Meet Anthony Teasdale, Ph.D.
Staff psychologist | Counseling & Psychological Services
Five years at Carolina
Tell us about your job.
I do individual therapy, group therapy, supervision and training of future psychologists and mental health professionals, outreach to student organizations and campus entities, and other duties.
How have your responsibilities changed since the switch to working remotely? What things have been added to your normal work in the face of COVID-19?
CAPS has shifted all services to remote delivery via Zoom or online. As a result, my responsibilities have stayed largely the same, and my colleagues and I have continued the work we would do with students in person. During COVID, CAPS has produced a lot of virtual programming and messaging for social media as well as delivered outreach programming to campus offices or student organizations via Zoom. I have also conducted several trainings about ethically working remotely, how to run a group online, and other technology-related trainings. It was exciting to have more groups run in the summer than usual and often at capacity.
What has been the biggest challenge you’ve faced when transitioning to remote work?
Not being in person with colleagues. We have an open-door policy, we often consult with each other to provide the best service, and we draw energy and inspiration from being together in person, so it has been hard to not be able to see each other.
How are you maintaining a sense of community among those you serve?
Scheduling Zoom meetings to catch up and connect. That includes connecting around different issues such as working with religion and spirituality in therapy and OCD treatment.
Where are you working?
My home. My workspace was already well set up because our CAPS Director encouraged staff to be set-up on computers to be able to fully work remotely before the pandemic hit, which allowed for a somewhat smooth transition to a home office.
What do you like most about your work?
The students and how curious, hardworking, energetic, compassionate, and dedicated they are. My colleagues, and how supportive, thoughtful, and dedicated to serving students they are. I also enjoy being able to help people become the best version of themselves.
What is one thing you hope will stay the same once things return to normal?
Our flexibility to work from home every once in a while, because sometimes that could be helpful for life situations.
Is there anything else you’d like to share?
I have found it helpful to get outside and exercise, communicate with family and friends as much as possible even if it is virtual/video, practice gratitude, and appreciation, and find fun projects to work on. I love to travel so I’ve been making movies of my travel photos/trips that have been a lot of fun to create.