The seeds for pursuing a career in mental healthcare were planted early for Dr. Kaitlin McCormick.
Kaitlin’s mother was a mental health nurse at a Sydney area junior high school, so Kaitlin often heard her talk about the importance of mental health.
But it wasn’t until she shadowed her mother at work one day, and saw firsthand how what she did benefited students, that she decided this was the field she wanted to dedicate her life to.
The difference her mother made, sometimes with a single interaction, is what stuck with her the most.
Kaitlin says she saw the benefit and power of “having someone in a non-judgmental and caring way listen to what you’re going through and express concern and caring and a desire to walk beside you and help.”
Motivated and inspired, she eventually decided a career as an adult psychologist is where she would have the biggest impact on the lives of people who sought out mental health services.
After receiving a Bachelor of Arts with Honours in Psychology from St. Francis Xavier University, she moved to Scotland and completed her Doctor of Psychology in Counselling Psychology from Glasgow Caledonian University in 2015.
That’s when she decided to return home to Cape Breton and start practising there.
“I wanted to bring the education and the knowledge that I have back to the place that I grew up in and do what I can to help give back to the community that has given me so much,” she says.
As a registered psychologist, she splits her time between a private practice and working in the public system, where she has been part of Nova Scotia Health’s Mental Health and Addictions Program for 10 years, seeing patients at a clinic at the Cape Breton Regional Hospital.
She receives referrals for a wide variety of psychological disorders and issues, including anxiety and depression, but has extra training in trauma-informed care and treating people with PTSD.
“There’s more of an opportunity to collaborate and more of a team approach that I really value,” she says about working at the clinic. “I also wanted to serve and support people that may not have the means or ability to access private services. They sometimes are the ones who need it the most.”
Psychologists play a vital role in helping create healthier and happier communities, Kaitlin says, in part by showing people they may have more tools at their disposal than they initially realize.
“Some of the information and skills that we talk to people about are things that they already knew of but forgot about, or didn’t realize was a coping strategy. There’s a lot of empowerment in reminding people that they can learn the skills or have the skills to navigate challenges,” she says.
“Sometimes they need a little bit of support and some help in that, but a lot of times, they have more resilience and more ability to adapt and to tolerate things than they realize.”
Photo of adult psychologist Dr. Kaitlin McCormick.
