how did you get where you are? – Mental Health Zone

Question: how did you get where you are?
- Keywords:
  career
Asked by anon-215970 to Robert, Olly, Nicola, Jasmin, Dennis, Caroline on 8 Jun 2019. This question was also asked by anon-216423.
- Dennis Relojo-Howell answered on 8 Jun 2019:
  
  I grew up in the slums of Manila, Philippines (check out the sixth fridge on this BBC article: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-30720662). And then I worked my way to get to university and do psychology. I later on did my master’s degree at Hertfordshire and set up my mental health blog in 2014. That is what I am doing ever since.
- Nicola Johnstone answered on 8 Jun 2019:
  
  Lots of hard work and a bit of luck. I had ambitions to be a scientist, and did everything I could to keep working toward that dream.
- Robert Dempsey answered on 10 Jun 2019:
  
  I walked into work this morning… oh… :)… I did my A Levels and then decided to go and study Psychology at the University of Manchester. I enjoyed studying for my degree and was lucky to see a PhD in Psychology advertised, which I applied for and got, and the rest just happened (applied for jobs, got offers…).
  
  I didn’t have a grand plan for my career, things just came together, I took some chances, and I tried to work out what I enjoyed doing and took it from there.
  
  I think working out what you enjoy (and don’t enjoy) is a good idea if you’re thinking about what you want to do in the future
- Caroline Brett answered on 10 Jun 2019:
  
  This morning, walk, train, walk….
  How I got to this job is a longer story.
  During my undergraduate degree in Psychology at Edinburgh I fell in love with neuropsychology – the study of the brain – and so went on to do a Masters in that. While on the Masters I realised that what I really wanted to do was to work with people with brain injury, to help improve their lives and help them in their recovery. To do that in the UK, you have to first train to be a clinical psychologist. As this is funded by the NHS, it is quite competitive! I had various jobs relating to this field, applying for clinical psychology training 3 times (you can only apply once a year). I had 7 interviews, all unsuccessful 🙁
  At that point I decided this was not the career for me after all, and I had bills to pay, so I ended up taking a 2-year job as a research assistant. This ended up lasting 10 years in all!!
  Halfway through the 10 years I decided I needed a slight change and left to study for my Masters in health psychology. Then, I returned to my research assistant post while at the same time completing my professional doctorate in health psychology. This is rather like the clinical psychology doctorate, in that you have a placement at the same time and demonstrate your competency as a practitioner psychologist (i.e. working in ‘practice’ with real patients) by writing up case studies.
  Anyway it turned out to be the right decision as I love health psychology and immediately after finishing my doctorate I applied for and was offered a lectureship in health psychology here in Liverpool.
  I warned you it was a long story!! However, it does show that things don’t always work out quite the way you planned, and it can take a while to figure out where you need to be. Psychology is such a broad subject, it covers everything to do with human behaviour, emotions, and thinking (and others!), that there is something of interest to everyone.
- Jasmin Moon answered on 10 Jun 2019:
  
  I did an A-level in Psychology then a Psychology degree at Plymouth University.
  After this I worked in a nursing home for people with long term mental health problems, alongside this I worked for an IAPT (improving access to psychological therapies) service (https://www.england.nhs.uk/mental-health/adults/iapt/) delivering workshops that give people tools to manage anxiety and low mood. Then I left both these jobs to start my current job (where I have been for 5 years) and I did my master’s degree in Health Psychology part time (one day a week) alongside my job. I would like to go on and do a doctorate in Health Psychology which would mean I can register and work as a qualified psychologist.
- Oliver Clabburn answered on 10 Jun 2019:
  
  I used to be a young carer and so spent a lot of my childhood trying to understand how someone else might feel as they could speak. I later found out that this was something called empathy which was a psychological concept! After school I studied Psychology at A-level, and then went on to do a psychology in education degree at Lancaster University. A few years down the line, I saw a PhD advert online which I applied for…. and then got offered the position! Since finishing my PhD, I have been involved in various different research projects which are all shaped/underpinned in some way by psychology!

Question: how did you get where you are?

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