Current Students

Melissa Lazo

I am a first year PhD student in the School and Applied Child Psychology program. Upon completing my degree, I would love to work as part of an interdisciplinary team, conducting psychoeducational and ASD assessments for children and adolescents, while also providing my clients with the best support based on their needs. I am from Peru, and I did my BA in Psychology at Concordia University in Montreal and was later offered the incredible opportunity to move to Vancouver for my MA and PhD in the SACP program at UBC. I have always loved working with children since I was a child myself. It wasn’t until I began working as a behaviour therapist that I found my passion and interest in early prevention and intervention. I then realized that I wanted to expand my skills and the populations I could support – and that’s when I found school psychology. I like that through this program, you can decide your career journey based on your areas of interest in research and practice. You get trained in different types of services (e.g., assessment, counselling, consultation, intervention, research, advocacy) and can, in the future, choose to further advance your skills in one or more areas. In my spare time, you’ll find me walking around Vancouver in search of the best affogatos and lattes in the city. A piece of advice I’d offer about grad school is to remember to take some time for yourself every week. I currently like to give myself half a day every weekend to go out and get some fresh air. You cannot help others if you are not helping yourself.

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