The Aspiring Psychologist Podcast - Adult Autism Diagnosis: Signs You Might Be Autistic and What the Process Involves

Episode Date: July 14, 2025

Could you be autistic and not know it? In this episode of The Aspiring Psychologist Podcast, Dr Marianne Trent is joined by clinical psychologist and autism specialist Dr Katie Adolphus to unpack what adult autism diagnosis really involves.They explore the signs that may be missed in childhood, why women and marginalised groups often go undiagnosed, and what the formal assessment process looks like. You’ll also hear about sensory sensitivities, emotional overwhelm, autistic identity, and how to seek support post-diagnosis.Whether you're an aspiring psychologist, a clinician supporting clients, or exploring your own neurodivergent identity this episode is packed with insight, compassion, and clarity.Highlights: 00:00 – Welcome and introduction to Dr Katie Adolphus02:35 – Why some autistic people go undiagnosed in childhood05:15 – Stereotypes and barriers in accessing diagnosis as an adult08:58 – How autism traits may show up differently in women and marginalised groups11:40 – The emotional process of realising you might be autistic13:50 – What a formal diagnostic assessment for autism involves17:22 – The difference between self-diagnosis and formal diagnosis20:10 – Dr Adolphus’s own experiences with autistic identity24:35 – How sensory sensitivities can manifest in adulthood28:10 – Intersectionality: autism and other neurodivergent conditions31:42 – Workplace challenges and late-diagnosed adults35:15 – What happens after an autism diagnosis38:25 – Misconceptions about autism and ‘functioning labels’41:10 – How allies, friends, and clinicians can offer better support44:45 – Final reflections and how to follow Dr Katie AdolphusLinks:📲 Connect with Dr Katie Adolphus here: http://theadolphuspractice.co.uk https://www.facebook.com/theadolphuspractice🫶 To support me by donating to help cover my costs for the free resources I provide click here: https://the-aspiring-psychologist.captivate.fm/support📚 To check out The Clinical Psychologist Collective Book: https://amzn.to/3jOplx0 📖 To check out The Aspiring Psychologist Collective Book: https://amzn.to/3CP2N97 💡 To check out or join the aspiring psychologist membership for just £30 per month head to: https://www.goodthinkingpsychology.co.uk/membership-interested🖥️ Check out my brand new short courses for aspiring psychologists and mental health professionals here: https://www.goodthinkingpsychology.co.uk/short-courses✍️ Get your Supervision Shaping Tool now: https://www.goodthinkingpsychology.co.uk/supervision📱Connect socially with Marianne and check out ways to work with her, including the Aspiring Psychologist Book, Clinical Psychologist book and The Aspiring Psychologist Membership on her Link tree: https://linktr.ee/drmariannetrent💬 To join my free Facebook...

Hi, I'm Max and I work as an Assistant Psychologist in the Learning Disability Service in West Yorkshire. Like most people working in psychology, I'm slowly but surely working myself up to that seemingly impossible goal of getting onto the clinical doctorate. With that end goal in mind, I thought I'd have a look at what's out there and see what books might be helpful for us. I came across Marianne's book, The Clinical Psychologist Collective, and decided that this would be a great buy for me to help me on my journey. I found Marianne's book really informative, most insightful. I especially liked how the stories reassured me that you don't need to be academically perfect to become a psychologist and that

as long as you have good interpersonal skills such as compassion and empathy you will get there. I would highly recommend this book to all aspiring psychologists and also those who want to know a bit more about the world of clinical psychology and maybe want to work in that field one day. Have you ever wondered if the way you've always felt, overwhelmed, socially drained, or like you're speaking a different language to everyone else, could perhaps be an indication that you are autistic?

For so many adults, growing awareness and insight and increasing awareness into neurodiversity means that diagnosis happens much later in life. In this episode, Dr. Katie and I walk you through the signs, the process, and what the journey to an adult autism diagnosis can really look like. Hope you find it super useful. Hi, welcome along to the Aspiring Psychologist podcast.

