Graduated from BoCo in 2015 with a major in Dance.
Position: Mental Health Conselor at Northeast Psychological Wellness, an all-remote psycological counseling practice with roughly 20 therapists who serve clients in New York. Chistiana works clients ages 7 – 30 with a host of different issues/needs, and is meeting with clients twenty hours/week or slightly more. She currrently has a provisional permit, which will become a full license once she has completed 3,000 clinical hours.
Overview: Christiana always wanted to help people, but didn’t see that as a career. After finishing BoCo she moved to NYC and went all-in on dance. For five years she got a variety of performances. Some paid well, others less so. To make ends meet, Christiana worked some side jobs, including as the front-desk person at a small, exclusive gym, where people would talk to her a lot about their lives. In 2018 she worked for a wellness company that did workout, movement, and wellness brand stuff. That made her start thinking about what she really wanted to do. Stay with this wellness company and grow her career? Customers were using her like a therapist. She was starting to feel physically tired from dancing, and wasn’t enjoying the whole rehearsal process. Then in 2020 Covid shut everything down.
Christiana asked herself, “What do I want to do when the pandemic is over? What meaning should my life have.” She felt hre career had to evolve, started reseraching grad schools, and realized she could complete a degree done in 2 years. Christiana considered dance/moment therapy, but felt regular therapy has more career oportunities. She applied to grad school in early 2021 and started at Pace University’s Masters of Mental Health Counseling that fall. During her last year of grad school, she interned somewhere else, another private practice, during her last year of grad school. Northeast was on the list of places she could apply to, but once she got an offer she took it. A colleague spoke highly of Northeast. Christiana reached out to Northeast, and had an interview which went really well. She got the job May 2023, starting October 2023 after her degree was complete.
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You can see Christiana’s LinkedIn profile here.
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Choice Quotes: “I never anticipated I’d work remotely. Yet nearly all my education was remote. “I love working remotely. I came to find during my internship that for time keeping sake it’s so efficient. It also delivers a very literal boundary, putting an end to a session–it allows you to wrap up the time with a bow. I have a nice work-life balance. I give my call my full time attention, then literally can step away from it.”
“At BoCo I learned how to sit in space and be comfortable in space. I loved improvization, being in the moment. It’s like ballet technique is theory. Tuere are theories. You have to know that to be able to dive in and let it flow. That comes from the improvization I was taught. Empowering us to have a creative voice–each dancer at BoCo was so unique! That individuality let me feel empowered to be in this space. I feel proud of my background.”
“Working from a place of self-compassion, being on your own side, will let you move in a direction that feels aligned with you. So many times you feel some pressure to work professionally doing what you studied, but it may come from a place of insecurity or obligation that’s not aligned. Rather than feelling shame, have some self-compassion. Take a moment to relaxe and breathe and think about how you want to be in the world. That’ll allow you to connect to your joy, which may be to perform for ever, and may not be. I didn’t think I’d stop, but it evolved that way. Welcome and embrace that change.”
“If you want to go into counseling, know that you have to look in the mirror a lot in this field. Your life, your thoughts about the future. That can be a big experience, and that continues into this job. You are the instrument, much like in music, dance, and theater. You use all of yourself. It’s the most beautiful craft, it’s wonderful to be a person helping another person. Ask what you hope to gain out of this. It can be a great career, but can be an incredible calling and vocation and way to be of service in life.”
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See the full index of successful Berklee/BoCo alumni