“Great Bay made me feel like I mattered,墨菲说。, who graduated this spring with an associate degree in psychology.
“Great Bay made me feel like I mattered,墨菲说。, who graduated this spring with an associate degree in psychology and was the Class Speaker during commencement. “At Great Bay, I didn’t feel so ashamed of myself anymore. I realized there is strength in the things I was most afraid of in myself, 我可以利用这些优势.”
当她在毕业典礼上讲话时, 墨菲谈到了支持, 同情, and care she received from faculty and staff, 还有其他学生, as she learned to live with depression and anxiety and thrive as a student. 在进入大海湾之前, 墨菲 studied at a large university and dropped out because her mental health struggles made it impossible to succeed in the classroom. 当她寻求帮助时, she was encouraged to take a leave of absence, which she did – and never returned. She blamed herself for her failures.
Her experience was entirely different at Great Bay.
“The biggest difference between Great Bay and other colleges is not the lower tuition, 班级规模更小, the incredible work of the staff members, or the welcoming atmosphere of the students,” she said during her commencement speech. “什么 真的 makes Great Bay stand out is the way they believe in us. They make academia accessible to people like me, who may not have been able to succeed in a traditional college setting, or who know there is more than one path to success nowadays.”
When other people believe in you, it’s easier to believe in yourself, she said in an interview. 墨菲, 他住在多佛, said she succeeded at Great Bay because she was able to take control of her education and self-direct her studies to meet her needs and desires.
“I realized I had a say in my own education. I had always been a person who wanted to please everybody. Until my time at Great Bay, I would do what I was told. But I have learned that when you advocate for yourself, others will help you,” she said.
With her associate degree in psychology, 墨菲 plans to work as a certified doula, providing pregnant women and their families with emotional, 信息, and physical support during pregnancy, 出生, 以及产后时期. That is a time when many mothers and families struggle with depression and related mental health issues that often last their lifetimes.
这是不寻常的, specialized field and 墨菲 worked closely with several professors to determine her academic path. She studied psychology to better understand the human condition and tailored her coursework around her career goals. 她的营养学教授, 安德里亚爱, encouraged her write a final paper on the dietary needs of people who are breastfeeding. 人类成长与发展, professor Fran Chickering endorsed her desire to write a paper about shoulder dystocia, 常见的分娩并发症. 《变态心理学. 莎拉·拉瓦, 墨菲 wrote what she calls “a massive paper” on postpartum depression in the United States. This past spring, under the guidance of Dr. 艾梅Huard, she conducted community-based research on stress levels for pregnant and 出生ing people on the Seacoast. 她为自己的工作感到骄傲, she handed out copies of her research paper at her graduation party and “made people read it!”
在个人层面上, 墨菲 said the Great Bay community as a whole supported each other during Covid-19, offering free online counseling and opportunities to connect with peers and professors. When her parents died within 13 months of each other during her time as a student at Great Bay, she received academic and emotional support.
“Every professor gave me every extension I needed for my schoolwork, but they also gave me advice and consoled me and gave me wisdom during this horrible time. I felt like I was among friends and people who cared, instead of just being a face in the seat. 我觉得自己很有价值.”
经历了这一切，她茁壮成长. She earned her degree and is moving forward into the next phases of her life, 个人和专业. Her depression and anxieties are still present, and that’s OK. For 墨菲, the lesson learned at Great Bay was learning to live with them – and herself.
“You can struggle with your mental health and be successful. You can struggle with your mental health and be a productive member of society,” she said. “I felt I was not going anywhere for a while, but Great Bay helped me realize that it is fine to feel this way and you can keep on going.”
