CSPP Student Profile: Danielle Schlosser

Danielle Schlosser is a fourth year doctoral student in the Clinical Psychology PhD program at Alliant’s San Francisco campus. Although she was undecided about her focus when she entered the program, in her third year she found her niche through her dissertation research on prodrome schizophrenia.

“I didn’t know what I wanted to do when I first got here. I wrote a list of all my ideas. It was a really long list, but my faculty advisor helped me narrow it down. I finally picked a topic and got it done. What was surprising is that I found my niche in my dissertation research. I just came into it. I had no idea I could actually find my own opportunity and have the flexibility to be able to seek out research programs in the community. That’s exciting to me. A lot of people change their focus and that's okay."

Prior to her studies at CSPP, Danielle conducted qualitative interviews with intelligent depressed females, and studied brain images of adults who had been abused as children at Mc Klean Hospital in Boston.

Danielle works with Professor Shannon Casey-Cannon as a research assistant on a study of ethnic identity in adolescents and how they function when they’re transitioning from environments like school and home. She and Dr. Casey-Cannon presented their finding at the APA Convention in New Orleans and are currently writing up a paper for publication. Danielle benefits from her work with Dr. Casey-Cannon. "She really challenges my writing, and makes sure I’m thinking about my research critically. It’s a good relationship. She’s a real mentor of mine.”

Danielle presented her research project, on therapists’ attitudes toward treatment, at the APA Convention in San Francisco in 2007.

Danielle also had an intense clinical experience working at Berkeley Mental Health’s mobile crisis unit, where she worked with clinicians, attended police squad meetings, assessed people in the community and responded to crisis in the area, such as suicides and fires. "Your adrenaline is pumping.” She enjoys working with clients from diverse ethnic and economic backgrounds. “I look forward to going to work." She also worked at the Bay Area Community Resources Gateway project, a school-based therapy program for adolescents.

She enjoys her research seminar with Dr. Shannon Casey-Cannon and her Family Therapy course with Jim Sparks. The group of students in Dr. Casey-Cannon’s research seminar has been together throughout their entire time at CSPP, since their first year. “We've all known each other for so long and we've all evolved. We have a really solid group. We would spend time out of class together so there was a lot of community there, especially in the first year,” says Danielle.

Danielle studied Cultural Anthropology as an undergraduate student at UC Santa Cruz. She was interested in the reasons behind human action, and although she enjoyed studying the theory behind it, she wanted to take part in the process, effecting change on an individual level, in people’s daily lives. At the time she was also working in a psychiatric facility. “I loved that work. I was fascinated with individuals who were struggling.”

She is currently involved in a UCSF study, “The prodrome assessment research and treatment,” studying prodrome schizophrenia, with subjects having a mean age of 16 who are imminently at risk for onset of psychosis. It’s a fairly new area of research, having been studied only in the last ten years. “These kids are on the brink, and early identification equals early prevention.” Danielle was proactive in finding a research project that most interested her. She wanted to do her dissertation in a more clinically oriented research study, so she did her own search, emailed UCSF, and after several interviews, she and UCSF knew they had found the right fit.

Danielle plans to spend much of her time after graduation conducting research and possibly have a small private practice. She is already making professional connections at UCSF and attending training at UCLA. "It’s a really big commitment,” says Danielle. Her suggestion to those considering the PhD program is to “think about why you want to do it and what you want to get out of it. You’re going to have to work really hard."