[00:00:00 - 00:01:14] be in communication with their professors. I don't think I would be here if it wasn't for my professors. Hello Blue Jays and welcome to the nest stories about life after Manor College. I am your host Kelly Peiffer, vice president of marketing communications and this is the best part of my day. My hope is that this podcast will encourage, inform, and inspire you, making you feel like at Manor College, you belong here always. Before we get to today's guest, it is time for a segment of the show I like to call Did You Know?

[00:00:37 - 00:01:45] where we will share some fun facts about Manor College that you may or may not know. Did you know that one of the most extensive centers for Ukrainian culture in the United States is actually located right here on Manor's campus? We're talking about the Ukrainian Heritage Museum at Manor College. Established back in 1977, the museum's mission to preserve and promote Ukrainian traditions has always been a central part to the mission of Manor College. It is far more than just a classroom display. The center houses

[00:01:11 - 00:02:24] an extensive archive and a Ukrainian library. But the real showstopper is the folk art collection. You can find beautiful examples of everything from embroidery to traditional bead work to pottery. Their collection of Pysanky, the elaborately decorated Ukrainian Easter eggs is particularly renowned, including an exquisite Maria Maser gallery of handmade eggs. And if you're looking to try your hand at culture, the museum doesn't just display history, it teaches it. They conduct active outreach

[00:01:48 - 00:02:49] programs, hosting workshops and traveling demonstrations, including hands-on sessions where you can learn the ancient techniques of creating your own traditional Pysanky yourself. So, next time you're thinking about exploring world culture, remember college's Ukrainian Heritage Museum is a rich, dedicated resource for keeping these traditions alive. Today's episode is sponsored by the veterinary technology program at Manor College. Do you love animals? Are you looking for a career that's both challenging and yet

[00:02:18 - 00:03:17] incredibly rewarding? Then discover the veterinary technology program at Manor College. Our program is AVMA accredited, ensuring that you receive a high quality education. You'll get hands-on experience from day one. Work with small and large and laboratory animals in our state-of-the-art facilities. Graduates are prepared to pass the national exam and launch a fulfilling career as a vet tech. Whether you want to work in a private practice, emergency care, research, your journey can start here.

[00:02:48 - 00:03:56] Learn more and start your future in animal care today at manor.edu/vettech. That's m o.edu/vette. Welcome back to the show. Today we are thrilled to be joined by a northeast Philly native and someone who grew up in the Brazilian tradition, having attended St. Basil's Academy for high school and then attending Manor College to study psychology. After completing their associates degree from Manor in 2013, our guest educational journey did not stop there. They transferred to Holy Family University to complete their

[00:03:23 - 00:04:30] bachelor's in psychology and then went on to the College of Staten Island where they earned a master's degree in clinical mental health counseling. Today, they put all that education and their dedication into practice as a mental health clinician at the Family Service Association of Bucks County, serving their community in such a vital role. Please join me in giving a warm welcome to our guest, Vera Penkalskyj. Hi, Vera. >> Hi. Thanks so much for having me. I'm really excited. >> Me, too. It's so good to talk to you and

[00:03:56 - 00:05:28] always good to see you. Can you start us off by sharing how did you hear about Manor College and why did you ultimately decide that's where you were going to start your college education? >> Um so Manor College was right across the street from where I went to high school which was St. Basils and it um Manor also um was a Ukrainian um Catholic institution. So I felt that I could express myself freely there. I had the opportunity to be involved in Ukrainian events and um it it served as a good foundation to

[00:04:41 - 00:05:42] start off my college career at. Um, so that's why I chose Manor. >> That's great. That's awesome. Um, you know, Manor when it was first founded in 1947 was an all girls school and really was an all girls Ukrainian Catholic school. Like that's the type of student that always went to Manor. And obviously as the years have passed and things have changed, not all of our students are only women. They're not all Ukrainian. They're not all Catholic. We have students from all different

[00:05:13 - 00:06:15] backgrounds and religions and ethnicities and and parts of the the world and the state. And it's it's really cool to see that diversity come into Manor, but it's it's also really cool to have students like you who are kind of like very foundational to who we were and um very aligned with the sisters. And thought that's so neat to see how you went to the academy SBA, which is literally right across the street from campus here. And um then you came to Manor and and Vera, didn't you