I'm Dr. Marianne, a qualified clinical psychologist. Thank you also for today for sticking with my voice, which is not always as present as it usually is. Virtual throat lozenges in the comments are so gratefully received. With no further ado, let's dive in and catch up on my chat with Dr Katie Adolphus, where we're looking at adult autism assessment and diagnosis. I will catch you on the other side. Hi Katie, Dr Katie Adolphus. Welcome to the podcast. Thank you very much. Thanks for having me. Well, thank you for being here. You are a clinical psychologist and you specialize in working with people of all ages who might fit within a diagnostic criteria for autism and or for ADHD. Today we are thinking about autism. Thank you for pitching this episode to me. Could you tell us a little bit in case someone has no idea what is autism and

how might people observe that in themselves or others? Very happy to. So autism is considered to be a neurological difference, so it's about how your brain has developed and it impacts or influences how people see the world from a sensory point of view, from a social and relationship point of view, and from in terms of kind of their communication style and preferences. So it's a difference rather than a deficit or a disorder. And so it has equal value, but those are the domains, some of the domains in which you might notice differences. Thank you and adult autism diagnosis are very much becoming more spoken about more recently.

Can I ask what triggers or what things might happen in someone's adult life that might make them begin to question whether they might be autistic Katie? to question whether they might be autistic, Katie? Of course. So one of the really common ones is that a child of theirs has been identified as autistic or neurodivergent, which is the kind of umbrella term for lots of different neurodevelopmental differences, and that that has made them kind of look back and reflect on their own childhood, their own experiences and how they are understanding the world, that brings them to a point of wanting clarification for themselves. But it might also be somebody who's had some

struggles in the workplace and struggles to reach their potential or those kind of relationship hiccups that are having an impact on their wellbeing. Lots of adults talk about having their intentions misunderstood so that they come out a situation giving, making really clear and direct communication and that's interpreted as rude or brusque or and which is absolutely not that person's intent and similarly obviously it can work the other way where they're struggling to to read somebody else's intent in the way that that other person is intending so those kind of challenges and within kind of the relationships that they experience in the world can often bring someone to wonder about whether they're autistic. Yeah, and just as you were talking, it was making me think about my current context, which I explained before we started to speak.

I've hurt my neck and so I'm just fresh back from physio. And I'm kind of imagining whether someone is kind of realizing there's resistance in the way they are socially, the way they're engaging with the world. And actually sometimes even the process of assessment and diagnosis can free that up so that they understand themselves better, or so that they can engage more fully and I guess optimally thrive. Does that sound about right, Katie? Absolutely. And it is about one of my passion for the area is because I'm interested in people's stories

and the stories that we tell ourselves about ourselves. And if you're autistic, but haven't known that framework to understand yourself, you will have told yourself many stories about how you're doing and other people will have contributed to that as well. And so to having a story that actually what you're describing, there's a community of people who experience the world in similar ways. And there is a way of understanding it so that it is not that you're wrong, it's not that you're broken, it's not that you're mad or crazy or whatever else you might have wondered about for yourself,

but it is that there is a difference and therefore you can advocate for what you need to thrive and develop and build a life around those things that bring you joy, bring you replenishment and build strategies around those bits of life that challenge. Yeah, absolutely. And are there different ways that people of different genders may kind of exhibit signs of perhaps being autistic or things that they're struggling with or maybe even finding easier? What are the gender profiles, Katie? That's a really interesting question because historically what we understood to be autism is what we now understand to be a typically male way of experiencing autism or an external way, a way that's observable to others.

And so it used to be that many more boys and men were thought to be autistic than girls and women. Nowadays, there's a real sense of an understanding of, there's an internal experience of being autistic as well, that is less observable to the observer, but it's very much experienced and can be very, very impactful and very important to understand. So this started being described as the kind of girls version, girls and women's and female version of autism. And now it's better, I think, described as the internal experience of autism, which means that oftentimes girls, women, non-binary and some male people experience the internal version of autism. And so when you're, when we're helping people discover that, you know, we're really being mindful about what's your internal experience of the world.

You know, you might be doing X, Y and Z that neurotypical people might be doing as well, but what's your experience of doing that? What's the cost of doing that to you, your wellbeing and your energy levels? Yeah, what it costs you to engage in your normal life or to be able to go out there and earn money and kind of do all the things. Is that masking or is that something beyond masking? I think it can be described as masking and masking is when you work and it can be conscious or unconscious but when you are kind of going against your internal authentic way of being to be safe in the world, to present as somebody without differences and who fits the majority way of being the majority population.

