On 5th September 2022, SG Psych Stuff began sign-ups for its 2023 run of its annual mentor program. This program is Singapore’s first and only mentorship program oriented for tertiary psychology, counseling, and social work students. The mentors involved are professionals from various sectors within the fields and provide invaluable exposure and knowledge for students before they embark on their own professional journeys.

In the first part of the September series, we interviewed Eulisia Er, an Educational Psychologist.

Today, we are interviewing Winson Yang. Winson is an Affective Neuroscientist and Quantitative Researcher who is passionate in mindfulness and mental states. He is currently pursuing his PhD in cognitive neuroscience at Texas Tech University.

 

#1: Tell me more about yourself, and how you came to be in the sub-discipline of psychology that you are in currently.

I am an affective neuroscientist working on human flourishing and mindfulness at Mass General Hospital and Harvard Medical School starting October. I first came across this topic as I was looking for jobs as a clinical neuropsychologist in Singapore after completing my Master’s program. Coincidentally, a Buddhist nun and I had a conversation on the potential of using neuroscience and psychology to investigate Buddhist concepts such as meditation, compassion, and others related to the human potential and human flourishing. Then, I started looking into the literature on the recent advances in mindfulness research, and started to get more into this line of work.

 

#2: What are your thoughts on the ability for undergraduates to be able to be mentored by a professional such as yourself?

I think as long as we’re open-minded and listen to one another, we can go a long way together during this mentoring process.

 

#3: What motivated you to mentor for Psychology students?

I always had an interest in mentoring younger psychologists, whether they aspire to be clinicians, researchers, or just trying to get through university. I want to be there for them and let them know that there’s more to psychology than what they see in textbooks or at lectures. Moreover, the younger generation of students have more to offer me than I can to mentor them. There’s a lot I learn from every one of them, such as their ideas, passion, and career goals.

 

#4: What is one word you would use to describe your experience in the programme as a mentor, and why?

Rewarding. Knowing that mentees at least have a direction on what they like to do during the next one year or so (let’s not talk about career), delights me as they found something interesting and worth going to university for.

 

#5: What’s one advice you can give for Psychology undergraduates for them to plan a career in Psychology?

Keep an open mind. There’s more than what meets the mind in the career in Psychology. Our skills are more valuable and useful than what we assume.

 

Connect with Mr Winson Yang on his LinkedIn here.

 

By: Sarah bt. Johari

Sarah is a third-year undergraduate in Nanyang Technological University, reading Materials Engineering with a minor in Psychology. She enjoys organizing her items in labelled boxes, her clothes by type, and her thoughts with lists.