Leslie Davies, PhD, is a Licensed Psychologist at New York State’s Office for People with Developmental Disabilities and is also in private practice.
Q: What is your educational background and how did it influence you to pursue your current career?
A: I am a UB Bull through and through; I have my Bachelor’s, Master’s, and Doctorate from UB, although I have had a somewhat windy and protracted path to get to where I am professionally. I started at UB as a Fine Arts major but ultimately graduated with a Bachelor’s in Cognitive Science and a minor in Cultural Anthropology. I loved the intersection of psychology, linguistics, anthropology, and philosophy and that really came to life during my course of undergraduate studies in Cognitive Science. After I graduated with undergrad though, I had no idea what to do next. I knew that I loved meeting people where they’re at, entering their world, learning how they see the world, and finding ways to help them come into their own. So, after graduating undergrad, I spent time as a phone counselor at Crisis Services and as a mentor in Buffalo Public Schools. Through my time at both places, I became acutely aware of the disparity in access to mental health supports for marginalized populations. I became especially interested in the role of the school counselor at one of the schools where I was a mentor. I learned how important the school counselor was not just to the students’ academic success but as importantly, if not at times more importantly, to their emotional and social well-being. My experiences in the schools during this time pushed me to pursue my Master’s in School Counseling. Following completion of my degree, I unfortunately was faced with the difficulty of finding one of those coveted jobs as a school counselor, which are not easy to find. I was not in a position to relocate to another part of the state, much less to another part of the country, so my options were limited. Therefore, I casted a wider net, applying for jobs in WNY that had any counseling, mentoring, social services, mental health, or academic advising in their job descriptions. I distinctly remember applying to People Inc. for their Behavior Specialist job, which entailed working with children and adults with developmental disabilities. More specifically, the job had me going to families’ homes to provide in-home behavior intervention to children and adults who lived in the community with their families but who struggled significantly with intense and at times dangerous behaviors. I thought it was a long shot that I would be a good fit for the position, much less that I would like it, because “I’m not a behaviorist” (verbatim what I said aloud as I completed the application). Well, I made a liar out of myself; I was offered the job and I accepted – because it was, after all, a job, and I was not going to pass on a job offer just because it wasn’t exactly what I went to school for. Once I started at People Inc., I absolutely fell in love with the work. I loved every part of the work I did with individuals with developmental disabilities and their families. I learned quickly that this was exactly what I wanted to do and exactly who I wanted to work with. I was fortunate to have a couple of fantastic mentors during my time at People Inc., one of whom was a licensed psychologist who taught me so much about how impactful you can be as a psychologist. Before my exposure to the role of a psychologist at People Inc., I really had a pretty narrow understanding of what a psychologist does. I thought that a psychologist either does research at a university or provides therapy to people. However, I learned that a psychologist’s arms can stretch far and wide into so many different areas of impact: policy and legislation, research, program development, teaching and training, assessment, therapy, and advocacy, just to name a few. As I was grappling with whether to go back for my doctorate, I connected with another mentor at People Inc., who brought trauma-informed care to the forefront of the work we did at the agency. He showed me and my colleagues so much about the impact of trauma on systems; from the micro to macro level, trauma and traumatic stress impacts every aspect of the system and those in it (employees and service recipients alike). The amount of trauma that individuals with developmental disabilities have faced is exceptionally high, but the access to trauma-informed care for these individuals has historically been limited. Trauma-informed care and trauma theory was the missing piece to my professional identity, and once I immersed myself in it, a fire was lit under me and there was no doubt that going back for my doctorate was the next step in my development. So, that’s what I did. I completed my doctorate at UB in the Counseling, School, and Educational Psychology program. I completed my post-doc at New York State’s Office for People with Developmental Disabilities (OPWDD), passed my licensure exam, became a NYS licensed psychologist, and now I work as a Licensed Psychologist at OPWDD. This was a long-time professional dream of mine, and I am eternally grateful to all those mentors I had along the way, and I am also so thankful that I took my time with getting to where I am. I truly believe that by working between my degrees, I was able to self-develop, mature, and expand my understanding of how a degree in a certain field doesn’t have to box you in to a narrow profession unless you let it.
Q: What do you do as a licensed psychologist?
