Juggling multiple roles at once is typically the territory of master's scholars or Ph.D. students, not undergraduate students.

Aidan Rains is not your typical undergraduate student.

Graduating with a bachelor's degree in psychology this May, Rains has followed a unique trajectory. He started as a research assistant and then became a preceptor. He will soon take on the role of a peer mental health coach. 

He came into college thinking he wanted to be a psychiatrist. But it didn't take him long to realize he was not interested in the chemistry and biology classes that he would need to pursue psychiatry. What actually drew him to the field was the clinical and counseling aspect, not medication. He dropped the extra science requirements and committed fully to psychology. Rains's coursework and a steadily growing interest in clinical work ultimately shaped his decision to delve further into the field.

During his second year, Rains came across an introductory clinical psychology course that relied on a very non-traditional approach. Taking on challenges was something that Rains enjoyed. He enrolled in the course. It would turn out to be a crucial decision in his career, Rains said.

"If you're passionate about something, make sure that people see that, and they'll offer you opportunities. Reach out to professors. That's what professors want to see – initiative and passion." – Aidan Rains

The course – taught by Zach Cohen, assistant professor of clinical psychology – used role-plays on real mental health topics such as anxiety, depression and trauma to teach undergraduate students how clinicians actually engage with clients. Students were not assessed for perfectionism but for the growth that they displayed between each assessment and for how well they incorporated feedback into the next one.

The role-plays improved with more practice. Like other students, Rains spent the early weeks of the course learning by watching – the professor and the teaching assistants would demonstrate a technique, and the class would try to take pieces into their own role-plays.

"It was definitely a helpful experience. Honestly, it's something you don't get until grad school, at least, from what I've heard," Rains said.

Approaching a professor about lab work is not common for a sophomore, but it came to Rains quite naturally. He researched Cohen's lab online, decided he wanted to be in it, and approached him after class one day to ask whether any research assistant positions were open.

"I spoke with Zach that day, not really knowing what would come out of that conversation," Rains said.

Cohen did not have an RA position at that time, but he created one for Rains.

Swapping roles

The summer after Rains joined the lab, Cohen asked him to return to the clinical psychology course – this time as a preceptor. Rains found himself on the other side of the room, demonstrating role-plays for students, grading assignments, answering questions and giving the kind of feedback he had once received himself. The most rewarding part, he said, was watching his students go through what he had a year earlier.

"At the start of the class, you'd see how almost shy some of these students were. But by the end, you'd see how much more confident they became, and how much more skilled they were in the role-plays," Rains said.

Working as a peer mental health coach

Based on his performance in the course and the lab, Rains was referred to a separate program housed in the same research group: a peer mental health coach program led by Julia Yarrington, a postdoctoral scholar at the Department of Psychology. 

As part of that program, Rains went through 12 weeks of training before he was eligible to be paired with a peer. He is now in weekly supervision under two graduate students in the lab as he prepares to take on his first cases. Once paired, he will meet with each peer weekly to work through online modules on coping strategies for anxiety and depression. He will soon begin coaching as part of a newly launched study at the U of A that recently received the institutional board approval. 

Going through the training was very rewarding for Rains in an unexpected way, he said. He could see himself going through the same arc as the students he once preceptored – uncertain at the start, and visibly more confident at the end.

Rains will graduate this month, a year ahead of schedule. This is a pace he deliberately set for himself, by earning college credits while in high school and taking extra courses on the side, so that his regular semesters could go to the psychology coursework he most wanted to be in.

In August, he will begin a master's program in clinical mental health counseling at the U of A, while continuing his work in the lab and as a peer mental health coach. He is not stopping there – he recently accepted a clinical research assistant position in the College of Veterinary Medicine.

Advice to prospective students

Asked what he would tell prospective students hoping to follow a similar path, Rains pointed back to that one conversation after class. Reaching out to Cohen helped him connect and network with several influential people in his field.

"If you're passionate about something, make sure that people see that, and they'll offer you opportunities," he said. "Reach out to professors. That's what professors want to see – initiative and passion."

For Rains, that single moment of proactiveness led him toward a lab, a teaching role and coaching experience.