[00:05:43 - 00:06:49] have someone in your family also working at the college for a little while? Right. >> My grandmother worked there uh for several for many years, >> right? For a long time. >> Natalie. >> So Natalie Rudy. Yep. She worked there. Um and it was really nice to have someone to chat with um in school. And my uncle also attended Manor. M >> I remember you being a student or maybe you and your sister together, but I think you particularly and you like eating lunch with your grandmom

[00:06:16 - 00:07:20] sometimes, right? I remember that. Yeah, that's so sweet. I would love to eat lunch with my grandmom at college, you know? That's awesome. >> That was a good time. >> That is a good time. Um, so Vera, you came to Manor and you knew pretty out of the pretty out of the gate like you want to study psychology. What about psychology intrigued you and how did you know that was going to be your field of study kind of from the beginning? >> I was always fascinated with human

[00:06:47 - 00:08:35] behavior and the um I guess how it can affect our thinking like different disorders. Um, and I just um had a big interest in it and especially after talking with um Christine Er whom I met at an open house um she really kind of influenced me more. um she shared some stories that she had as being a psychologist and it really caught my interest and um like just working with people with um who suffer from um mental health disorders like I wanted to kind of help them uh I guess uh with treatment. >> Sure. Yeah. I can't believe that you

[00:07:42 - 00:08:43] wouldn't remember that you met someone at an open house and like such a detail. That's really cool. Um, we still have faculty attend open houses because we really believe like that personal connection to to future students is impactful >> and they could be the reason why a student decides to attend Manor or not because if they had, you know, a good conversation with a faculty >> even just for a few minutes at an open house. So, it's always like reassuring to hear that kind of thing because

[00:08:13 - 00:09:22] you're like, okay, that that really does work sometimes. Um, but going back to your kind of like passion and interest for the human mind and people who have um mental disorders and trying to help them find solutions and find things that work. So, you started studying psychology at Manor um and then you were able to transfer on into a bachelor's and getting a master's and now working in the field. you know, kind of thinking about it from like a 360 point of view, how do you feel that like

[00:08:47 - 00:10:13] from where you started to kind of where you are today? Um, what 12 12 years later in all that or like h how have you how have you grown as in your thoughts of like what you thought you were going to do versus what you're doing now? So it was really important for me to communicate with other people in the field. I think that helped me to get where to where I am now. Um it's very important to have networking and people that you can talk with and have supervision and kind of learn from people who are in the field. So you can

[00:09:30 - 00:10:57] make your own ideas and your own treatment models um and ways that you um can communicate with the cl with your clients. So you kind of make it um you build on what they give you and then you make it your own. Um so and there's more than just like treatment. You have to take a test. um you have to do supervision hours which is like a two-year process um so and you have to get your masters do internship so a lot is involved in that and I think just talking with people who um are doing similar work is very

[00:10:13 - 00:11:19] important um so I've grown a lot by communicating with them asking questions being curious about their work um and seeing what works for Um, and then what if if I could implement that into my own technique. >> Yeah, that's great. I like how you talk about like networking and like sometimes people probably think like networking is for like business people or you know what I mean? Not maybe for like therapists, but like you do need to build a network of people. So that way you can bounce ideas and but you're

[00:10:46 - 00:12:14] developing like your own set of skills, your own set of techniques, your own things that you're going to use in your practice. Do you feel like you've come into your own in terms of like your own techniques and really finding your own um ways of doing things as a therapist? >> Yes. I feel like a lot of years of practice and um it helped me to realize what works for me and my clients and I I am aware that we're not going to be um a great fit for every client. However, I I feel like that if you um help the client

[00:11:31 - 00:12:52] realize their strengths um and recognize maybe what will work for them, then that will help build rapport. >> Um I use a lot of um validation, empathy. Um I help the client reframe their thoughts. So if they're like thinking very negatively, I help challenge that. I use cognitive behavioral therapy, dialectical behavioral therapy. So all various therapies that I believe would be helpful for my client. >> That's awesome. I love hearing that. It's such an important mental health is so important. So I'm so

[00:12:12 - 00:13:24] happy that we have people like you who are dedicated to helping others because it's really necessary. What is um I like asking this question to every guest. What's like a myth or a misconception about either your field or your role that like people assume is one way and then it's not like you want to last last episode we had someone from it on and I asked the same question and they talked about how like people think it I it people are basement dwellers. They can't socialize. is they're just

[00:12:47 - 00:14:16] like, you know, on a screen um coding all day. What's like a myth that about the therapists that you found is really not true, but people think it's true. >> People think I listen all day. >> People think I just sit here and listen and just talk, but it so much more than that. you have to um it requires a lot of thinking and challenging and reflecting and um you're constantly um it's as if you're doing a puzzle. >> So that's what it feels like. >> Yeah.

