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I have had a lot of jobs over the years! I’ve enjoyed all of them in one way or another, but the very best job was my last one. I loved, really loved, working as a forensic psychologist. The work was so fascinating for me! Every case is different, and each involves the challenge of putting together a cohesive picture from pieces such as medical records, crime scene reports, witness statements and interviews, interviews of the defendant and testing of the defendant. I liked the analytic process and I never got bored. I liked traveling to prisons and jails, even though some of them were pretty awful. I liked interviewing defendants and witnesses. I didn’t always like going through records but I did enjoy finding pertinent information in them. I really liked testifying in court. My legal training gave me an advantage because I’m not intimidated by the setting or the attorneys. I liked being able to lay out my findings and answer questions and challenges about my methods and results. I didn’t especially like the occasional abusive cross-examination and I noticed that the more years I did this the more difficult it was not to show my annoyance. I loved taking on the challenge of getting board certified, and it was a lengthy and difficult process. At the time I did it there were only 200 board certified forensic psychologists in the country and only 12 of them were people who also had a law degree. Because of this credential and the contacts I made while taking classes for it, I had the opportunity to teach workshops all over the country. I was one of a group of five people who taught these classes, and the other four were genuine big shots in the profession. They wrote books and everyone knew their names. I felt like kind of a fraud being part of this group but it was also very fun. I love teaching, and it was very satisfying teaching aspiring forensic psychologists. A lot of people think they can do it without any particular training and they end up doing a terrible job. It felt good to improve the quality of work turned out. It was also fun to go to various places for these workshops, such as San Francisco, Seattle, Philadelphia and Washington D.C. We got a very modest stipend, but we did get to stay in nice hotels and our leader always made reservations at great restaurants every night. Because forensic psychology was such a young profession when I got involved with it more than 20 years ago, I also had opportunities to take on leadership positions in our national association, the American Psychology-Law Society. I helped start a committee for women in the profession and helped get conference speakers for the women at our conferences. I was also selected for one of the most prestigious committees in the American Psychological Association, called the Committee on Legal Issues. We assisted the APA leadership and in-house attorney in a variety of ways, such as reviewing new programs and position statements by various APA committees for legal and ethical issues. We also got to provide input for amicus Supreme Court briefs, which was amazing. Everyone on the committee during my three-year stint was so smart and so much fun to work with! After writing this, I realize it is long and probably boring for others to read. But it’s so meaningful to me that I’m not going to try to shorten it! These are great memories for me, and I feel so blessed to have been able to have such a great job. I think it gave me the opportunity to make a contribution to society, which was always my goal in my work. I miss it so much more than I ever thought I would! If I’m honest I also miss the identity it gave me. I feel a bit lost without it and am still working on figuring out my identity in retirement. But that’s another story! --Terese
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January 2022
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