Clinical PsyD Chase Juggles Multiple Assignments

Graduate Helping Students Make the Grade

Long after he earned his PsyD in Clinical Psychology, Don Chase brought his years of experience and clinical skills to Keefe Technical High School, where he provides evaluations, consultations, clinical services, a training seminar and supervision for second-year William James College Clinical Psychology doctoral students. "We see a rich exposure of everything from adolescent psychopathology to normal teenage angst," he says. Having practiced at Harvard Vanguard Medical Associates, and earned an MPH at Harvard on the economics of health care, Chase has witnessed significant changes in the position of psychologists in the overall health care system, changes, he says, prompted by a range of contributing factors.

But more than the demands of his work with the challenging population at the high school and his part-time private group practice, Chase carries the inescapable pain of having lost his 21-year-old son, Eric Chase, in June 2012 to AML leukemia. Chase and his wife, Nikki Fedele, have established a fund at the Dana Farber to support medical research. "Dealing with his death has demanded every skill I have," says Chase. With the help of Eric's friends participating in a variety of fund-raising athletic events, they have already raised $80,000. (www.teamericchase.com for more information).

Chase describes his William James College education as "transformational. It helped me grow up, helped me establish a professional identity. As a psychologist, I have to help people deal with changes in their lives while also managing the unpredictable, changing world around them."

• Tags:
• In the Community