[00:13:32 - 00:14:43] >> Right. You're not just like sitting listening, nodding along while someone's just telling, you know, stories and things like that. There's so much more involved. Yeah, that's a good one for sure. So, Vera, when you were a student at Manor, you won um what we call the Mother Joseph medal, and it's like the highest student award that we give every year and and it's really for students who um are incredible students on campus, but also they do a lot of service outside of campus. And I know

[00:14:08 - 00:15:45] that that was really important to you when you were a student. Can you kind of um tell me what were you involved with doing and what kind of you know you held close to your heart? >> Uh so at Manor um whenever um Chrystyna Prokopovych needed help at the Ukrainian Museum um I volunteered my services and I would help out um whenever she needed me to. Um, also I was involved with plus Ukrainian scouting group. I was a counselor for girls ages um 9 to 12. Um, so we every Saturday we met. We did projects um a lot of scouting um I guess

[00:14:56 - 00:16:25] activities. Um so I helped out with that. Um, I also was a uh camp counselor for Plast during the summer. Um, and I also volunteered at Parkwood Therapeutic Writing Center. Um, and that's a writing center for um, clients who um, need help physically or are suffering from certain um, health disorders that would benefit from horseback riding. Wow. So, you were you were busy when you weren't like doing school work. You were you were doing other stuff. Um, have you been able to keep up any service while

[00:15:41 - 00:17:02] you I mean not working full-time? It's all I I understand that's enough in itself, but what things have you continued um into your professional career to kind of still give back? So this uh past summer, I was fortunate enough to go back to Ukraine and volunteer with Project Sonia Neck at a 10-day camp for kids who um either lost loved ones um in the war, whose parents are fighting um or who are in recovery. Um so it helped give the kids um a safe space and a time to be just be kids in

[00:16:21 - 00:17:24] the summer and just play. um it was very important for them to just express themselves. So, it was very heartwarming to be there for them. >> Oh, that's that's wonderful. I'm so glad you were able to do that and um have that time to go to Ukraine and do that. That's really really great to hear and really special and and thank you so much for finding ways to continue to serve um even when you're a working adult cuz it's it's hard and to find all that time and that balance but it's

[00:16:53 - 00:18:19] important for our community to have that. Um, so Vera, kind of as we wrap up, what advice would you give to current Manor students who are, you know, they're studying right now? We're kind of at the end of our semester. Um, but what advice would you give them to encourage them to keep pursuing in their education? >> To be in communication with their professors. I don't think I would be here if it wasn't for my professors um and the help that they gave me. So, I think um definitely reaching out. Don't

[00:17:36 - 00:18:51] be scared of of like reaching out. Um no like every question is important um to for you to have answered. And I'm very thankful that I asked my professors about the whole um about the therapy process and what it takes to become licensed. I actually remember sitting um with we I had lunch with my professor and we were talking about the process and I think at Manor Manor gives you the opportunity to do that and be really personal with your professors. >> Um they will like they will answer

[00:18:15 - 00:19:24] anything. They will be of help. They will even take some time one on- one like for um just because they know how important your education is. >> Mhm. Yeah. Make yourself known to your professors. I think a lot of times our students um don't make themselves known to people early enough, you know, like make sure people know who you are and know what you want to do or what you're curious about and not just, you know, hide a little bit in the background, but really make yourself known and I think

[00:18:50 - 00:19:58] that's really important as well. Um Vera, thank you so much for joining us today. It has been an absolute pleasure hearing from you and hearing about your journey and really thank you what you're doing in your career. Um I always I always love it when I can talk to alumni who are really doing such a service in the world and that are so missional aligned. You know our mission here at Manor College is to graduate students to serve society effectively and compassionately. And I can't think of a better example than the

[00:19:24 - 00:20:30] work that you're doing that aligns so well with that. So, thank you so much for being such a great example of of who we want to be graduating out into the world because it's really important. Um, thank you so much and we wish you nothing but the best. >> Thank you. >> Thank you for tuning in today. If you like what you heard, listen and subscribe on Spotify or YouTube. Stay up to date with all new episodes by following Manor College on Instagram at Manor College. And that's a wrap on

[00:19:57 - 00:20:14] another episode of The Nest. Stories about life after Manor College. Remember Blue Jays, you belong here always.