Picture a place where, in a single complex, one can learn the skills of martial arts, receive pet therapy, work out in a fitness room and take classes about coping skills and self-esteem. Such a broad range of possibilities in one location is just what Ball State graduate student Kim Miller envisions creating in the future, and she believes that her ambition and drive will help her achieve this goal and all the benefits that would go with it.
Miller entered Ball State's Clinical Psychology master's program in 2002, nine years after earning her bachelor's degree from Auburn University in Alabama. The time she spent working during those years allowed her to solidify her interests and professional goals, giving her a head start on her thesis and a point on which to base her research.
"I came here wanting to create a new diagnostic instrument," she said. Her tool for diagnosing psychological disorders would not only identify the problem, but also provide insight on what caused it and how it can be cured specifically for that patient.
"If we're really going to move forward in the field of psychology, diagnostic tools should be much more connected with treatment," she said.
Miller intends to use the answers she finds from research on diagnosis and treatment to formulate her thesis. She sees her thesis as a foundation for a dissertation as well as a link to her plans for a multidimensional treatment center.
"I don't look at my thesis as just something to do. I look at it as one step in building my life goal," she said.
Miller's all-encompassing vision for the center would cater to several aspects of psychological treatment. However, the fundamental component of programming would include classes dealing with coping skills, anger management, self-esteem, effective communication and parent training. She believes that offering such classes would reduce the stigma placed upon psychological treatment.
"You don't necessarily know how to communicate well or deal with anger or other emotions if no one has taught you," she said.
Miller's previous experience as a personal trainer helped her to understand the benefits of exercise as stress relief, and she would include a fitness room in her center to help people deal with stress, low self-esteem and anger.
"Maybe they're depressed because they need to work out. Maybe they need to lose weight to increase their self-esteem," she said.
She desires that a portion of her center be devoted to martial arts classes as well. She has trained with the best in the country, including Master Chai, the expert instructor of Thai boxing who brought the art to the United States; Shin Shoji, the head Thai instructor in Atlanta; and Dan Inosanto, martial arts guru and close friend of Bruce Lee.
Another element of Miller's envisioned center is a corporate division whose staff would speak to local businesses about employee productivity, managing anger in the workplace, and dealing with difficult clients.
"People who come to do those talks don't have a degree in psychology. It should come from a psychologist with background in those skills," she said.
Yet another treatment Miller might offer her clients is pet therapy. She is interested in connecting with the "Cell Dogs" program, in which prisoners transform dogs from animal shelters into assistance dogs for the blind and adoptable pets.
"Some people might respond to a therapy dog when they wouldn't talk to a therapist," she said.
Miller expects to affiliate her project with a major university, because the visionary center would provide a diverse test population with which researchers could obtain results applicable to people all over the country.
"You cannot generalize Psychology 100 students to everyone," she said in reference to the convenient sample university researchers often use.
Her primary reason for creating the center is to treat all of the problems people face using a wide variety of approaches.
"I want to see psychology move toward wellness and holistic treatment of a person. You're limiting yourself and limiting your effectiveness as a therapist if you just look at one area of a person's life," she said.
She also believes that people attracted to one aspect of the facility might branch into other areas as they become familiar with the possibilities.
"People may get hooked into other services from being near them," she said.
Dr. Michael Stevenson, Chair of the Department of Psychological Science, has a positive outlook on Miller's ideas and goals.
"I am looking forward to watching her dream become reality and to seeing how it affects the industry. When -- not if -- she is successful, her holistic approach to encouraging people to improve their physical and psychological well-being may well set the standard," Stevenson said.
Miller did not form her ideas overnight. She believes the time she worked prior to coming to Ball State had a great impact on where she is now. Upon graduating from Auburn University, she intended to pursue a career in childhood clinical psychology. However, her interests shifted to addiction and depression through her job as the senior counselor at an outpatient addictions clinic. She went on to work with blind veterans at a hospital in Birmingham. Later, she worked as a manager of trainers and aerobic staff.
"Working in a variety of businesses and having managerial roles has taught me a lot about what works and what doesn't as far as employee dynamics and what works effectively in a business and what doesn't," Miller said.
Her current involvement at Ball State continues to supplement her career goals. She works at the advising center of undergraduates in the Department of Psychological Science and interns at the Madison County Drug Court Addiction Program in Anderson.
With so much on her plate, time management and prioritization are essential in Miller's life. However, she invites the rigors of her lifestyle.
"Graduate school is very demanding. That's why I'm here. I want to be pushed to my limits," she said.
Miller realizes she has a lengthy list of goals, but she keeps a flexible philosophy.
"I'd rather dream huge and accomplish half than not dream at all," she said.
Faculty members of the Department of Psychological Science express confidence in Miller's abilities.
"What impresses me about Kim is her competence and her work ethic. I consider Kim the most outstanding student in our clinical psychology graduate program at the present time, and one of the best we've had in my 19 years at Ball State," Dr. David Perkins, professor, said.
She has high aspirations, but Miller is not worried that she will be unable to attain them.
"It may not be exactly how I dream it, but I believe the center will become what it needs to be," she said. "If you're passionate about something and can find support from other people, there is a way it will happen."
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