Any other year, she would have been stepping out on stage at the University of New England to shake hands with the chancellor and accept her coveted piece of paper, but not in 2020.
Instead, she sported her cap and gown in the comfort of her own home.
“It was pretty devastating when you put so much work into something and you can't celebrate it the way everyone else has in the past,” she said.
“And although it was upsetting, it was good I still got to celebrate in one way or another.”
After a career in business management, the now 48-year-old thought it was time for a change.
“That's when I decided to go into professional psychology,” she said.
“I just wanted to challenge and better myself, so thought why not give it a go? You're never too old for it.”
Ms Peers spent five years studying before going on to complete an internship last year.
“I completed my undergraduate degree in psychological science at Swinburne in Melbourne and after three years of that I went on to do my honours at Charles Sturt before completing my masters at UNE,” she said.
“And after completing the five years, my formal graduation was set to be in March last year and of course because of COVID-19 that didn't happen.”
Despite this, Ms Peers was able to soldier on, but found COVID-19 had more challenges in store for her.
“After all that, I was still able to come out the other side fully qualified and I'm very thankful for that,” she said.
“It was still really challenging. The start of the year was fine and I was able to see clients face-to-face, but once COVID-19 hit, a majority of it went to Telehealth.
“It really presented another level of challenges because it is quite difficult to do therapy over the phone, but we made it work.”
And now she is gearing up to start work as a psychologist in Echuca.
“I'm now working at a private clinic where I have seven funding streams of clients I see, which means I see them through the Primary Health Network,” she said.
“It's a very rewarding job and I'm very happy to be doing something I love."
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