Dr. Regina Hund is our contributor for this edition. She graduated with a PsyD in clinical psychology from the Chicago School of Professional Psychology, completing the fellowship program at the Chicago Center for Psychoanalysis. Dr. Hund's postdoctoral training was completed at the University of Illinois at Chicago (UIC) Counseling Center. She completed advanced predoctoral training at DePaul University's Counseling Center.

My graduate training and early career path has had a myriad twists and turns — sequential choices that led me to a career that I did not predict. Graduate school was an idea born from my paraprofessional experience with low-income pregnant women and, earlier, with adolescent wards of the state. Rewind my life a bit to find me as a social activist and community organizer. I set foot into training with these experiences in my pocket and a vision of becoming a psychologist in community mental health.

Fast forward to present day and I am the Director of Training at Pace University Counseling Center (Pace CC) for our APA-Accredited Doctoral Internship, our Pre-doctoral Externship and Undergraduate Intern programs. This is not where I expected to be but, for the most part, I am pleasantly surprised. Our profession is known to convey the following message to internship applicants and job candidates: "it's all about goodness of fit." Unfortunately I'd like to reinforce this cliché because — honestly — this was my most sound decision point and helpful in understanding why other experiences did not stick. 

Prior to my role as director of training, I interned at Pace CC and chose this site due to "goodness of fit," that is, the offering of unique training experiences, congruent with my values and interests. Specifically, Pace CC's primary commitments are to psychodynamic work and multicultural awareness, skills and knowledge. Beyond lip service, their programming reinforced stated missions. For example, in terms of psychodynamic work, there are no session limits and we offer twice-weekly insight-oriented therapy and an ongoing seminar facilitated by a psychoanalyst. In terms of multicultural competency, we offer an intensive weekly seminar, diversity in the workplace meetings, diverse student population and an emphasis on self-awareness and continued cultural identity work.

This "goodness of fit" worked so well for me as an intern that now I am back but on the other side as director of training. My career exists because I decided to take a chance on "fit" rather than "should" or convenience. 

Talking with two recent intern graduates from Pace CC, I found myself quoting John Lennon and believing it: "Life is what happens to you when you are busy making other plans." This quote, to me, is not a victim's stance of passivity. I loosely interpret Lennon's words to mean that we do our best to plan our next step in life and frequently we reach the unexpected. If we are able to greet with openness what this new chapter has to offer, we can see that sometimes life is not ours to determine. Perhaps it is the unconscious at work.

—  Dr. Regina Hund

The Early Career Committee is focused on innovative programming for our spring meeting, which will be be conducted in Boston, Mass., in 2013. We hold monthly phone meetings to share the experiences and develop the voices of early career professionals involved in psychodynamic clinical work and practices. We are open to hearing from other early career professionals in order to learn more about how our group can best provide connections to Division 39 members. If you have any questions please contact our Co-chairs: Drs. Marilyn Charles and Heather-Ayn Indelicato for any additional information. We have created a newly formed mentorship program led by Dr. Jennifer Durham-Fowler, and we look forward to continuing to expand the professional pursuits of psychodynamic clinicians.