2008 Commencement-Faculty Address

"This year’s faculty speaker is one of the school’s very best advisors. She is an exquisite listener who has built a community among her advisees by asking those across the years to listen to and be of help to each other. She makes her home available to them and creates a home for them at MSPP.

Sadly, she is leaving us to pursue a dream of living and teaching in the Bay Area…and unfortunately I am not referring to Marina Bay. She has been a remarkable citizen of MSPP who brings warmth and grace to her considerable intellect and robust commitment to students and to social change.

Please welcome our Faculty Speaker, Dr. Terri Davis."

—Nicholas Covino, PsyD

Terri M. Davis, PhD

My Dear Colleagues:

You have given a great deal of yourselves to get to this point.  This ceremony and this degree symbolize your life-long commitment to giving.  Give, give, give is and will be a mantra.  I want to take just a moment and encourage you to take—at least in these four ways.

Take it all in:  Truly stop business as usual.  Celebrate the completion of this Doctor of Psychology degree.  Celebrate by yourself.  Celebrate with one another.  Celebrate with the individuals who helped you complete this particular journey.  Have a good time with those who are truly happy for you.

Take it all in stride:  Observe and accept the emotions you are feeling.  If you feel sad and excited at the same time, fine.  If you feel confused and overwhelmed, this makes sense.  If you feel giddy and relieved, that’s great. If you feel numb, that is okay.  If you have no idea what you feel, there is nothing wrong with you!  This is a new experience.  Trust you may come back to your baseline or you may realize some new baselines for how you feel and think.  You can always seek a friend, a mentor, a trusted colleague, even a therapist to reflect and gain perspective.

Take it slow:  Pace yourself.  Give yourself time to recovery.  Months and months perhaps.  Your mind will finally clear.  You may discover that you want to reprioritize your own life goals or simply do a few things differently.  Reach out to the people you miss and want to be close to again.  Connect with groups you have been meaning to join.

Take it easy:  Find fun and creative ways to thoroughly incorporate this new aspect of your identity.  Find support from professional organizations—local and national. Rescue your evenings and weekends from guilt.  Reestablish your hobbies or discover new ones. Find and feed your sense of humor.  Give yourself permission to enjoy hearing, seeing, feeling, and joining the flow of life.

There is never-ending supply of drama and trauma, pain and problems.  There is plenty of work that will keep you busy for your entire professional life.  There are countless individuals, families, institutions, policies, and relationships that need and want your help and will ask you to give.

But for right now,
Take it all in
Take it all in stride
Take it slow
Take it easy
Take care…

Updated 6/13/08