Today we’d like to introduce you to Sevil Arli.
Sevil, please share your story with us. How did you get to where you are today?
Hi! I’m Sevil Arli and I’m a Licensed Psychologist. I absolutely love this field and what I do. I love learning about people, the world and myself, in a way that I hope, one day, will be common knowledge to all, leading to an improved quality of life. That’s our goal isn’t it?
I moved into the field of Psychology after exploring different majors in my first year of college. I began working with children with developmental delays in a position that didn’t allow for much growth or a holistic approach. I’m the type of person that likes to get to the root of the problem and not just put a Band-Aid on it! So, I decided to go back to school and applied to a Doctoral program in Clinical Psychology.
So, think about this. We are with ourselves 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, yet most of us don’t truly understand how we feel or why. We often don’t know how to help ourselves or we avoid dealing with things that bring us pain. Some of us have a hard time being with ourselves alone. Some of us don’t even like who we are. Don’t you think this is the first thing we should do, get to know ourselves and know ourselves well? Love ourselves and who we are? Most of us lack strategies to deal with the obstacles that life throws at us… and the one thing we can be sure of is, it will come. So, why not invest in yourself and improve self love, growth, your ability to cope and overall quality of life? Your decision to change is influenced by one of my favorite quotes “Whether you think you can, or think you can’t you’re right.” -Henry Ford.
My journey to becoming Dr. Arli felt long, and at times impossible. It involved a lot of hard work and tears, but I’m so proud that I took this path. I received my doctorate almost 9 years ago and I wouldn’t change it for anything. I hope one day we work emotional intelligence and mental health into schools and our workplace. Slowly but surely, the field of mental health is getting the spotlight.
Has it been a smooth road?
As women, we receive a lot of messages through our environment, society and even from what we tell ourselves. Getting to where I am now was definitely not a smooth road, but if it came easy, I wouldn’t have worked as hard and learned what I did. I’m a strong believer that everything is a learning experience and if we can look at it as that, we will always grow. Resilience is key.
We’d love to hear more about your work.
When I first started this journey, I began by working with children, teens and young adults along with their families. I mainly treated childhood disorders. As I worked my way through internships, I began to explore different areas within the field. I worked with couples, adults, took special courses in sex therapy and dissociative identity disorder. Currently, I specialize in working with teens and young adults with Anxiety disorders and Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (OCD).
Along with that diagnosis comes comorbid issues like depression, trauma, psychosis, learning disabilities, academic issues, gender dysphoria, to name a few. Working in this particular field offers a unique opportunity to see a wide variety of clients. We use a treatment called Cognitive Behavioral Therapy paired with Exposure with Response Prevention as well as group and Family Therapy.
Do you have any advice for finding a mentor or networking in general? What has worked well for you?
Supervision along the way is the most valuable resource. Your supervisors will act as a model for you to refer to and will guide you to problem solve the many complex issues that will arise in mental health treatment. Reading a textbook is secondary to applying the skills and thinking on your toes.
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