About Me

My Name is Erica Patterson and I am a psychology major at Nazareth College. I have worked with children one on one for close to nine years now and I am currently working in a Child Developmental Learning Center (6 weeks to 5 years old). It is the mixture of my school and personal life that drew me to the sub field of  health and "positive psychology." I have spent a lot of time with what this sub field consists of and how it affects all of us, especially its affects on children. I have interned at an amazing local organization,Mt. Hope Family Service's, which help many children and families in the Rochester area. I spent my internship working in the PATH Program, which only increased my passion for this field of study. This program used positive reinforcement to help at risk children with behavioral regulation. Many of these kids are not getting the positive feed back, love, and support that many of us are used to; this leads to difficulty understanding and regulating emotions. This program was very difficult for me, I have so much empathy for children and to see such sweet kids facing hard times so early on in life was heart breaking. However, I was beyond blessed to see them grow and smile everyday, regardless of the hard ships they had faced. After being a part of such an amazing experience I want to continue to investigate the importance of positivity and wellness in development, and hopefully inspire others to do the same.