个人简介

Dr. Christine Selby received a Bachelor's of Arts in psychology from Carthage College (1992). From there, she pursued her combined interest in psychology and athletics (she was a competitive distance runner and still is an avid sports fan) by receiving a Master's of Science in Counseling and Psychological Services with an emphasis on Athletic Counseling from Springfield College (1994). Finally, Dr. Selby was awarded a Ph.D. in Counseling Psychology from the University of North Texas (2000) where she minored in Marriage and Family Therapy and continued to conduct research in the area of Sport Psychology. She has taught at two different area colleges, including Husson, as an adjunct instructor since 2000 until the 2007-2008 academic year when she was hired as an Assistant Professor of Psychology at Husson. Additionally, Dr. Selby works as a clinician at an area community mental health center where she works primarily with adults and has a specialty area in Eating Disorders. Husson is a wonderful educational facility that offers a wide range of areas of study, but is small enough to allow for personal attention from professors if students avail themselves of that opportunity. My undergraduate education was at a college very similar to Husson and I still appreciate the opportunity I had to get to know my professors. One of my undergraduate professors became my professional and personal mentor and that relationship significantly influenced who I am, how I think, and my desire to teach. One of the most important things he attempted to instill in all of his students was the importance of self-examination ("The unexamined life is not worth living" ~Socrates). My own experience with self-examination (i.e., understanding who I am and why I do what I do) has led me to try to instill this skill in my students as it was instilled in me. I encourage my students, whether they are undergraduate or graduate students, to use what they are learning as an opportunity to learn about themselves. I frequently pose questions or statements to my classes about what they personally think about a topic area, how it might apply to them, or what their opinion is (including considering how they might vote in an election relevant to a topic area like assisted suicide). When we discuss "controversial" areas (e.g., Freud's theory of personality development, assisted suicide, etc.) I encourage students to put aside what they think they might know and allow for the possibility that our discussions just might change their minds - or at least get them thinking! I also carry the value of self-examination to my work as a psychotherapist. Although there are varying degrees with which individuals are willing to or capable of engaging in this process, I encourage clients to at least think about what they are doing before they do it. For some this leads to further questions and areas of exploration and others become more intentional about their actions (rather than reflexive). For those who have an interest in becoming a mental health clinician, my theoretical orientation is eclectic. Eclecticism in this day and age is often considered "suspect" in terms of how a person practices eclecticism. I do not simply pick and choose from a "menu" of techniques. Rather, the theory behind my approach involves specific uses for the Person-Centered, Cognitive-Behavioral, and Psychodynamic approaches. In my opinion, this combination of approaches, used in an intentional and thoughtful way, allows for the greatest possibility of beneficial change.