Week 1 – Assignment: Explore Topics of Interest PSY-5301 V4: Foundations of Health Psychology NCU

Week 1 – Assignment: Explore Topics of Interest PSY-5301 V4: Foundations of Health Psychology NCU

My interest in helping others initiated at a young age, actually, at the age of fourteen (14) years old.  The first person I gave advice to my maternal aunt (she was in her early 20’s).  My advice to her was always related to her love life and financial situation.  At that point in my life, I knew that my interest is in the helping profession, such as psychology.  Moving forward to the present time, my interest continued, but more related to health and wellness.  Living in an underprivileged neighborhood of Bushwick in Brooklyn, New York, I observed the changes of the neighborhood, and giving back to my community has always been a lifelong dream.  This area is full of issues such as safety, crime, housing, health related, retail environment.  Police monitoring to keep the neighborhoods crime down, while it results in some of the men in this community end up incarcerated.  Many single mothers raising children by themselves, relying on getting childcare assistance from the immediate family or close friend, due to the high prices of daycare.  All these issues are not going to disappear anytime soon, but with well trained individuals the issues may lessen.

I want to explore the theoretical principles in the field of health psychology to broaden my knowledge, receive formal education, and professionally help individuals that are in need.  By having formal education from a known institution, that facilitate students with quality doctoral educators that are the expert in their chosen field in of psychology.  At this point in my life, I am focus, and feel that this time I am taken by the hand and guided in the right direction.  That approach is very encouraging and adaptable to develop healthy habits like forming proper study patterns and work ethics.  After repeating the same pattern repeatedly there is a lesson in there for me to learn.  A health psychologist assists individuals uncover answers and with the hope to reach favorable results.  Learning theories may design the different types of approaches, which will add to the needed knowledge to help individual cope with present health issue(s).

I see myself serving by contributing to my community of Bushwick in Brooklyn, New York.  During these pressing times of the cOVID-19 pandemic, other newly developed strands, like Omicron.  The health psychologist is a professional field that is in high demand.  I am also interested in the health issues that has been going on within the pass twenty-two (22) years, and little to no changes has improved:

“Bushwick has the borough’s highest number of children on public assistance and its second highest rate of hospitalization for asthma, and the city’s highest rate of childhood lead poisoning. The graduation rate at Bushwick High School is 35 percent, compared with 61 percent for the borough” (Barnes, E.2000).

This is the neighborhood that I hold close and dear to my heart, perhaps, because this was the first neighborhood I was introduced to since 1968 coming from the Dominican Republic with my family.  The neighborhood has improved esthetically, but the same issues continue to arise.

Source

Barnes, J 2000, “The Two Daces of Bushwick; A Troubled Brooklyn Neighborhood Is Mending. But It’s Leaders Are Feuding Over the Size of the Gains and What to Do Next.”