Nicole Bouteiller

Career Goals:
My goal in life is to become an advocate of some type. The ideas of going into a field like family preservation, family aid support, and court-appointed child/adolescent advocacy or a child life specialist are what drives me. I want to be there for people and given them a voice they didn’t think they have.
My career objective is to continue the career advancements I have already made and be able to take the passion I have so that in the end I am as successful as I ascertain to be, and to continue to show my abilities pertaining to any scope of advocacy, child / juvenile justice, ABA therapy or other types of behavioral support, in school psychological support, or in higher education fields to teach those with similar goals in which I strive to “Become the voice for the voiceless.” There are so many children and adolescents in both the psychological field and criminal justice system that fall through the cracks. These children do not have the ability to stand up for their self, or the ability to express in some situations why they act the way they do or other times why they are “in control”. I will be seeking jobs such as family preservation, DDBDDHH (Deaf, DeafBlind, DeafDisabled, Hard of Hearing) advocacy, therapeutic staff support, behavioral intervention and/ or family intervention, intensive in home therapy, juvenile justice and family court situations of any realm including court appointed child advocacy and justice related support specialists.

I have begun Grad School while remaining at RIT- Rochester Institute of Technology. I am still within the SoIS program- School of Individualized Studies and hold 2 concentrations. Juvenile Criminal Justice and Adolescent Development.
It took a lot of trial and error to figure out what I wanted, and where I would like to go in life. Matter of fact it took a year of community college, going to and failing out of a smaller liberal arts focuses college, and returning back to community college to figure out what I wanted in terms of higher education in the stride for my ultimate goal. To “Become the voice for the voiceless.” I have found though the struggle below what I need to do and where I need to go. Through struggle of confusion and fear I know just how far to go and where to go in my education to really be successful in my needs and goals.
Many people in college declare a discipline. A single set of concentrated skills acquired to develop and apply into the professional world. That approach didn’t set with me. I switched from elementary education to special education as declared majors. Then I thought that social work might be best. Each time I was discontent and let more discouraged. When touching back at community college, I declared general liberal studies. I sampled classes from as many majors as possible in the realm of what it could take to become someone needed in the world. Someone that could have a well-rounded knowledge of all attributes within a field; ready for what can be thrown at them.
Upon arriving to RIT/NTID, I was placed in an NTID program, where I could have a major and a concentration. So I declared psychology and a minor in criminal justice. It seemed to be a fair fit. I want to do something in this world, where I can understand as many perspectives as possible, apply them and really understand children or all abilities and disabilities. I also realized, that if I want to be the type of advocate that gives “misfits” a chance and be the voice for these children, I would run into possible legal barriers. I decided it would be best to invest my time in criminal justice studies as well.
With a fast approaching graduation from NTID-AS I was not sure what to do in RIT for my bachelors program. I would declare a major, and that would be my discipline. With a major, I could find and declare a minor. With that a possibility I would find a way to be a multidisciplinary person. A person who is, in reference of multidisciplines is when they have their discipline. This discipline can have cross elements. Having a “side by side insight of 2 or more disciplines” as said by Allen F. Repko. It does not become a cross study, or so to say it is an entirely separate discipline. It is more a part of the “curriculum” of what is already your main study. Repko uses the example of studying urbanization as an element to a personal that is declared as an environmental study major. With this in mind I could declare the major of psychology and a minor in criminal justice, and feel satisfied.
However, after applying to COLA and processing this decision, I decided after all that this would not be satisfying and I wasn’t content. I needed to understand other things further. I could not do that by taking 120 or so credits of psychology but only 15 of criminal justice. I searched and plead with advisors for an answer, and the CMS program turned up. Many people seemed puzzled about how I was finding a way to mix psychology with criminal justice, and adding sociology with legal studies. But I knew it would work. I wrote my statement for BA admission and it all panned out. Upon being accepted, I knew it would be perfect. I could fulfill my needs for being a person who is both interdisciplinary and transdisciplinary.
As proposed by Repko, but further researched and analyzed by Harvard, a transdisciplinary person- uses applications, skills and knowledge from multiple fields and experiences both in life personally and through work, to apply it and form a new conceptual idea, in which several different disciplines fit. As said by Harvard researchers, the theoretical, methodological, and translational ideations for and integrate. From there they form and move beyond discipline-specific approaches to address a common problem, where in most cases the above aspects form a way of saying the needs and demands in life, personally and professionally are not always one sided. What is further and abstractly applicable to this concept is the separate idea that one can also be interdisciplinary. That there can be many fields, among many disciplines. Taken apart, and from lose analysis of relation these disciplines as such, cross the traditional disciplinary boundaries and involve a wide variety of interactions; of different elements, parts and concepts from many areas to form a new one. This new “discipline” formed from many is an interdisciplinary study.
By understanding that I am both a person who is transdisciplinary and interdisciplinary I understand my needs. With my BA graduation coming up, I have decided to continue into my masters for several reasons links to said concepts. For starters, I was able to gain a rich experience through my original four concentrations – psychology, criminal justice, legal studies and sociology, that I am confident and comfortable with deciding in the masters program I will drop all four and divert to School Psychology and Criminal Justice. I can carry a more focused study of these two concentrations to be applicable for jobs I want to know about. Jobs that ask for 3 years of experience and a degree in psychology, but, they only ask for the experience because you need to know the ropes or processes for legal systems. Or primary laws like the ADA and what is within the rights of a disabled child in public school. I could name my interests forever, on how to become the voice for the voiceless. There are not enough trans/interdisciplinary people, with a personal background but an educational and skill set to match the specific needs and integrity of such. Should I find my way into one of several dream jobs I will need to be ready, and to be ready with the proper skill set.
A skill set becoming more and more focused yet retaining how two seemingly unrelated fields becomes a new discipline. A family preservation worker- aiding military families, domestic abuse or child abuse advocacy, intensive in home therapists, residential school councilor even a court appointed child advocate, maybe a justice related child and family support service coordinator. All of these jobs, where someone who is struggling, that needs a voice to stand for them, need someone with a voice that understands all sides of the perspective, at least as many as possible. If I work with children and families in the court system, I need psychology to back me up to recognize disorders, short fallings or other behavioral related factors that could be why there is an issue, or that could be the problem. If I would in a residential school, most of these children will be a part of asylum for mental health concerns or behavioral disabilities. I will need a psychology background to help me understand them; and a criminal justice background to know their rights and their protections. I decided school psychology because it focuses on behavioral aids, how to develop and maintain IEP support, behavior intervention. It isn’t necessarily about how to be a psychologist in the school.
The Transdisciplinary part of this, is the fact that I am striding to be a voice for the voiceless because that is all I ever wanted growing up. I needed someone who understood me and could be in my corner. Someone willing to take the work and time to understand me, or even someone who shared any type of the cross disabilities I have. It could be leaps and bounds further than the ability to relate to my disabilities, I would have loved a voice in my life, that understood circumstance I had lived through. Things like what is it like to be a family homeless and living on the streets. A family who ate undercooked pasta and drank iced tea for 3 months straight because that was the best the food pantry could give. I needed a voice to tell me I could get through and I needed a voice there when I was almost sent to jail for defending my family as my step dad lashed out. I needed a voice of reason, of knowledge and understanding that could speak up and help others understand too. I also needed that voice to tell me I can do it and that I am worth it.
As a DeafBlind student in higher education these are my goals. I want to become this. I will not let my labels stop me, the being Deaf and Blind and having Autism, and epilepsy and other cognitive delays stop me. I want others to see that if I did it and can pull though this with my disabilities and with having entered college homeless, that they can to. That I will be in their corner as well, rooting them on, that I understand and am there for what is best for everyone.