And as I said, it can be conscious because I'm not presenting all of myself to you in this podcast. There's parts of me that I'm squishing down and masking and that's a conscious choice and okay. But it can also be unconscious where you've just learned through life's experiences that that bit of you makes you vulnerable. So it's not safe to be that way. Yeah, like socially conditioned, that's undesirable, that's not okay, don't do that. Yeah, don't flap in this way, but it might be okay if you flick your hair. So some of the ways to cope with life might involve what people call stimming which might include flapping any other kind of stimming activities that people

might see in others or in themselves. So sometimes that it might be physical movements, clicking or saying different words. If you think about it, actually, laughing is a stim because a stim is a repetitive movement that happens to help regulate emotion. So laughing is a funny thing we do with our breathing and our voice box when we're feeling a big emotion, whether that's hilarity or embarrassment or whatever. When the emotion gets that big, we do a thing. That's what stims are in lots of ways. There's lots of different types, fiddling with hair, fiddling with your clothes, pacing up and down when you're stressed. There's all sorts of things that, and they stand out from typical, more or less, in different ways. Yeah, so obviously everybody, you know, either with an autism presentation or not, will self-stimulate at times,

but actually there's certain key stims and if used repetitively and perhaps not always in conjunction with, I don't know is this the wrong term, but more kind of socially accepted ways of stimulating ourselves like or regulating ourselves like like a soothing rhythm breath for example, that's what we tend to advocate to people but actually if spinning around or flapping you know is doing the same thing but you certainly get a few more stern looks if you're doing that. Yes, yeah, because I don't think people probably think of laughing and those other things that we've described as stims in that way, but I think autistic people can use stims to help regulate perhaps more.

I don't know that there's research to check that but that's my experience than neurotypical people and maybe in place of putting words to their internal kind of emotional experience. Yeah I've never thought about laughing as being a I know right. A stim, yeah it's really interesting. Okay so people that laugh a lot that might be more of a stimulatory behaviour. I think I was mentioning that in the context of saying actually stimming is an experience that we all share, whether we're neurotypical or neurodivergent. So that's one way in which there's a shared experience, but that isn't to say I think autistic people use stims more. I see. So there's no correlation between laughing and autism.

It's an example of self-stimming. It's just a way in which experience is similar. I'm with you. Thank you for clarifying that. So, you know, I guess if people have got to this stage of the podcast episode, they'll be thinking, yep, tics a box, tics a box, tics a box. What are the processes involved with getting an autism assessment for an adult? So different NHS trusts do it in different ways, but your GP will be your first port of call to go through the NHS. There's also the system of going through right to choose providers, that's potentially possible.

And then there's the independent sector as well. So I can talk to my own experience of offering adult assessments in the independent sector. That's a system whereby contracts have been set up with different providers to provide a service for NHS clients that remains free at the point of need. So you can go to your GP and ask for consideration of being put on the Right to Choose pathway for an assessment. And there are criteria for whether you can join those pathways and those waiting lists. I don't have details about that because that's not my service doesn't do Right to Choose assessments, but that's a possibility for people within

the independent sector. So for us, people make an inquiry and can book an appointment to get an initial, it's like a screening appointment that talks through what brings them to wonder about an assessment and it's really to make sure that an assessment makes sense and isn't a use of resources that isn't meaningful. And then the assessment itself is like a deep dive into someone's experiences in childhood right through up to adulthood, their experience of learning, friendships, relationships of the sensory world, of what's it like, you know, flexibility and plan versus the need for predictability. And we cover that ground in a number of different appointments and doing a number of different tasks

just to explore how someone approaches the world. And we ask whether they've got people in their family or network who would they would be comfortable to contribute so we might ask a parent to give us some information about what they remember of their child in their childhood or a partner perhaps that could contribute something and then we pull all of that information together to reach a decision about the possibility of them being autistic. Great so there's not kind of the practical elements as such like you might see in children with with an ADOS assessment for example it's much more kind of conversational and

