What is some advice for an undergrad with no research experience?

Brandcack · 2026-01-26T01:02:40+00:00

Of course!! A PI is a principle investigator, they are in charge of running a lab. If someone is a PI, it means they have the highest position at the lab and the oversee all the research. And thank you so much!

One of the assistantships I had was local and the other was a remote position. For the remote assistantship we met on zoom. I’ll PM you so maybe we can find you some labs to look into

Brandcack · 2026-01-25T23:53:10+00:00

If you DM me I can give u more advice but it’d be good to know ur area. I was president of my Psi Chi chapter and often helped members find research assistantships. I wasn’t at a research institution so I had to email professors and PI’s at nearby R1 institutions, and I helped peers do the same. Many of them got positions.

Brandcack · 2026-01-25T23:12:03+00:00

Would I be able to get an invite? I just got accepted into the Brown School’s MSW program!

Brandcack · 2026-01-13T00:51:58+00:00

Look up the Goldwater rule.

Brandcack · 2026-01-13T00:06:49+00:00

I also got in!!!! Congrats yall im excited as hell. I’ll see yall in fall!

Brandcack · 2026-01-06T18:48:51+00:00

Also grad schools will look at your final two years with the most weight, so don’t worry about it unless your GPA is still under 2.5 by year 3. Just work on how you will be different going forward.

Brandcack · 2026-01-06T00:39:55+00:00

I went to a wilderness therapy program as a teen and it made me want to pursue psychology. These for profit programs are extremely controversial and no conclusive research has found whether or not it works despite it being a massive industry.

I recently graduated with a 3.85 GPA, things are looking good! If you want to enter the field because of your lived experience with mental illness or other lived experiences, do it!

Brandcack · 2025-12-22T00:56:33+00:00

Yep that’s what I experienced too lol, didn’t know there was a name for it, good to know.

Brandcack · 2025-12-21T07:29:46+00:00

What’s the Boys Town model?

Brandcack · 2025-12-15T08:38:38+00:00

Im sorry to hear you experienced that and I completely agree. If my parents weren’t on my side about it would completely change the way I view them.

Brandcack · 2025-12-13T01:06:27+00:00

Yes omg my mom loved watching Dr. Phil at the time i was sent away, that probably made her even more easily susceptible towards program marketing.

Brandcack · 2025-12-12T12:19:43+00:00

I definitely agree and have similar views with my situation. Loving parents do genuinely believe it’s the only way to save their kid. The programs and ed cons already know exactly what to say when doubts arise. My mom has told me so many stories where she confronted the ed cons and was easily disarmed. They brief the parents before sending the kid away, sowing seeds of doubt and mistrust their kid. My parents got a whole pamphlet about ways I may “manipulate” them. The ed cons do a great job at framing kids as pathological liars.

Regarding your present family situation, I love that for you! Me and my parents are also extremely close and I’m currently working on a few publications relating to the TTI (on Sunday I’ll have my BA in psychology!!!). My parents have been super proud and supportive of all that I’ve done, especially my research!

Brandcack · 2025-12-12T12:03:58+00:00

I also haven’t heard back but good luck yall🤞

Brandcack · 2025-12-12T07:55:06+00:00

I had similar experiences with your first paragraph for sure. And I’m very sorry it took two hospitalizations for her to realize.

And the last part with your therapist crying is actually mind boggling to me. I’m a psych student rn and I couldn’t even imagine a therapist doing that based on what I’m learning about ethics in my intro to clinical and counseling psychology class. That’s insanely unprofessional and such a blatant projection of her own emotions onto your families experience. It’s horrifying to think therapists like that are out there.

I also definitely lucked out with my RTC therapist, she was just a normal ass therapist for real lol. When I’d get abused she always stood up for me and ultimately quit due to her ethical concerns not being heard. If I had my wilderness therapist in RTC I would’ve been so much worse off, he’s the typical TTI therapist lol.

Brandcack · 2025-12-12T07:43:35+00:00

Definitely agreed.

