JERRIMAE RHOSE ANNE P. RAGUDO, Seventh Placer, August 2024 Psychometricians Licensure Examination

From a crime-show enthusiast to a psychology student, I took BS Psychology, unsure of what awaited me. It is hard to describe who I am when I present different faces to different people. To some, I am a diligent and hardworking student whose primary focus is my career. To others, especially my close friends, I am a professional crammer and a hopeless romantic. I remember joining purely from my interest in the mind and behavior in connection to the stories I’ve watched and read. When asked what I would do after graduation, I always answered with a shrug, not wanting a ‘maybe’ to be set in stone so early on. The good thing about psychology is that it opens various career paths, so it’s normal to be still unsure by your fourth year in college. Only when I completed my internship at the National Center for Mental Health (NCMH) did I realize I wanted to stay there a little longer.

The sad reality in the Philippines is that mental health is heavily stigmatized. People hesitate to seek help because of the misconception that it’s for the rich or they might be called weak or crazy. My experience in NCMH illuminated that. I admired my teachers and clinical instructors for pursuing a career in the mental health field despite the hardships that came with the profession, so much so that after graduation, I enrolled in a master’s degree program majoring in clinical psychology in Manila.

Looking back, I had no idea how I juggled my master’s degree, work, and review for the psychometrician licensure exam. I remember forcing myself to study in cafés or study hubs because if I went straight to my dorm after work, I would choose to sleep immediately without dinner. I remember how much my back and neck hurt until I learned to fix my lifelong bad posture. I remember praying to God to give me the strength to finish my board exam, and whatever the result, I will accept it wholeheartedly. 

Instead of comparing myself to others, I compared myself to who I was yesterday and focused on my own progress. The hardest part of the review season is not the review itself. It was maintaining the motivation and will to study. When I saw my name in the Top 10 list, all I felt was gratitude. I cannot emphasize enough how much my support system—my parents, relatives, and friends—made an impact on me passing the board exam.

Para sa mga lalaban at lalaban muli, good luck! To my adings, if there will come a time when you are filled with doubts, remember that you are not just doing this for yourself, but also for your future clients. To the University of Northern Philippines and my teachers, from the bottom of my heart, thank you.