Academic X’cellence: Sharing stories from our inspiring StFX community
It should come as no surprise to anyone familiar with StFX that our campus is filled with highly engaged students, educators, researchers, and leaders. Academic X’cellence shines a spotlight on members of our educational community to find out more about their unique experiences—both inside and outside of the classroom. (To see the full series, please click HERE.)
Here we meet Ryanne Chisholm, practicum coordinator of StFX’s Applied Forensic Psychology (AFP) program. The program is the only one of its kind in the country, and Ryanne has been described as key staff who truly plays a pivotal role in its overall success. She works with AFP faculty to help prepare students with hands-on training and practicum classes to be ready for placements where they will often work with vulnerable populations. She also helps find and develop those placements. Hands-on learning for students is so vital, she says: “It creates an opportunity for students to see what tools they already have in their toolbox and then give them the resources and practice time to fill in the gaps.” A StFX honours psychology graduate herself, she also holds a Master of Fine Arts degree from York University and has had a 25-year career as a professional theatre artist in Canada and internationally.
Ryanne Chisholm—Helping students find their path and figure out who they want to be
Tell us a bit about your role as practicum coordinator.
I’ve been the practicum coordinator for the Applied Forensic Psychology program since its inception as a four-year direct entry degree at StFX in 2021. Prior to this, the program was a two-year concentration created by Dr. Margo Watt, who had been fulfilling all the roles within the program. With the exponential growth when it became a four-year degree, the practicum coordinator position was integral to continuing Dr. Watt’s vision, and it has been evolving along with our growing numbers. Because our program is the only one of its kind in Canada, there isn’t a specific roadmap for practicum experiences within the fields of clinical and forensic psychology that are tailored to undergraduates. The general understanding is that until they are in graduate school, students are not yet ready for working in these settings. To address this, we include specific hands-on training and practicum classes wherein students practice their skills to be ready for placements where they will often work with vulnerable populations. So, part of my job is working alongside our AFP faculty in helping train them, which includes discussions around equity, diversity, inclusion, belonging, and ableness, professional skills, critical thinking, problem solving and self-awareness. Then when they are ready to begin placements, I help students find and develop opportunities in their home communities and locally that interest them and help grow their skillset. We also have ongoing funded projects that involve groups of students working within a specific field or organization. Because many community-based organizations in this province are under-resourced, we look to where there is need and focus on projects that are mutually beneficial; that is where our students can best learn, and where they can be of most benefit to the community.
Where would students do practicums? How important is this experience?
Student pratica are made up of a wide variety of experiences with hands-on learning, field work, mentorship, and training. Because clinical forensic psychology covers everything that is mental health and the law, relevant experience can be gained from a range of environments – basically, anywhere you can find people. Students do placements within criminal justice and mental health settings, i.e. correctional facilities, courthouses, with the police, law offices, hospitals, victim services, as well as community-based organizations such as the Naomi Society, Welcome Housing, Elizabeth Fry Society, and John Howard.
There has been an outcry in the working world that young people are lacking certain “soft” skills when entering the work force, but I think that is using the wrong lens…students are entering the workforce with different skills, not fewer. Skills that used to be learned by growing up in the society of the ’80s or ’90s are not the same in 2024. Gen Z hasn’t grown up answering the landline and talking to adults they don’t know, going to job interviews at a young age, they are more experienced online than any generation before them, but they don’t necessarily use the internet in the same way as other generations – none of these are generational flaws, it just means their experiences are different, and things we used to assume were learned as life experience might need to be taught, which means we also need to evaluate what we can learn from them in turn. That’s why I think hands-on learning for students is so vital – it creates an opportunity for students to see what tools they already have in their toolbox and then give them the resources and practice time to fill in the gaps. During the pandemic when options were more limited, we developed practicum opportunities that could be undertaken remotely, as well as an ongoing mentorship and group action projects for students to work together and learn from each other. So, in addition to individual training and placements, students do training sessions together, and participate in social justice action groups based on Moses Coady’s study club model from the Antigonish Movement. The types of experiences students engage in are guided by their ideas and only limited by the time they have available.
Are there highlights/experiences that stand out?