relational. It is it is more conversational in with adults and some services including ours we do still do the AD ADOS, but the ADOS that we do for adults is still fairly conversational. There's a few tasks, but it's not as task heavy as the ADOS that we might do for children. I was in a school meeting recently and there was a copy of that book, is it called Tuesday? It's got frogs in it. it. I think that was in the ADOS at one stage. And there's no words in it. And I said to the teacher, I said, did you know actually this is commonly used as kind of a screen for trying to work out what

might be going on and what people's understanding of that is and it's used as part of autism assessments. You're just like, no, I had no idea. We just use it as a picture book. And I was like, well, actually, you can use it in that way to kind of think about pre-screening. Is there anything that someone could do if they're preparing for going in for an initial assessment to prepare for that kind of optimally. So maybe we used to do developmental assessment reports in clinic. Could they have those conversations with their parents, with people who knew them when they were a child and think about all of that? What are top questions or top ways of preparing do you think? I think what we often mention to adults is to just spend some time ahead of the appointments,

reminiscing and kind of maybe that's talking with parents as you say or siblings about and thinking about okay where was I when I started primary where did I live what school did I go to so just trying to really put yourself in those times, because then accessing memories of those times will be easier. So it might be looking through school reports or photos from school days, anything that can just bring those early years to the kind of more accessible bit of your memory, years to the kind of more accessible bit of your memory really. So that can be really helpful so that you know they've done some digging around in their life experience before they get to us. Yeah absolutely and if someone is kind of heavily defended or so used to masking can it be hard to kind of really work out whether

they do fulfill that diagnostic criteria? Can you always kind of sieve out what needs to come through? I think that's something that actually a lot of people are worried about. The fact that they've gone a lifetime so far without it being identified might either mean that it doesn't exist and they're making it all up and they're over-exaggerating concerns or what have you, or that an assessment process won't uncover it. So we work really hard to get underneath the mask

and actually sometimes that's why the ADOS can be helpful. It's not without its issues, but it can be helpful. Because it's kind of odd. Some of the tasks and things that we do are just slightly odd. So it's unlikely that you've kind of created a script for it or kind of quite prepared for it. So in that kind of way, it can be a helpful way to get underneath the mask. And there are other kind of adult

based assessment tools that help us do that as well. To get underneath the mask. Yeah, and it's making me think of when I was training in my doctorate in clinical psychology, and they were like, actually, when you are a clinical psychologist, and you're familiar with all these measures it does actually make it a bit harder to test you laterally because you know the answers and you know what's coming. Are there certain professions that are more likely to have an autism diagnosis, to be autistic or kind of to be

gravitating towards that? I know that always when I was working in CAMHS for example, we found, so I was working in West Midlands, very close to kind of Jaguar engineering bases and it was said that actually this is a kind of almost a hotbed of children and young people with autism presentations, whether they're diagnosed or not, because their moms or their dads or both are actually engineers. And that was thought to be kind of something that naturally lots of people with autism would gravitate towards.

Does that make sense? It does, it does. And I don't know what the current sense is about that specifically, but I remember historically there being research around you know certain but if we think about it more broadly from certain professions but think about kind of what is the the cognitive style of someone who's autistic and so autistic people are ordinarily fantastic at paying attention to one thing at a time.

And they can often do that above and beyond the kind of attention span of a neurotypical person. So, and have those really highly specialized, highly specific areas of, of interest and depth of knowledge and understanding. So professions or disciplines that require that suit an autistic way of being in the world. Autistic minds are really good at that kind of all or nothing. Something is either true or false, right or wrong in really clear ways. So professions that might be served by having that perspective and where communication is really clear and explicit. So there'll be some areas of law

where having that real clarity of thought about, well, this means that and the other thing means the other thing can bring a real strength to that field. So it's about fields that benefit from an autistic way of being. And there might be other disciplines or professions or ways of living your adult life that lend themselves to people who don't need as much social interaction to keep their social tank of energy full. So those, I was speaking with one adult I know who's autistic and through school he got, you know, those quizzes that you can take about what profession you should go into and his answer was lighthouse keeper. And I thought, well, that's just glorious because he can, you know, he would have the free, that's not what he became ultimately. But I thought, well, what a glorious way of being, you know, if that suits your, the amount of social isolation versus interaction that works for you.

