Member’s Corner

“If I’m weighing my odds, I’d rather say that I tried to make a difference - I tried to call someone out when I think that it’s warranted. I can do it politely and I can do it kindly, but I think there’s a benefit to being a little brave and a little bit brazen…There’s a benefit to continuing to engage in disruption.”

-Ariel Blakey, M.A.-

Ariel Blakey, MA, is a doctoral candidate in the Clinical Psychology program at Boston University. This Fall, she started her doctoral internship at Children’s National Hospital.

We were so excited when Ariel recently sat down with our co-chair, Anjana Jagpal, to talk about her journey into the field of pediatric psychology, lessons learned along the way, and how she strives to integrate justice, equity, diversity, and inclusion into her daily practice.

Read below!

Tell me about your journey to graduate school.

I attended a research program the summer between being a high school senior and starting college. It's call the RISE-START Program, and it’s intended to give you exposure to research.  I worked in a biology lab and did research looking at cortisol levels and suicidality in Black women.  The work was very cool and it was an amazing program where I also got paid. 

I then attended Spelman College and continued to be involved in this research program.  Part of the requirements of my program was positive psychology and qualitative work. I knew that it wasn't the type of research that I wanted to do, but I loved getting to hear people’s stories and then thinking critically about how to disseminate that information and understanding the implications from that.  Every summer after that I did a summer internship program. I worked at CHOP in their Research Institute Summer Scholars Program (CRISSP) and really got settled into the world of Hematology/Oncology, and more  specifically Hematology. I was like, “Whoa, sickle cell is insanely understudied, underfunded with so many complex issues across like every level of the disease and the developmental continuum!” It was so eye opening to me. 

There are these cliches about research and whether or not you do the research that reflects your cultural background. Are there biases? Are you taking the easy way out? I had to ask myself whether or not I was doing this as a Black researcher doing sickle cell work, but that quickly went away because very few people are doing this work.  I get to be an advocate for people who are otherwise overlooked and that is something that I really do appreciate and enjoy about the kind of research that I get to do, and then I kind of found my home amongst the sickle cell people. 

I don't think there's a ton of us who do this kind of research. It is a small community but we are a really committed and dedicated community who think critically. And everything that we do, every question we ask, is so intentional because we understand and can honor the circumstances in which patients are presenting to us with. 

I applied [to graduate school] right out of undergraduate, which was terrifying!  As one of the objectives for the research program I was in, we were required to apply to grad school.  It was an NIH funded program, and basically the outcome was to create a pipeline from Spelman University to PhD’s in the sciences. So, we were obligated to apply but we did not have to get in. 

There were 7 of us – 6 applied that year and 5 of us went to PhD programs.  It was great because it meant that I had a group of people from the very beginning that I could connect with, and we have supported each other through graduate school.   I have a friends getting their PhDs in pharmaceutical sciences, human development, biochemistry, and clinical psychology.  We even got to attend each other’s dissertation defenses, which was really special.  I think that's one of the things that I think is really important when you're doing any kind of research.  You need to have your group of people to support you.

I have seen myself grow over the years from being a really impressionable high schooler who thought this work was fun to transitioning to being a more intentional thinker who still finds this work fun but also important and committed to this work. 

 

How did you know you wanted to do a clinical program, specifically?

I think I knew as early as my sophomore year in high school, but it was not until I did an internship at CHOP that I was introduced to Pediatric Psychology. I realized I could do research and see patients. 

And one of the biggest selling points was that it was funded.  I think that is one of the things that a lot of people don’t know.  There’s no cost for you to enter into a [lot of clinical psychology] graduate programs.  It made it more feasible because I knew I could create a life from this. 

We had people come back to Spelman and tell us more about their journey and emphasized the importance of different factors such as networking, going to conferences, etc. so by the time I got to my senior year, I felt prepared to apply to graduate school.

What advice do you have for people that might not have access to the various programs you were involved in to prepare you for graduate school?

