Professor Kate Watson was recently honored by her alma mater for her entrepreneurial work in the field of health and wellness. The event was held September 18th, in Towson, Maryland.
As the owner of a consulting company called Watson Wellness
Promotion, Professor Watson has the opportunity to help grow and develop the
clinical skills of health and social service providers across many different
disciplines. She meets with physicians,
nurses, nutritionists, dentists, social workers, psychologists, and many other
professionals to help them understand ways to better serve their patients and
clients. With that in mind, Professor
Watson offers workshops in Motivational Interviewing (a counseling technique
aimed at helping patients change their behaviors), trauma-informed care (a
style of working with patients that takes into consideration their past trauma
histories), sexual assault response and intervention, and culturally competent
care.
In her acceptance speech, Professor Watson said, “My
background is in mental health, and I worked for a number of years as a
clinician, doing patient care. At that
time, I certainly did not identify as a businesswoman. My work was absolutely in service to others.
To be honored as an entrepreneur was surprising because I hardly think of
myself that way.”
Professor Watson went on to share what she has learned after
owning a business for 3 years. She said,
“One thing that I’ve come to learn is that the desire to run a successful
business and the dedication to service others does not need to be mutually
exclusive. I’ve come to appreciate that
the best run businesses are those that are socially responsible and that
operate with a core set of values. That
I still get to do work that helps people, but I get to do it in a way that
allows me to call my own shots and set my own goals makes me extremely
lucky.”
To learn more about how Peirce students benefit from the real
world knowledge and career experience their professors bring to the classroom, click here.