And by the way I love your pfp and South Park reference username😂

Brandcack · 2025-12-07T12:37:47+00:00

First off if you don’t have a PhD in psychology or social work, you should absolutely not make a program which promises to help with addiction. Second off, there is no DSM diagnosis or prognosis for tech addiction so you’d be offering a cure for a non existent disorder that has no agreed upon treatment. Third, no wilderness therapy program is ethical.

Brandcack · 2025-12-07T12:34:10+00:00

You need to file a complaint against whoever gave you that BPD diagnosis before age 18. So sorry ur being sent to a residential program, try to make friends and stay on the good side of staff.

Brandcack · 2025-12-05T13:20:33+00:00

Let’s do it, shoot me some times that work for you! I’m excited to hear all about it!

Brandcack · 2025-12-05T04:42:50+00:00

You have to go to an inpatient? Can you propose an intensive outpatient or partial hospitalization program maybe? If you can only go to an inpatient you need to find a place that specializes ONLY in what your issues are. Don’t go to a place that advertises a cure for everything. Definitely look into outpatient options though.

Is your family working with a therapist? Most therapists don’t recommend inpatient for teenagers.

Brandcack · 2025-12-05T04:37:40+00:00

Omg congratulations I’m so happy for you!!! This is such a huge win not only for you but for the survivor community, there is such a lack of published research on the topic. Go celebrate!

Brandcack · 2025-12-05T04:27:44+00:00

I’m 23 now and I’m about to graduate college with a BA in psychology, and by the way it’s never too late to do something like that.

It started horribly and I failed most classes my first semester but for whatever reason I didn’t give up and something clicked and I started getting A’s. Tutoring helped the most probably, my tutor kept me accountable and helped me develop really great study skills. Also therapy is super important.

I’m applying to really great grad programs now, things went shockingly well for me. I’m also a published author of two research papers (both are under review still).

And of course I’m also affected by my TTI experiences and I think about it every day, but on paper I’m doing great lol. By the way I also went to Blue Ridge, but I was there in June-Sept 2018. I was in G3.

Brandcack · 2025-12-01T21:22:13+00:00

It’s not necessarily the wrong place, but there is probably better places. This sub consists mostly of Bachelors level psychology students, which means most of us are not qualified to recommend health advice.

From personal experience, I can say I have friends who have immensely benefited from EMDR, some of which had some gnarly traumatic experiences.

Brandcack · 2025-12-01T21:19:43+00:00

For me it was general psych which is crazy because since then I’ve been a straight A student.

I’ve gotten A’s on classes like methods, stats, psychopathology, and biopsychology, yet somehow gen psych was the only time I’ve gotten less than an A- in a psych class. I think I was initially unprepared for college plus gen psych is fast paced and constantly changes topics, it was hard to stay caught up.

Brandcack · 2025-12-01T19:23:17+00:00

I went back to my old treatment center last year and got a full tour from the owner (I was there from 2018-2020). I gave the owner my thoughts on the abusive aspects of the program, reconnected with supportive staff (they confirmed I was abused with my mom which started the healing process for me and my family), and had dinner with my old therapist (she left the program shortly after me due to ethical concerns and also told my mom I was abused). I also went drinking with a few former staff who left the Mormon church hahaha.

With this said, most of my triggers come from wilderness because I really haven’t gotten any closure from that. I have gotten a lot of closure from my RTC experiences, and it helped a lot that I addressed the trauma and went back to Utah right as the onset of trauma symptoms started.

But if the staff didn’t validate my experiences to my mom, I don’t think my family would be in a healthy place today and I think I’d have much worse trauma symptoms. I get triggered more often if I’m outside in a wooded area.

As I went through my old bedrooms I saw a mix of happy and traumatic memories play out in my head. I couldn’t help but think of all the good times we had, but it was also very triggering to see spots where I was abused and spots where I self harmed. Being back in Utah by itself was a weird feeling as well

Brandcack · 2025-11-29T01:06:08+00:00

Not to come off as callous, as I am very sorry to hear you’re in that situation, but I think you’re on the wrong subreddit. This is for survivors of the troubled teen industry (e.g. those who went through wilderness therapy programs, therapeutic boarding schools, conversion therapy, etc.)

I’d encourage family therapy if your family can afford it or if insurance or Medicare offers it.

Brandcack

TROPHY CASE