and tears. So, we're just going to go down the line. And how do you want to do? Do you want to answer their questions? Do you have a nice speech prepared? How you want to do it? How you want to do it? Questions. Questions. Questions. Questions are great. Let's get some questions. Yeah, it's a great question. um each time. So, we had we had to do the uh makeup. We had two different looks. It was essentially before the medication and after. Both of them probably took about an hour in the chair each time. Um which was great cuz they can set up all the lights and camera and stuff. So, it kind of worked out. But yeah, we get two makeup [Music] artists. I am literally so exhausted from the conference and just like chatting with people and networking and doing all that fun stuff. I ordered some takeout from that Thai place I showed you guys. It had pretty good reviews and it was pretty packed in there. So, I think it's going to be good. It looks delicious. Oh my goodness. Let's see. We'll taste test. Mhm. This is good. This hits the spot. So, we have one more day of the conference. I was trying to get to the beach, but I think I have to come to terms with the fact that this just might not be an LA beach vacation weekend. Really, honestly, I just want to focus on networking and I'm just so tired and I leave tomorrow. So, I honestly think I'm just going to stay in I think it's maybe like 7:00, 8:00. But all the films we saw were just so beautiful and impactful. And what really stuck with me the most was this documentary. It wasn't like the greatest production value, but it really talked about like working with with people that have severe mental illness. And it was just heartbreaking for me because this woman was telling her story about how she was diagnosed with bipolar disorder and she just had a lot of really bad like selfharming behaviors. She talked about like stabbing herself in the stomach multiple times and when she had to have surgery. She talked about like swallowing a pair of scissors and they showed like the X-rays like the scissors literally like just in her throat and just like all the scars that she had on her body. It just was like so heartbreaking and so sad. And as a psychologist in training a doctoral student, I think I at this time I really want to work with like the maternal population and I want to be like a maternal psychologist. But that fear I have that surrounds like severe psychopathology just really struck a chord with me with that documentary today. And I'll try to like link it below or like find just more information about the Believe Psychology Festival if you guys want to know a little bit more about it. But yeah, the second block of movies we saw just were very very gut-wrenching and heartbreaking and but on a lighter note, there was one and I'm going to show some clips of it here. It was so good. And it's so funny, too, cuz at the first night at um the welcome drinks, me and him ended up just having like a very long like hours long conversation and we just kept coming back to each other and just like conversing. Like he told me, but then when I saw what he did, it just hit me completely differently. And so, um, this man, Dr. Scott, he works with people on the spectrum, and he's a school psychologist. and he kind of combined like his love of photography uh with his care for people with like intellectual and developmental disabilities and he worked with David from Love on the Spectrum. And so I'm going to insert some of those clips here, but it was just so so so good. And I'm an educational psychologist and for many years I worked with individuals with a range of disabilities including autism, intellectual disabilities, genetic syndromes, and physical challenges. and I've been photographing my entire life ever since I was 10 years old. So over time I decided to melt the two uh professions uh together. How are you? So my goal is to always meet them ahead of time before the shoot and to get to know them, their personality, their interests, their preferences, uh their strengths, maybe some of their challenges. So then I can really individualize the portrait session to their needs. He was hit twice with challenges being born almost four months premature and having to um conquer Yep. that part of life for the first four months. And then as he was growing and becoming more mobile, that's when we noticed something else is going on. And that's when he was having all those seizures. He's nonspe tool, but he's very vocal. Yeah. Even though he doesn't communicate in typical ways, he understands everything that's going on around him. When I photograph a family and with their their loved ones who have different types of disabilities, my approach isn't to isolate one or the other. It's really to relate to everybody, the the the parents, the siblings, and just including all of them. So Dave, do you like a pictures when you're smiling or Oh, I smile. Okay, I may work with that individual and I'll tell the family members no matter what I do, keep looking at me and keep that smile. So, I have to keep track of them to to to keep them going while working with an individual to get that engagement. I try to really be in touch with where they are at the time while at the same time creating a really fantastic image for them. She's singing. Oh, she's singing. Mary has an intellectual disability. She enjoys singing. So our director Alan Waserbin jumped in. [Music] That's my goal is for them to have a very comfortable time, a fun time, relaxed time. So when they look at the images again, it cues that part of their brain