Alumni » Our Alumni » Maureen McMahon O'Connell
Most things in life do not come easily. IPS Graduate Maureen (McMahon) O’Connell (Class of 2002) found this to be true when faced with the difficult decision of determining the real purpose of life. Her studies and practice led her to discover the role that an integrated psychology plays in the healing process of people’s suffering. Maureen wrote to us recently and shared her story.
How did you decide to attend IPS?
The decision to seek the integrated program offered by IPS was without a doubt the result of my faith journey that began in college. I have always been a very decisive and independent person. For years I made decisions on my own, rarely seeking input from others. But when I was in college everything changed, including my decision-making style.
While studying psychology at Arizona State University (ASU), I found myself questioning everything, asking those fundamental questions like, What’s the purpose of life? Why does psychology even matter? During this time, I also realized I was hungry for love. But this time I wanted real love. Fortunately, I fell in love…with God! Soon after, I had a major reversion to my Catholic faith and started out on a new path that included seeking God’s input with all my decisions.
With new eyes of faith and reason, I continued to study psychology in college. I came to see that the human person is complex and cannot be reduced merely to behaviors or thoughts. I also came to believe that psychology and counseling are at their best when integrated with all aspects of life, including faith.
During my senior year in college as I began to think about graduate school, I turned to God and asked for His help with this major decision; I prayed that God would show me the way.
‘Coincidentally', it was around this same time that my brother sent an article to me from the Arlington Catholic Herald newspaper (VA) announcing the opening of IPS (my brother only knew that I had started attending Mass again and was much more focused on God than ever before!). After reading the story, I knew without a doubt that I had found my graduate program.
My decisive nature was still there, but this time it was guided by the Holy Spirit! After graduating from ASU in 1999, I moved home to Virginia, applied to IPS and one year later enrolled as a full-time master’s student.
What was your experience in the IPS Master’s Program?
The Institute gave me a solid, integrative background and was invaluable in shaping all of my subsequent work as a counselor. My time at IPS not only provided me with many answers to those fundamental questions I had asked during college, but it gave me a meaningful “anthropology” or vision of the human person.
This vision included an understanding that all people are not only equal but are also made in the image of God, have innate dignity, and are beings with psychological, physical, social, and spiritual dimensions; who are created in love and whose purpose is love.
At IPS I also had exposure to brilliant yet humble scholars, honest dialogue among people who truly care about our culture, and lifelong friendships with people I am forever grateful to know!
Since graduating, I have had several opportunities to apply my knowledge of integrative counseling. In my past work as a counselor at a Catholic high school, later as a therapist in an adult psychiatric hospital, and now as an advocate for women in crisis pregnancies, my goals are very much the same.
First and foremost, I approach all clients as people who are loved by God, and worthy of dignity and respect simply because they exist. Next, I strive to go beyond the surface of just their behaviors and thoughts and try to understand the person at the core. And my overall goal is to help them gain more inner freedom by examining all areas of their life while encouraging them to make necessary changes. All of this is to ‘free them up’ so God has more room to work in their lives!
The level of suffering of so many people is great and is often characterized by long-term depression, grief, and an absence of forgiveness. Regardless of the type of counseling I’ve done, I have seen a great need for people to allow faith into the healing process.
I have seen much progress made in clients who allow all aspects of their life to be healed. Those who actively seek God’s help and grace in the process often experience deeper and more transforming healing than others. Many Catholics are searching for therapists who can help them integrate all aspects of their lives but unfortunately there are currently not enough people who identify themselves as Christian therapists. Fortunately, this is changing. And I look forward to the day when I can hang up my shingle and let the faithful Catholics here in the Raleigh diocese know that there is hope for a new kind of therapy!
Thanks, Maureen, and best of luck to you!