鈥淪omething that I feel really resonates with me at the 91精品 is the power of community,鈥� shared Erin McQueen, a second year student in the 91精品鈥檚 Counseling Psychology Program. 鈥淭o be in one place with one group of people for a period of time, and to move through that experience together can be really supportive.鈥�
Erin was born in Connecticut and grew up in Livermore, California, not far from Berkeley. She attended a mixture of public, private, and charter schools for her PreK-12 education in Livermore. When Erin was in 2nd grade, she experienced a traumatic brain injury and spent a few years being homeschooled while she was undergoing rehabilitation. 鈥淚t was challenging,鈥� she recalled, 鈥渁nd I think that, early on, I developed a quietly adaptive orientation.鈥� As Erin went through this experience and the challenges of readjusting to school afterwards, she gained a deeper appreciation for the resilience of life and value of community, which has stayed with her to this day.
For her undergraduate studies, Erin attended the , but began her undergraduate experience at a local community college. 鈥淚 didn鈥檛 really know where I wanted to land,鈥� she reflected, 鈥渟o I gave myself time to explore what I wanted to study.鈥� During her time in community college, two classes in particular stood out for her: Introduction to Anthropology and Introduction to Women鈥檚 Studies. When she transferred to UC Berkeley, she decided to double major in those two disciplines. 鈥淏ringing an intersectional lens to both of those topics felt so important to me, both personally and professionally,鈥� Erin shared, 鈥渁nd I think that laid the foundation for the work I'm doing now as a counselor.鈥�
As she was leaving Berkeley, Erin had a plethora of theoretical and conceptual information and was seeking a way to apply the themes and frameworks she had studied and 鈥渕ove from theory into practice.鈥� After graduation, she began to volunteer at , founded in 1971 as the first rape crisis center in the country, as a Sexual Assault Counselor on their call center hotline. 鈥淚t was really influential to train there and be able to serve survivors of sexual assault, their loved on