As soon as she got her braces put on at 12-years-old, Emily Fillion knew that she wanted to be an orthodontist. However, plans change.
After studying health sciences at Champlain College, Emily found her interests beginning to shift. Rather than pursuing a university education in dentistry, she decided to apply to Concordia University in behavioural neuroscience.
“After my first semester at Concordia, I realized that even though I had a science background, I really didn’t have any interest in pursuing sciences as a career,” Fillion said. “What I discovered though, was that I really had a passion for the behavioural aspect of psychology, so I decided to put all my energy into that.”
Psychology is a very difficult and competitive field, but Fillion was determined. In order to set herself apart from her peers and gain a better understanding of her field, she started looking for volunteer positions.
“Volunteer positions in psychology are the closest thing we can get to an internship, because we can’t actually practice in this domain without being certified,” Fillion said.
Her first volunteer position was in the psychiatry department at St-Mary’s Hospital, where she would spend an hour per week playing board games with patients. That same year, she also volunteered in Concordia’s Culture, Health and Personality Lab, where she was responsible for translating a questionnaire that measured depression. Fillion also helped out at Concordia’s Health, Aging and Personality Lab which focuses on self-esteem. Her role involved direct interaction with the study’s participants.
Last year Fillion joined the Concordia-based Family Well-Being Project led by Dr. Jean-Philippe Gouin. The project focuses on the stress experienced by mothers who have children with autism— and it is the topic Fillion has chosen for her thesis.
Although she is still involved with Gouin’s project, Fillion recently took on a volunteer position at the Douglas Mental Health University Institute that has her spending one-on-one time with patients once a week.
“Through all these volunteer positions, I was able to acquire hands-on experience [which] helped me put the theory I learned from books into real-life situations,” Fillion said. “I think this will definitely help my chances of getting into grad school as well.”
Fillion has always had an extremely busy schedule: a full-time school schedule, a minimum of two jobs, volunteer positions, some sports and a decent social life. The one thing that was missing though, was student involvement.
“I started by joining the CUPA [Concordia Undergraduate Psychology Association] Study Design Case Competition team, and I had a really fun experience,” she said. “After that, I was attending many CUPA events, and I thought it would be cool to be one of the people who plans them.”
She saw a post on Facebook about CUPA elections, and, after a considerable amount of hesitation, she started the campaign process and was elected Vice President of Academics.
“Now entering my fourth and final year of my bachelor’s at Concordia, I can definitely say that being part of a student association gives me a much stronger personal connection to the school and I would recommend everyone to do the same and get involved,” said Fillion.