Thomas Donato

Background

About Thomas Donato

Trilingual (English, Spanish, Italian) graduate student at Springfield College on a life-long journey to understand the link between mental health and high performance. As a student-in-training, I am providing counseling services and performance consultation to student-athletes across four sports. As a Graduate Associate, I am uplifting the voices of students who hold traditionally marginalized identities through representation, education, support, and advocacy. I am passionate about de-stigmatizing mental health care and fostering cultures of wellness to have organization-wide impact. Future Counseling and Sport Psychologist. My background as a competitive varsity and club athlete aids in my understanding of what it means and feels like to be a high performer and how to navigate the pressure of being on the stage. My clinical interpreter internship strengthened my abilities to communicate with empathy and to help each individual realize that they can be more than they think. It starts from "peeling the onion" and changing our relationship to our thoughts. It has opened my eyes to how disadvantaged, financially and beyond, certain communities are. Serving them has confirmed my passion to enter the mental health field as a licensed provider. Extremely self-driven, charismatic and reliable leader who inspires others to find their inner fire, believes in a shared mission and turns obstacles into opportunities. With my trilingual and multicultural experiences, I am able to connect to each person's uniqueness, adapt to novel environments, and resolve conflict between team members to drive positive change. Aspiring Ph.D. candidate in Counseling Psychology. Graduated Summa Cum Laude (3.98 GPA) in 3 years with a BA in Psychology and Spanish and a Minor in Communication Studies.