When Ryenn (Johns) Yarbrough, ’17, arrived at Baker University as a freshman, she didn't have her future mapped out. What she did have was a place that already felt familiar.
Both of her parents met at Baker. Her aunt and uncle did, too, and her grandfather coached the Wildcats football team in the 1990s. When an 18-year-old Yarbrough was deciding what came next, Baker felt like a natural choice.
“I am so grateful my 18-year-old brain made that choice!” she shared.
What she couldn't have known then was just how much that decision would shape the person and professional she would become. Today, Yarbrough is a counselor at Bravely Refined Counseling, where she helps clients navigate relationships, intimacy, vulnerability and other deeply personal aspects of their lives. Her path to counseling began to take shape in Baker's psychology classrooms, where professors encouraged her curiosity and helped her discover the areas she was most passionate about.
A Place to Explore
Yarbrough graduated in 2017 with a bachelor's degree in psychology and minors in conflict management and sociology, but her Baker education stretched well beyond the classroom.
She was active in Zeta Tau Alpha, ParMentors and Baker Serves and worked as a wrestling manager. She remembers constantly moving from one meeting, activity or responsibility to another.
Through it all, the relationships she formed within Baker's psychology department became particularly meaningful.
“The entire Psychology department had a profound impact on me, both personally and professionally,” Yarbrough said.
She points to Dr. Sara Crump, her advisor, as someone who helped guide her through difficult decisions during college, along with Dr. Rand Ziegler and Dr. Robyn Long, who also influenced her Baker experience.
Those relationships remain a hallmark of Baker's psychology program today. Students work closely with faculty, conduct research, pursue internships and explore areas ranging from human development and social psychology to clinical and counseling psychology. More than 60% of Baker psychology graduates pursue advanced degrees, and more than 95% of those who apply are accepted to their graduate program of choice.
For Yarbrough, that opportunity to explore different areas of psychology helped a potential career become something much more personal.
Discovering a Path
Two classroom experiences stand out when Yarbrough thinks about what eventually led her to counseling.
In one of Professor Crump's classes, she researched premarital counseling and became fascinated by the role counselors could play in helping couples build stronger relationships. A Human Sexuality course with Dr. Long further sparked her interest in helping people develop healthier perspectives around sexuality, intimacy and relationships.
Those interests ultimately led Yarbrough to graduate school and a career in counseling.
Today, she works entirely through telehealth, an approach she first experienced as an intern in 2020 and came to appreciate for the flexibility it provides both counselors and clients. Her practice is faith-based, allowing her to integrate her Christian beliefs into her work with clients who are seeking that perspective.
Regardless of how or where counseling happens, Yarbrough believes its greatest value comes from something distinctly human: creating a safe place for someone to be seen, heard and vulnerable.
“It will likely feel awkward or nerve-wracking at first because vulnerability is required,” she explained. “But real growth only happens in vulnerable places.”
She has also been encouraged by the decreasing stigma surrounding therapy. At the same time, she believes the growing presence of AI and social media makes authentic human connection even more important.
“We need people,” Yarbrough added. “We are hardwired for real relationships and community to achieve deep growth.”
Preparing the Next Generation
That perspective makes Baker's continued investment in psychology education particularly meaningful to Yarbrough.
Baker's psychology program combines a foundation in psychological science and research with opportunities for advanced study in areas including clinical and counseling psychology, health psychology, neuroscience and cognition. Students also complete hands-on experiences through research, internships or applied fieldwork.
For Yarbrough, preparing future counselors means exposing students to different perspectives and approaches while giving them room to develop their own identities as professionals.
“It's vital to have diverse faculty with varied life experiences and theoretical backgrounds,” she shared. “This ensures students learn how to be authentic, adaptable therapists rather than fitting into a rigid mold.”
Her advice to students considering the profession starts with understanding themselves.
“Caring for yourself is the first step in caring for others,” she explained. “Do your own internal work first.”
Yarbrough is continuing that learning herself. She is working toward additional certifications while balancing a part-time counseling practice with being a full-time mom to her two children. Eventually, she hopes to develop a course or group therapy program focused on healthy sexuality, body image and confidence in intimacy for Christian women.
Baker: A Place That Still Feels Like Home
Nearly a decade after graduating, Yarbrough's connection to Baker reaches well beyond the degree hanging on her wall. It is where generations of her family have studied. It is where she discovered new interests and began to understand the work she wanted to pursue. It is also where another chapter of her life began: Her husband proposed beneath the grape arbor in the middle of campus.
“Baker is home,” Yarbrough said. “Even today, whenever I drive down Highway 56 into town, a deep sense of peace comes over me knowing I'm heading home.”
That feeling may be one reason she speaks with such pride about being a Baker graduate. Her family's Baker story spans generations, but the path Yarbrough discovered there is distinctly her own.
“Baker is where I learned to love myself, discovered new passions, and embraced exciting challenges,” Yarbrough added.
Those passions continue to shape the work she does today.
