About Us

Scott Trinh, Ed.S., NCSP

My entire childhood was spent growing up a few miles off the Atlantic coast in Virginia. As a first generation American of immigrant parents, it was always instilled in me that an education was incredibly important. Seeing my parents work tirelessly to provide me and my siblings a good life was a testament to that pursuit of the American dream through the growth of learning and knowledge. Even though my own mother had a disabling condition being completely deaf and lacking any way of communicating in English, she continued to work hard to provide in whatever way she could. You could say that this exposure to seeing my own parent learn to accommodate for herself in an English-speaking and hearing world piqued an initial interest in me to supporting others with individual differences and impairments. As with many young college freshmen, I started my undergraduate studies at Old Dominion University not entirely sure of what to pursue as a career. My interests were varied and included architecture and engineering (as they matched my visual-spatial and mathematical strengths), graphic design (as it spoke to my creative and imaginative side), and advertising and marketing communications (for the highly social, design, and problem-solving aspects of the field).

However, none of these seemed to fulfill this innate drive to helping others in a more meaningful way. It was not until I took an introduction to psychology course did I discover how much I enjoyed learning how the mind functions and influences every aspect of human behavior (along with environmental factors). I was hooked, and from then on, I committed to completing an undergraduate major in psychology. In one of my undergraduate courses, I had the opportunity to shadow psychologists in various fields (e.g., clinical psychology, industrial-organizational psychology, etc.). One truly spoke to my desire to supporting individuals, especially at an early age, and that was school psychology. The ability to intervene and change the trajectory for students before their individual academic and social-emotional behavior challenges became chronic, habitual, and relentless is deeply fulfilling. As I think about it, the field meets the needs of my ideal career as it requires creativity and problem-solving in assessment, designing effective plans of intervention, meeting and socially interacting with individuals of all walks of life, and allows me to help others determine why they or their child may be struggling in school. The layperson might not typically think of this, but psychologists also deal with some math and statistics as well. Indeed, I had found the right path for me.

The year of 2010 was a significant one for me. In the span of a few months, I graduated, got married, and moved across the country to Utah to begin my graduate studies in school psychology at Brigham Young University. Another considerable year followed in 2013 in which I completed my school psychology internship in the Alpine School District, graduated with my Educational Specialist degree, and had my first child. In fact, my wife was in the hospital with our newborn son watching through a blurry live feed while I gave my graduation address at the podium and walked the stage. From then on my career began in the Alpine School District providing psychological assessment and services for students with a range of disorders, including autism spectrum disorder, ADHD, oppositional defiant disorder, learning disabilities, intellectual disabilities, and many more.

In 2016, our family made one of the biggest life changing decisions ever — moving abroad to a foreign country we knew so little about. If Utah was considered my second home, then South Korea became my third. Both my wife and I took a leap of faith and began an adventure working for Korea International School (KIS) in Seoul. This experience showered us with so many opportunities to explore the world, learn about different cultures, work with diverse international populations, establish friendships across the globe, and the list goes on. On a professional level, I established the role as KIS’s first school psychologist through the administration of psychological assessments, development of intervention plans, delivery of counseling services, and my legacy of originating the school’s multi-tiered system of supports (MTSS) framework that is still used today.

After spending four years overseas, my wife and I decided to return to Utah in June 2020 to be closer to family. I rejoined the Alpine School District to continue my lifelong commitment to supporting students and was fortunate to step into a leadership role as one of the district’s lead psychologists, allowing me to work with the psychologist leadership team to enhance our practice model. Around the same time, I was selected by BYU’s School Psychology program as one of five collaborators on a multi-year grant focused on improving graduate training in practicum and internship. I also currently serve on the Board of Trustees for the Utah Association of School Psychologists and am grateful for the opportunity to give back to a profession I deeply value.

I feel very lucky to have had such a diverse range of experiences to grow in my field and am incredibly honored to continue that journey at Excel Psychology as both the Director of School Services and as a School Psychologist. I deeply value the opportunity to partner with school communities to support students, and to help individuals and families gain clarity and insight through assessments and counseling. Being part of someone’s journey toward self-discovery and growth makes this work profoundly meaningful and rewarding.

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