Part of the requirements working in my lab was to mentor undergraduate students.  I think that is a great way to get exposure into how a lab runs, you get a degree of 1:1 with a grad student or postdoc, and those people can provide that mentorship and give you advice on being a successful applicant. 

I also encourage people to ask questions, network with people, and sometimes even cold email people.  You can even cold email someone whose research you like and ask them to tell you about their research and more often than not people are willing to respond. 

I also highly recommend any type of summer program.  There are so many programs available, but even when I was not accepted into a summer program I was still reaching out to people.  I emailed someone whose research I liked and let them know I had funding from Spelman and asked them if they had a dataset that I could work with.  It was at this time, I met Steven Hardy, who then introduced me to SPP.  It was things like that, where there did not need to be a formalized program, but I made it work. 

How do you network? And how do you maintain those relationships?

I am really intentional when people say “keep in touch.”

One way that works for me is updating people in my network when I reach certain milestones.  Even when I am doing a literature search and I come across a new article one of my mentors have published, I will reach out to them.  I think there are these small touchpoints that make it less awkward. 

I have learned that people want to share your success even when you’re uncomfortable. I think it’s even helped me be more confident when I do something.  It helps me celebrate myself a bit more.  It was incredible to have my mentors then show up for me at my dissertation defense and really see all these people who shaped my journey from a young age.  It meant so much to be reminded of these relationships. 

I always check in about conferences and see whether my mentors are attending and if we are able to connect.  The time can be tight at conferences, but even finding small pockets of time when someone is walking to lunch or having a quick coffee.  Those things can be helpful in maintaining relationships.

Imposter syndrome…how do we navigate it?

It’s so hard and even when you know what you know, I think you still doubt yourself.  I had imposter syndrome when I was applying to internship, but I think when you know what you're doing and what you're supposed to be doing, it speaks for itself.  I feel I have had the opportunity to grow in my research because it is what I am passionate about versus just doing research for the sake of publishing.  I still doubt myself though.  I still get nervous when I give talks about my research. 

I know that research like the back of my hand, but you betcha I am shaking every time. So, I don’t think it really goes away, but I do think we are able to manage things with time. I think it’s also undeniable when you do things you are passionate about. Then you can be as scared as you want to be, but there’s a calling that I think supersedes the nerves. 

In what ways are you involved in Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion work?

I think it's interesting because at first I was like, “Well I work with patients who are impacted by a disease [Sickle Cell Disease] and it is predominantly impacting people of color, so by nature I am doing DEI work. And then I thought to myself, “No, you can be doing that work, and it does not mean it is necessarily DEI forward.”

It’s an intentional practice to do so. So one of the things that has been really helpful is community engaged research and making sure that the patients that I work with get to have a voice. I also think that doing qualitative work adds a little nuance to it, where I get to then delve a little deeper than finding out people are stressed and have unmet needs. Because that is not anything new, and this a system issue and we have a lot of work to do.  I also think that one of the things that has been helpful for me is figuring out how to leverage my position and my voice in my work and use my identity. 

My dissertation was funded by a diversity supplement from the National Heart Lung and Blood Institute. If you can and you're eligible for a diversity supplement, it's amazing. It's the length of whatever that parent grant is, and you just get to do your own idea. We had a parent grant that was looking at social determinants of health in children with Sickle Cell Disease, and I wanted to understand adolescents’ perspectives of social determinants of health. I think those kinds of mechanisms are really important in terms of making sure we get to create more diverse research.

It has also been really important to situate my research at every turn within the system that we exist. It is a conscious practice. My [study] sample is almost exclusively Black and also I do not need to  contextualize it by [including] a white sample. It’s not necessary here.

Being actively anti-racist in my conceptualization or in things that I do is important. I make it a point in every presentation or in every poster to mention racism and discrimination because if we do not, then we lose sight. Or we cannot properly convey what patients are telling us if we're not really completely understanding (or at least trying to think about) their full experience. 

Things like that are really important to me and really helpful in terms of making sure that DEI is present in the work that I do.  I also make mistakes so I make sure I have a whole bunch of accountability from people in my lab or people from our community advisory board.  

