Growing up in a small town in India, Romal Bhullar saw firsthand what happens when communities lack access to mental health care. That experience lit a spark\u2014and it\u2019s never gone out.<\/p>\n
\u201cAfter my undergraduate studies, I interned at psychiatric clinics,\u201d she says. \u201cThat\u2019s when my passion for providing competent care really took shape.\u201d It\u2019s what brought her to Montclair State to pursue her Master\u2019s in Clinical Psychology<\/a>.<\/p>\n One course in particular\u2014Cognitive Assessment\u2014stood out. \u201cIt was the first time theory met practice in a real way,\u201d she explains. \u201cIt showed me the responsibility that comes with being a clinician.\u201d Encouraged by professors like Dr. Tina Zottoli<\/a>, Dr. Jessica Spat-Lemus<\/a>, and others, Romal says she found not just academic support, but a sense of belonging. \u201cThey helped me adjust to the American academic system, and they believed in me.\u201d<\/p>\n That community spirit shaped her experience. At the Center for Clinical Services<\/a>, she worked in an administrative role supporting counseling clients. She also completed a clinical internship, conducted psychoeducational evaluations, and advocated for student accommodations. Along the way, she assisted with faculty research and submitted two manuscripts for publication.<\/p>\n Now, Romal\u2019s journey continues: she\u2019s been accepted into the PsyD program at The Chicago School of Professional Psychology and will also begin working in Alzheimer\u2019s research at Mount Sinai. Her goal? To become a licensed psychologist.<\/p>\n \u201cMontclair taught me that growth doesn\u2019t happen in isolation,\u201d she says. \u201cIt taught me to value different perspectives and to ask better questions.\u201d<\/p>\n Her advice to new students is simple but powerful: \u201cTrust the process\u2014and don\u2019t be afraid to ask for help.\u201d<\/p>\n Prospective Students and Parents:<\/strong> Learn more about Montclair admissions<\/a>, <\/a>Clinical Psychology<\/a><\/a> and the College of Humanities and Social Sciences.<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Graduate Spotlight: Guided by a passion for mental health equity and strengthened by hands-on experience at Montclair, Romal Bhullar is ready to make a lasting impact as a future psychologist.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":13,"featured_media":212774,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[23,15,30],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-212772","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-7_homepage-news-and-events","category-268_psychology","category-student-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.montclair.edu\/chss\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/212772","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.montclair.edu\/chss\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.montclair.edu\/chss\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.montclair.edu\/chss\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/13"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.montclair.edu\/chss\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=212772"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.montclair.edu\/chss\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/212772\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":212782,"href":"https:\/\/www.montclair.edu\/chss\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/212772\/revisions\/212782"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.montclair.edu\/chss\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/212774"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.montclair.edu\/chss\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=212772"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.montclair.edu\/chss\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=212772"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.montclair.edu\/chss\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=212772"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}Ready to Start Your Montclair Journey?<\/strong><\/h2>\n