Another student reflected on
her own experience during her
interview and described how her
dad’s beliefs about the homeless
population affected her expectations
of what it would be like
to work with individuals with
mental illness: “I thought homeless
people were lazy; of course I
learned that from him.” A different
student talked about growing
up in a family where “mental
illness was associated with
demonic possession.” While all
students recognized they initially
had some negative perceptions of
mental illness, they also realized
that these perceptions changed
as they gained both experience
and knowledge.