Another thing that I do is have my mom read every single manuscript I write. She is able to tell me if things make sense or if certain models are easy to understand.  When we are creating and disseminating research, we should be thinking about the people who it’s going to actually impact the most.  I want to make sure what I am producing is going to be understood and utilized by everyone else at all the different levels, so that means also including people across all different levels in the work we are doing and doing it well.

My objective is to not make people comfortable, but to create change which can be uncomfortable. 

As a trainee, when you observe injustices, it can be hard to know how to speak up or how to address these injustices effectively. What advice do you have for other trainees in navigating and addressing injustices?

I have a lot of sounding boards.  I have worked in predominantly White institutions and there are a lot of times in grad school where I think “Am I nitpicking or is this important? Is it actually a problem? Is this actually something that's worth the time and the effort or do I just need to let it go?”

One of the things that I learned is that, most of the time, the things I'm saying are not actually going to make really any big change for me. I kind of accepted that it might make things harder for me, but it's still important.  If I'm weighing my odds I'd rather say that I tried to make a difference, I tried to call someone out when I think that it's warranted, and I can do it politely, and I can do it kindly, but I think there's a benefit to being a little bit brave and a little bit brazen because it also gets people's attention. 

I think, in the more recent years, I've chosen to sit back and listen a little bit more. I think one of my bigger things is if there's someone around me who is not in a position to say something, then I feel most comfortable speaking out.  One of my goals while I was at BU is to facilitate a space where at least the students of color felt like they had someone who could put themselves on the line where they didn't have to.   

There’s a benefit to continuing to engage in disruption.  Do it artfully. Do it tactfully and have a sounding board.  Make sure you are not doing it poorly, but do not stop because it’s uncomfortable.  The first or second time might be particularly uncomfortable, but once people get used to it, then they’re more willing to listen and to hear you. 

Tell me about your first experience at SPPAC and how you found your home within the Society of Pediatric Psychology.

My first conference, I did not really understand the full scope of SPPAC. When I went to SPPAC in grad school, I did everything. I went to the mentoring lunch, the student social, anything, you name it!! 

I am also a huge fan girl, so anytime I would see someone in the Sickle Cell world whose work I was familiar with, I would make it a point to go up to them and talk about their research.  I think that was really helpful in terms of developing research relationships where I could easily reach out to people with quick questions about projects, whether it was a question about recruitment or needing an extra set of eyes when I felt like I was missing something. 

SPPAC has such robust programming for trainees, so there are always opportunities to build relationships.  I do consider SPP to be my academic home. 

What trainee initiatives have been helpful?

I really like the student advisory board.  I have always strived to be intentional with the things that are important to me and align with my values. The community service projects have always been something that I have been involved in. 

Desireé Williford does an incredible job of leading us into it and navigating all the things that come with planning a society wide community service event.  I think it has added so much more meaning to the work that I do because I get to see kids and realize it’s very small things that we can do that have such an incredible impact. 

I think, in a space where whether you’re doing research full time, clinical, or splitting your time, you constantly feel like you’re giving. And you don’t always feel like you’re getting a lot back, but I think community service is the one time where you can give, and it’s incredibly fulfilling at the same time. 

How has SPP worked to support DEI-related work ?

I think the society has done a fantastic job of promoting DEI.  I think we also have a long way to go in terms of diversifying the society as a whole. 

I think there are ways that we can continue to do things structurally.  For example, inviting parents and patients into seminars we are having. Including other perspectives and making sure there is representation of people on the SPP board. 

Also, what accountability do we have to promote DEI?  Are there ways in which we can have CE credits contingent on attendees attending at least one talk on DEI related issues?

I love the wave that we've gone in terms of an uptick in DEI, but I do wonder if it is watered down because it’s in everything and at times it can lose it’s impact.

I do think, even in the research sphere, there has been a lot of change in terms of emphasis on DEI, but I think we could diversify our understanding of what it looks like to be an advocate of DEI.  Also, for the people who do DEI work, that does not have to be the only thing you do; you can have two interests at one time and that’s okay.