From a young age, Sharissa Arnold has been passionate about psychology. She says she experienced a turbulent childhood and her teenage years were especially challenging.
“I never thought I’d see it to 18, to 21, to 25,” Sharissa admits of her own mental health journey. She never let that impact her education, however.
“Now, at 29, I want to see how far I can take this.”
Driven by her own personal journey, Sharissa is now pursuing her Doctor of Psychology at the University of Arizona Global Campus (UAGC) to effect long-lasting change in how society views and treats mental health.
At the age of 25, Sharissa began to devote time and energy to therapy and has seen first-hand the impact it can have on a person. During that time, she also earned a master’s degree in psychology from UAGC, preceded by her bachelor’s degree. Looking back on her journey from troubled teen to future doctorate, she says she feels she’s never been in a better place and is eager to use that strength to help others.
Community Commitment
Sharissa is fueled further by the Oklahoma community in which she lives, where drug-related arrests — particularly for methamphetamine use — are extremely high. There are more than 1.16 million such arrests in America annually, with Oklahoma ranking ninth out of all 50 states for the highest drug use. A major contributing factor is the confluence of highways 40 and 35, with 60% of all drug trafficking incidents occurring on roads and interstates.
Sharissa says she passionately believes, though, that the solution to the problem is not increased incarceration and arrest rates. Rather, she says she feels it lies within mental health support services.
“Many families miss out on the emotional support that children need, and so by the time they’re hitting their teenage years, they’re bored and that’s the only thing they have to do. Then, once you’re in the system in Oklahoma, it’s hard to get out,” Sharissa explains.
To counter this trend, Sharissa aims to impact change from within. Currently, she is interning for a local state representative, working largely on their social media brand and internet presence. As they are getting ready to move into a new legislative session, she’s focused a lot of her efforts on mental health awareness.
“I’d love to utilize my research skills to help present these new legislations supported by research and evidence, then maybe we can get it passed,” she says.
After Sharissa completes her doctorate, she hopes to go on to do contract work to help pass mental health legislation focusing on first-time offenders for drug-related arrests.
“I feel like that’s the only way to create change,” Sharissa says.
Healthy Mind, Healthy Body
In addition to her advocacy for mental health, Sharissa is an independent wellness coach. She works with clients to help them set goals around organization, prioritization, and their career. Then she helps them come up with a plan to stick to and achieve those goals. As a part of that work, she is participating in an NFT (non-fungible tokens) project to create a wellness-based app. The app is designed to help people stay on track with their mental and physical health.
Though her achievements and goals are lofty, Sharissa’s path was not always so clear. She had first enrolled at UAGC to pursue a journalism degree in 2020 as the pandemic was taking its toll on the world. Sharissa ended up losing both her job and her home and moved back to Oklahoma to live with her family. With the chaos and sadness of the pandemic unfurling, she made the decision to remain close to her family.
In 2021, Sharissa was presented with the unique opportunity to pursue her master’s degree in a field she truly loved. Newly married, and with the pandemic starting to show signs of relief, she decided it was time to continue her studies with an MA in psychology.
Sharissa says what she loves most about psychology is how relevant it is. There is always something in class that she can apply to herself, to someone she knows, or to a situation around her. Not only that, but it helps people understand how to communicate with and understand others.
Tragedy and Challenge
Shortly after returning to school, though, her grandmother passed away, and she had to face her grief despite her course schedule.
“We were always so close. She was my savior in my childhood when I was going through difficult things.” With the support of therapy, Sharissa was able to continue with her education, noting school actually helped her stay focused.
Sharissa had another obstacle to overcome when, in February 2023, she was hit by a drunk driver. Her car was totaled, and she suffered a concussion. While the injury she sustained had an impact on her short-term memory, her commitment to her degree was unflagging. Sharissa went to physical therapy and was still able to maintain a 4.0 GPA. She finished her capstone course with about as close to 100% as one could get. Nothing was going to stand in her way.
Even so, Sharissa struggled at times with self-doubt in her educational career, fighting with imposter syndrome.
“There were moments that I felt that I was an imposter,” she says. Sharissa said to get past these negative thoughts, it was important that she stopped to remind herself she deserved what she had accomplished, and that she wouldn’t have made it as far as she had if she didn’t.
“You can’t fake your way through a whole college program,” she realized.
Nothing about her journey has been phony, and Sharissa hopes by telling her story, she might be able to help others who are struggling.
“I feel like my story could also inspire others who face grief and other trials to realize that it is possible to achieve your dreams if you’re serious about it. If you feel passionate about those dreams, then anything is possible.”
Additionally, Sharissa believes strongly that UAGC made her success possible.
“UAGC offers so much support, and that’s really important for the success of students.”
She says she relied on the many UAGC resources to help her through the challenges she faced and wants to help others and ensure they are aware of the support and resources UAGC provides.
“When you’re in doubt about anything, it’s always OK to ask for help, to your instructor, to fellow classmates, to your advisor. UAGC has everything so well-planned out, there’s no way there’s not an answer, and if there isn’t one, they’ll find it.”
With her doctorate in sight, Sharissa serves as an example of passion and dedication.
“I’m a life-long learner,” she says.
When not researching or working on her studies, she enjoys reading in her free time, mainly picking up self-help books and psychology textbooks. Through her work, she hopes to provide others with firsthand book recommendations to support their mental health journey. Additionally, though she did not end up pursuing her journalism degree, Sharissa still enjoys writing and even wrote and self-published romance thriller in 2019.
Above all else, Sharissa wants current, prospective, and even past students to know it is important to continue to believe in yourself.
“My bottom line is to not give up. Knowing that we’ve all had those thoughts, we’ve all felt we’re not worth it. But we are.”
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Certain degree programs may not be available in all states.
The Doctor of Psychology program is not a licensure program. For information regarding professional licensure requirements in your state, you should contact the applicable licensing board or agency in your state and determine whether the program meets the requirements for licensure in the state where you reside.