Something that stands out is the practicum project that really came out of the need to adapt what practicum looked like during the pandemic. Dr. Watt received funding from Cooperative Education and Work-Integrated Learning Canada (CEWIL) to partner with Correctional Service of Canada (CSC) on a practicum project. Our students were trained to conduct wellness checks and treatment satisfaction interviews over the phone with folks released from federal correctional institutions during the pandemic. Students carried a caseload of CSC clients to call and were supervised by a CSC clinician, as well as Dr. Watt, a registered clinical psychologist with extensive experience in corrections. The depth and breadth of skills the students were acquiring was clear from their first meeting with their CSC clinician, and seeing students step into this role with confidence, an openness to learn, and an excitement to be doing something that not only broadened their own perspective, but that they felt mattered was incredible.
What excites you about your role?
It’s an honour and privilege to work with students to help them figure out who they are and who they want to be. So much of the skill in being able to work with people is to first know your own abilities, boundaries, and limitations, which takes a lot of bravery to explore. Being able to watch students discover their strengths and witness their immense growth over their years in the program is a privilege that never ceases to be rewarding. Something that always stands out is something we often refer to as ‘the cohort effect.’ Our students move through the program with the same students they began their first year. This creates a group cohesion and trust within each cohort that allows them to learn more from each other, take more risks, and deepen their interpersonal and professional skillsets, in addition to creating a lovely group of future colleagues. That’s what always feels like a bit of the magic that can’t be captured in a bottle.
Tell us a bit about yourself.
My first claim to fame is that I was Dr. Watt’s first psychology honours student many moons ago, but after graduation my fascination with people and their behaviour led me to a 25-year career as a professional theatre artist. I’ve spent my career working as a professional actor, director, producer, playwright, dramaturg, academic instructor, and corporate voice and speech and dialect coach across Canada and internationally. It has given me a broad perspective on methods of learning and communication, and my experience running non-profit arts organizations has been beneficial in engaging with community as well as liaising with our community-based organizations who follow similar funding and resource structures. The most important skill shared by everyone working in the arts is adaptability, and the knowledge that the hats worn are many, which is excellent preparation for almost any industry, but seems particularly well suited to academia writ large. I hold a Master of Fine Arts degree from York University, and a large focus of my professional career has been on creating and producing new work centred on theatre for community development and social change, with a lens mindful of elevating underrepresented voices within Nova Scotia. The last time I was at StFX prior to taking on this role was when I directed and facilitated the Canadian premiere of Katie Cappiello’s Slut: the play for Theatre Antigonish with a group of StFX students. The ability to work on campus with students who were passionate about the work they were doing and the discussions it was generating across campus was inspiring. I think inter-disciplinary work that includes artistic practice and history is vital to a well-rounded education that creates critical thinking members of our society who activity engage in different perspective taking and in life-long learning.
Tell us about your work with students developing public speaking, interviewing, and other skills.
I work with students on practicing their communication skills in terms of presenting, interviewing and other types of interpersonal communication. We tailor the training to our students’ abilities and also to the needs of current projects and partner organizations. For example, one ongoing project involves students leading workshops and discussion sessions with high school students, so those AFP students are learning facilitation skills for workshops as well as methods for facilitating group discussion. This is essentially the kind of work I’ve done for the last 25 years, both in university theatre programs and within the corporate world, so doing this work within AFP entails adjusting the goals of the work, but the practice and process remain the same. Students in our program learn that although communication skills and public speaking are often seen as traits or talents, they are actually skills that anyone can learn with practice and the ability to get somewhat comfortable with being uncomfortable. I’ve seen students go from being very nervous presenters in their first practicum class to voluntarily offering to given presentations at academic day and in first year classes once they are seniors. I also train our senior students to work as simulated clients within our interview training for junior students – simulated client work is so beneficial for students to practice their skills and something that isn’t usually an option outside of classroom role-play. The simulated client sessions feel much more like ‘true to life’ clinical interviews for students, which allows them to practice their interviewing skills, rapport building and active listening skills in action and in the moment.
What impact do you hope to make?
I have the privilege of helping students find their path and figure out the kind of people they want to be – if they are further along in that knowledge and have some clarity in their goals by the time they graduate, then we know we’re doing something right. I have a lot of gratitude for the opportunity to be a part of a program that is best preparing students to not just be ready to ‘go out into the real world’ after graduation, but to go out and change the world in whatever corner of it they find themselves. So, I suppose the real impact I hope to make, is theirs.
What’s something surprising about yourself?
Other than the fact that I’m an actor, people are usually most surprised by the fact that I am allergic to everything fun except for my pet pig, Brisco. He’s @briscotheminipig on insta for anyone curious!