that makes them feel happy, feels content and reflective. [Music] I feel that check that out. wonderful when I see an incredible creative shot that's very respectful especially during sessions that may be uh very challenging and even those sessions that are not challenging just to capture that emotion on camera and the humanity in that image they can include the image in their own next to the other neurotypical family uh members without standing so far apart like oh this is this family member and this is this family member. So, it's really I think they really feel the spirit of of inclusion. The caregivers or the family members speak for them and are just very happy that they got a very respectful photo that they could enjoy for years. It it's really getting respectful shot of the individual but importantly a creative portrait shot of the individual. So, just not getting a snapshot but a portrait professional shot that is beautiful, is creative and it tells a story of that individual. So whenever I get that, I'm very happy. What what they truly see is not a person with a disability, but a human being. And I think that's the power of photography. And what one of the greatest gifts I can give through through portrait photography is educating and and and showing and informing. And so when people see an image, uh it it really speaks volumes. People tend to see people and just like h I loved it so much. So, that was a really good way to kind of end that block. Well, we actually started it with the light one and it went super dark and heavy. And then there was another block, the first block that I haven't actually talked about at all, but those films were really good, too. And like my favorite one from that was Finding Jia's spirit, and it was just like this young girl like kind of coping with her dad passing and saying that, you know, he went to a better place, but why didn't he take me with him? Why can't I go to this place? And so that was also so beautiful and it was very like intergenerational like three women. So like the grandmother comes over and the house is in complete disarray. Young girl is like outside of her mom's door and just kind of pretending to like play with her like, "Oh mom, like what color should I color this one?" Purple. Okay, I'm going to color it purple now. You know when her mom's just like in the room in the bed just like so sad and heartbroken and like can't even get out of bed to like show up for her daughter. So the grandmother comes and like gets the daughter ready for school and like talks to her daughter and it's just like such a beautiful film. I think that one is called Jamaia Spirit and again I'm just going to link all the movies from the Blue Psychology Film Festival down below. But yes, like everything was just like so so good and I'm really excited to see the movies tomorrow. If you haven't subscribed yet, please subscribe and follow me on my little adventure to getting my doctorate degree. Oh, I've been reading The Hunting Party by Lucy Folly. This has been so good and it's getting even better. I'm like halfway through it right now. It's like a murder mystery. But last night I had like like I slept well. I slept throughout the night, but I did wake up crying cuz my the content of my dreams was just like disturbing honestly. Like really woke up and I had like a tear coming down my face. So obviously I probably shouldn't keep reading this, but I'm going to. All right, my loves. I will see you tomorrow morning bright and early for yoga. Hello. Good morning. I do not know what happened to my eye. It literally like after I eat that Thai food, it just starts swelling and now it's so swollen. I didn't even want to film. But I'm going to take a yoga class. Hopefully that heals me. And I'll see you guys in a bit. Love you. Don't forget to subscribe if you haven't already. [Music] The Apple store. 756766. Respond to the Apple store. As always, with all of the special moments that we have planned for you, we have a special treat today. So, filmmakers of Black Eve, would you please join me up on stage? So, if you all just introduce yourself and your film and uh we'll just go along the lines. Now, I remember telling you that I am a psychologist with a private practice downtown and I have a training program where I have interns and so I have asked one of the interns to join us. She has a burning question for the filmmakers. So, let's get started. Hi, uh my name's Rob Cobalt and uh you just watched Back to One. I'm James Jones and I am the maker of You and Me, the maker and the actor. Actor. Hi, my name is Karina and as you just heard from Dr. Damon, I am an intern for her and I am also a thirdyear clinical psychology study student. And your school? Oh, Mount St. Mary's University. We got to do a shout out to the school. You always have a choice. Oh my gosh. Now I don't want to put you in it. No. No. I'm just teasing. Um, so now we're on our way to dinner. We just finished wrapping an entire weekend of Believe Psychology Film Festival. Can't believe it. Oh, I [Music] also literally you'll just subscribe to my YouTube channel. [Music] Honestly, the most important part [Music] So cute. [Music] Yeah. [Music] Yeah. But it's fine. I'm going home now, too. I'm the only one. Oh my word. Come on. How did you enjoy the belief psychology film festival? It was amazing. You got to come next year. I know. First time I stayed here, I obviously knew nothing about LA. And then I What do you want to know? Sorry, [Music] everyone's fine. [Music] Wow, that place we went to dinner was so beautiful. I love [Music]