A: Based on my answer to the first question, I hope you can forgive me for probably not being entirely comprehensive in the work that I do as a licensed psychologist given that it is wide-ranging and evolves as the system evolves. Currently in my position as a Licensed Psychologist at OPWDD, I work in the States Operations sector, which oversees group homes in the Western New York area. Our group homes provide all-encompassing care for individuals with developmental disabilities. I chair our Human Rights Committee, which reviews all behavior support plans to ensure that they are personalized to the individual, meet the needs of the individual, are clinically sound, and extraneous interventions that may limit the independence of the individual are minimized. I also sit on other committees that vary in their objectives but primarily focus on policies and procedures for psychologists in the agency. I also provide clinical supervision to unlicensed psychologists who carry caseloads.
In addition to my work at OPWDD, I work at The Summit Center’s Behavioral Pediatrics Clinic as an outpatient therapist for children and families. I also have my own private practice which I started during COVID and through which I mainly work with adults via telehealth format. The influx of demand for mental health services during and post-COVID has really underscored once again the importance of psychologists and mental health clinicians as essential to the functioning of a system and it has also afforded the field of psychology to grow in that telehealth is now a common modality for treatment and allows greater access for many populations.
Q: What, if anything, do you wish you would have known prior to entering this field?
A: I think some of the biggest things I wish I had known about the field of psychology as a vocation are related to what I discussed above; that is, the role of a psychologist can vary widely based on the area of psychology you pursue. For example, some courses of study of psychology do not lead to licensure, which means that you cannot practice as a therapist upon obtaining your degree because you must be a licensed psychologist to practice. I also wish I had known what pursuing a career as a psychologist entailed as far as education and commitment. I was all in when I pursued my doctorate, and I was fortunate that I had a mentor who really talked to me about how rigorous the path to becoming a licensed psychologist is. However, I don’t think everyone who begins a doctorate program in psychology has had the same fortune of being taught about the years-long commitment not just to the degree itself but then to licensure. Additionally, I wish I had known more about how hard it is to be a psychologist! We as a profession are helpers, healers, caregivers. It can be incredibly rewarding, also incredibly difficult to “leave it at the door” at the end of the day because there is always more work that can be done. I think knowing yourself and knowing that being a psychologist is a marathon not a sprint is imperative.
Q: What organizations, clubs, activities, or internships were you involved in during college or graduate school? How did those experiences help prepare you for your current role?
A: Truthfully, I didn’t get involved with organized groups or activities through UB during my time there, and that is one thing that I wish I had done differently. UB has so many things to offer its students in the way of support, social connections, networking, and passion pursuits and I did not take advantage of them. I tended to do my own thing and kept to myself on campus, which in retrospect I think was self-limiting.
Q: What are the biggest challenges that you typically face in your career?
A: The biggest challenges I face in my career are the ones I’ve mentioned prior. I’m the type of person who wants change and wants it yesterday, and that’s just not how systems work a lot of the time. I’ve really had to learn to have patience and endurance in my career. I have also had to learn how to balance personal and professional; I can easily fall into the workaholic mode and that is something that I really have to keep on myself about so that I have reserves and time for an actual personal life.
Q: What advice do you have for anyone that might want to pursue a career in psychology?
A: If you are interested in pursuing a career in psychology, I urge you to consider a few things:
- Don’t marry yourself to going right from undergrad to grad school. I think that at times and for some people it can be quite limiting to continue your college career immediately after graduating undergrad. Take your time! Explore the world of careers and how varied the job world is.
- Figure out what area of psychology you want to pursue. Not all psychology programs lead to the same career possibilities. As mentioned above, for example, not all psychology programs result in a doctorate in psychology that allows you to sit for licensure in your state. If you want to have a career in an area of psychology where you must be licensed, make sure that the program you select is compatible with that.
- Attend a doctoral program that is accredited by the American Psychological Association (APA). This ensures that it meets the standards and competencies set forth by the association recognized by state licensing boards. This is important when it comes to applying for licensure and if you ever want to move to another state and apply for licensure there. It can be harder to get licensed in some states if you don’t come from an APA-accredited program.
Q: If a UB student wanted to contact you, what is the best way to reach you?
A: Email or LinkedIn would be the best way! My UB email address is lgdavies@buffalo.edu.
