NPA August, 2024 Member Spotlight

Twila Preston, PhD — Out-of-State Member

Twila Preston, PhD

How long have you been a member of NPA?
I am uncertain when I joined NPA. I was on internship at NRC in 1997 -1998. I remember attending my first NPA event then. Not certain when I joined though.

Why did you join NPA?
I joined because I was encouraged to by my internship supervisors and because I was impressed by the CEU’s provided, and how active NPA was in advocating for Psychology and Mental Health in Nebraska.

What do you like most about being a member?
I find the CEU’s provided by NPA to consistently be valuable and not “dumbed down.” I have had it up to my ears with subpar CEU’s. I feel as if NPA has allowed me to stay relatively current. I also greatly appreciated what NPA did for us during COVID. I needed the interaction of my fellow psychologists.

Where you are now working and what is your role?
I started providing telehealth care in 2017 and moved completely to telehealth care in spring of 2020. I have some private pay patients and am under contract with a telehealth company which has provided reasonable support and a stream of available clients.

Tell us about your path to becoming a psychologist?
I grew up in South Dakota, during the 1960’s and early 1970’s with a mother who was significantly anxious. The closest mental health professionals at that time were 2.5 hours away. So I knew there was a need. I also realized that no matter what work I had, I got bored fast. At age 34 I decided to go back to graduate school to earn my psychology doctorate. My GRE scores were high enough that I could apply to PhD programs. I applied and was off and running. I never wanted to be a researcher or a professor (publish or perish was not for me). I was never bored as a psychologist, overwhelmed at times, but not bored.

What do you love most about your current position?
I love my current position because I set my own schedule, work as much as I want to, can take time off without getting “permission,” and I am not micromanaged. I ran an independent practice for 15 years. I continue to find my work rewarding. I love watching people change. I most enjoy what I call “long term personality” change. I am not intimidated or frustrated by people who change slowly. For me, that is part of the healing processes for those folks.

How do you define success?
Success for me is contentment with and finding meaning in what I do.

What is a fun fact that people probably don’t know about you?
I love my work and my cats. Also, I was “raised” on a farm and I still love digging in the dirt. I do not tolerate bugs in my house, but they can crawl all over me in the garden and I wish them well.

Where are you from? Where did you go to school?
I am from South Dakota. I left there in 1992 and earned a MA in communication from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln in 1994. I moved to Pennsylvania, worked as an instructor at Slippery Rock University and Westminster College (New Wilmington, PA). My son was born in PA soon afterward, and our little family moved back to Kearney, NE where my son’s father was hired. I love my son, and our relationship continues to improve, but in Nebraska I was bored, bored, bored. I decided to go back to grad school, received an offer from the University of Kansas, and loved my time there.

What do you like to do when you aren’t working?
My outside work activity includes volunteering for and socializing with the Unitarian Universalist congregation near me. I discovered the UU church while in South Sioux City, NE and found a congregation nearby when I moved to the Kansas City area in 2015.

Download Member Spotlight PDF: Twila Preston

Past NPA Member Spotlights

Jul 2024 - Nicole Schmidt
Jun 2024 - Megan Lawhon
May 2024 - Rick McNeese
Mar. 2024 - Gina May
Feb. 2024 - Jody Trejo
Jan. 2024 - Pamela May-Weeks
June, 2016 - Dennis McNeilly
May, 2016 - Pamela Richardson
April, 2016 - Jerry VanWinkle
February, 2016 - Dave Hansen
January, 2016 - Debra Hope
December, 2015 - Mary Fran Flood
November, 2015 – Shannon Black
October, 2015 – John "Jay" Curran
September, 2015 – Nancy Bradford
July, 2015 – Alayna Schreier
June, 2015 – Joe Swoboda
May, 2015 – Mikel Merritt
January, 2015 — Lyndia Madison
December, 2014 — Mark Hald
October, 2014 — Sarah Schaffer
August, 2014 — Brenda Rohren
July, 2014 — Heath Hodges
June, 2014 — April Davis

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