Brittney Battles to Squeeze it All In Before Graduation

Second-year psychology student Brittney Beck knew she made the right decision to attend Bastyr University when she first glimpsed the campus. "It was a beautiful sunny day," she says. "I was in awe. The trees, the endless green fields. . .I knew I'd found the right place. I'll never forget that feeling."

Having grown up on Vashon Island, Washington, Brittney, 24, found that her move from one peaceful and green location to another was easy. "I'm normally very shy, but right after orientation I felt comfortable, safe and trusting in my classes."

Now in her second year of the BS completion program in health psychology, Brittney points out that those initial impressions haven't changed. "I feel the same, but the feelings are stronger," she says. "My classmates and I have become so close and the campus is still amazing to me."

Brittney first heard about Bastyr while living on Vashon Island. "I heard about Bastyr University after high school," she says. "I remember people talking about the naturopathic medicine program. A lot of people on Vashon were familiar with the university."

But she was slightly ahead of the crowd. From early in her life, Brittney felt drawn to the study of natural health. "I've always been interested in health. Maybe it was from hearing people say that if you take care of yourself now you'll be much better off when you're older. I guess that just stuck, and I took it to heart."

Finding the right program for her-the psychology program-was not immediate, though. Brittney was initially interested in pursuing a degree in nutrition. "The psychology program did not exist then," she points out. Soon, however, a friend of hers studying in the Bastyr/LIOS applied behavioral science program gave her Bastyr's newest undergraduate catalog. "My friend pointed out the new psychology program with the emphasis on health and said, 'This program sounds just like you.' She was right."

Beck had been interested in psychology since watching a family member cope with schizophrenia. "Because of my personal experience, I wanted to learn more about it," she says. She found that Bastyr's psychology program contained all the elements she wanted in a course of study. "The program had the emphasis on health that I was interested in," she says. "It has traditional psychology plus health and spirituality. . . .And there was the reputation of the school," she notes.

Before applying to the university, Beck attended various colleges in Washington to earn her undergraduate credits for admission to Bastyr.

Once at Bastyr, Brittney found herself surprised by the strong relationship between faculty and students. "I'm not used to schools devoting so much to students," she says. "The communication between faculty and students as well as the resources that the faculty provides us are so great."

When asked about her favorite class, Brittney replies, "Actually, I've got two favorites: Stress and Disease Processes, and Psychology and Religion. There are so many more classes that I wish I could still take, but graduation is coming soon."

Brittney is trying to squeeze in more than just classes before graduation. In addition to her studies, she commits time to serving as president of the Bastyr Psychology Club, volunteering for the clean-up-Seattle "Seattle Works Day" and working at her job in the Mental Health and Addictions Treatment Center at the Seattle Veteran's Administration (VA) Hospital.

After graduation, Brittney plans to attend Seattle University and work toward a master's degree in existential and phenomenological psychology. "That type of psychology is about bringing back the human experience in the therapeutic relationship and looking at more qualitative aspects, like forgiveness, safety and faith-those things not easily measured." Ultimately, she would like to earn a PhD in health psychology so that she can teach and/or do research.

In the meantime, Brittney's greatest challenge is finding balance in her life. "The hardest thing," she says, "is balancing school with my job, trying to devote the right amount of time to myself and to my schoolwork and still keep my sanity."

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