Behrend’s second year graduate students in the Master of Arts in Applied Clinical Psychology Program will introduce a Study Skills and Test Anxiety Group to campus to help students improve their study habits and alleviate test anxiety.

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The group was developed as part of a class assignment for a group therapy class. Students partaking in this group want to address students who struggle in these areas.

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The mentors of the group, graduate students, D’Shawn Harrigan and Jessica Kostelnik, will be running the group sessions under the supervision of Brett Swords, Ph.D., Assistant Teaching Professor of Psychology.

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Harrigan is currently taking a group interventions class, where students like himself are being taught how to do group psychotherapy in various hospital settings and mental health clinics. Harrigan’s class discovered the best way to learn how to do psychotherapy was to introduce a group session to campus.

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“We did a needs assessment and we found that a lot of students need help with test performance and test anxiety,” Harrigan said. “We as a student could be graded, but we could also give kind of an altruistic public education or assistance platform that could help students in the areas that they need.”

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Students interested in participating in the group will first need to contact the mentors, Harrigan and Kostelnik, or the supervisor, Dr. Swords, to schedule a brief, “get to know you,” meeting to get some ideas of what they would like to get out of the group, what the group can offer to them and any additional questions they may have.

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This group will not be a psychotherapy group, but instead, a psychoeducational group focused on supporting students and giving them the study skills they need when preparing for test day. The group will be “closed,” which means it will include only a set number of individuals and will not continue to add more students.

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The group is planned to be four to six sessions long and each session will last approximately an hour. The group will consist of activities pertaining to study techniques and practice with an emphasis on group discussion where students can analyze how some study strategies might work and not work for them individually.

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“We feel that shared experience can be beneficial as it helps people understand that success is possible and it requires hard work,” said Kostelnik.

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Any student who is struggling with their study habits or test anxiety are encouraged to attend the group session, as according to Kostelnik, students helping their peers improve in their academics on a relatable level will encourage them to find ways to succeed in their academics.

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“Because we are clinical psychology students, everything we do is supported by empirical research,” Harrigan said.  “A lot of groups in the community setting are done by a person who has an interest in that field, but they may not have the clinical expertise in order to carry it out.”

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The group session will be held March 14 through April 18 from 2:30-3:30 p.m at Turnbull Hall 202. Any students interested in attending can contact Kostelnik (jmk84@psu.edu), Harrigan (dlh80@psu.edu), or Swords (bas516@psu.edu) for more information.