I participated in rodeo for several years, doing events such as barrel racing. Many of my jobs in high school and my first years of college include also working on a farm and petting zoo, interacting with the general public and wrangling a wide variety of animals such as cows and goats.
Now I do long walks with my service dog and many activities related to that, as well as work on writing more poems to add to my already-published works and my in-progress memoir. I am very experienced in playing the violin, and would continue to play if my violin had not been permanently damaged. I also was into playing both bass guitar and electric-acoustic guitars, writing my own sheet music as I go.
I am willing to give almost anything a try, and have picked up crafts such as knitting and cross-stitching, as well restoring cars. Growing up, I have been involved heavily in the garage and shops when family members were working on their own cars, and on my first car I had replaced/repaired virtually the entire front end.
Ice skating is a passion of mine, having played on ice hockey teams for years and successfully taught my younger siblings and their friends.
Growing up in a large family with nine siblings, we learned to do a lot for ourselves and amongst those skills include hairstyling and cooking. To this day I still cut hair and especially enjoy creating designs into people's buzzcuts, and creating new color combinations with hair dyeing. As far as cooking goes, I do traditional Puerto Rican cooking and have made almost everything under the sun while involving many fruits and vegetables to successfully instill nutritional habits in my younger siblings that include preferring corn and apples over, and homemade meals over microwaveable dishes and American sweets.