Sarah Latham has been working as a student psychologist for nearly a decade, with much experience under her belt. When she started out working however, she had a much different job going in then what she came out with.

This article intends to take a deep dive into Latham’s work and history, understanding how she came to be a student psych at Morgan, and how she’s able to support students in their day to day lives.

In Latham’s earlier years, she started out by working at an advertising agency centered around tech, where she did more administrative work for the company. She found the experience dull and unimportant, and it made her feel as if she didn’t have an impact on others around her. “I worked in a more business corporate job, and I didn’t really feel I was making a difference,” Latham explained. “It didn’t feel as important to me.”

Later on while working at her advertising job, she started volunteering on the weekends in the New York Cares Program to work with kids who had mental and physical disabilities, mainly playing with them and giving them support. While doing this, she felt she was able to make a real difference by helping kids who needed support. The experience was very fulfilling for her, as she enjoyed being able to see the kids have fun with other peers and adults. This program ended up making Latham much more interested in helping out kids, so she decided to go back to college to become a school psychologist in her twenties.

“It was this very sweet and fulfilling opportunity and experience, to see the kids having fun and enjoying time with peers and adults,” Latham said. “There was something that was just very enjoyable about it, that made me do a complete career change.”

After Latham completed her studies at UCONN, she was able to start working with students. She first started out at East Lyme Middle, where she worked there for several years. She later on wanted to try and work with high schoolers, so she applied for a job at the Morgan School to work along with the Student Support Center staff for about 3 years.

She then had her role at the school changed to become one of the psychologists for the school, where her work was then split between Morgan and Eliot. “My favorite part of the job is the cool collaborating you get to do with teachers,” Latham explained. “It’s just a team effort to help students, I think that’s something about the job I really enjoy.”

Although Latham loves her job, being a student psychologist can be quite difficult, as it entails working with many students in different ways. One of the main things Latham does with students is hold one on one meetings, where she and the student discuss problems they may be having with school, whether that be due to workloads or teachers.

Latham’s job then is to contact parents and teachers to relay this info, so they can work on a plan to make the students’ time at school less stressful and more comfortable. She also takes the time to go to meetings with parents and teachers, and sometimes the student as well.

“Another thing a school psychologist does is work with teachers and work with parents to further help the student if they’re having a tough time,” Latham explained. “[Mainly] to see how to make their school experience as good as possible.”

With having the task of working with dozens of kids throughout the Morgan school, it can be difficult for Latham to manage it all, with having to attend many meetings for students and teachers alike. But to combat this, she’s learned many skills to talk with students efficiently, so they’re able to get their points across, while also giving Latham room to suggest ways the student could have a better time in class.

One thing that’s been helpful for Latham has been raising her own kids. From them, she has learned how to have patience and discipline to understand their problems, and to find solutions for them.

“Having patience and being able to listen to see where a student is coming from, and not making any pre judgements, while also coming to things with an open mind can help when working with students who are struggling,” Latham explains.

While working with students can be a difficult task, Latham has learned to use the experiences in her life to give herself a better understanding of students at school. And while it took Latham a while to find her dream job, she was able to realize what she truly loved doing, and was able to change her career from something she didn’t enjoy, to something she cherished. As Latham explains: “It’s a cool experience seeing kids grow up, and I enjoy helping them get there in any way I can.”