Perfect. Yeah, we are all so different, aren't we? That would be a terrible job for me. I love speaking with people. I love random conversations with people. I'm the sort of person that will chat to someone in Tesco over the cauliflowers. But we're all so very different. But actually, what we know is that people can reach what's called autistic burnout when they're really struggling with the resources they've got

to be able to do all the things that life necessitates. Could you tell us a bit more about autistic burnout? Sure. So it's a term that the autistic community have kind of, I don't know if the a community but the first to kind of use it, but certainly it really resonates with lots of people's experience and it describes that chronic ongoing emotional kind of and cognitive and social exhaustion that being neurodivergent in a neurotypical world can generate. And so if you're in that chronic state of using up more resources than you've got, because the world requires that of you, then you stay in that depletion and kind of you're in energy debt, so to speak, which can have an impact on how well or otherwise you manage a new function in the world. So burnout can look like losing areas of functioning that have previously been okay for you.

So you might eat less, be unable to speak for a period, and just need to be in bed by yourself for long stretches because the world is hard and exhausting without it being set up for you. Thank you. Thank you for helping us understand a bit more about that. And when people kind of receive a diagnosis, you know, they might respond in a variety of different ways. It might feel like, ah, finally,, I feel like I know myself and I can kind of get out there and tell people about me and people will understand me better or

I will care less about what other people think of me. Yeah, like is it always a good thing? Does it sometimes feel like a negative thing or like the shame or judgment or blame or it's kind of their fault that's going to internalize process there? That's a really, really important question because we shouldn't be doing it if it's not ultimately helpful and meaningful. My experience in talking with people is that, and what I witness often starts with relief, you know, to kind of to have reached the point where you have wondered why the world seems more difficult to navigate for you than it does for others, has suddenly got a framework around it to understand that,

which brings with it things that might be helpful to make life less difficult to navigate. So it often starts with relief. I think there are also in the journey periods of time where it's like, oh, blind me, but in the journey periods of time where it's like, oh, blind me, but that's lifelong. So that means it's going to always be difficult and that's hard. So I think that's potentially a stage or a position that people kind of go in and out of as well. And I think there can be elements of grief and loss about, gosh, if this was understood about me in earlier years, how different could things have been? And I think what the joy of doing

this work is a the relief in the beginning and then the kind of coming through the processing of this framework to your life, coming to a point of validation and acceptance and strength and a way of building self-compassion, building self-esteem, which just was so vital to well-being and emotional and mental health, aren't they? Yeah, absolutely. And I think, you know, I think, encourages us to make our own bespoke way of existing in the world in a way that does suit us, suit our own individual needs, our family needs, just our preferences.

It's almost like we can paint by numbers now. We can really have our lives, I don't know, vibe with us, not just one size fits all. So employment doesn't suit everybody. But so many of us for so many years have been told, you do this, you go to school, you get your A-levels, you go to uni, you get a job, then you retire. Like, there are your options, that's it. And I think it's really made us think, actually, I don't know. I don't know if I want that. And employment that's in a shared office where you have to manage the noise and the hubbub of everybody around you and the chance that they might pass you and

and make some inconsequential social chitchat comment that doesn't suit how you function and then going actually I can do this work, I can be productive and I'm not using up my social battery to do it. I can use my social batteries in ways that replenish me. When I was working in a shared office, people just like to talk, don't they? And I like to talk as well. But if I've got work to do as well, I almost had to get myself in work mode and wear my AirPods and risk being quite rude to people because otherwise I would not get my work done. And then the clients, my patients, don't get what they need. They don't get their reports, they don't get their clinical notes done. And

I'm in trouble. So yeah, like, and I'd have to explain to my colleagues, actually, when I've got my AirPods in, as much as I'd love to chat. I can't. That's like, that's closing the door on your individual office, isn't it? Yeah, but if you haven't got one. So that's the sign of it absolutely. Yeah absolutely. So yeah like if people are thinking oh yeah that this could be worth exploring, is there a generic

ballpark figure for what someone might be expecting to spend? It might be a range for an adult autism assessment. I think it is a range rather than a precise figure, but I would be expecting around about maybe a bit under, maybe a bit over £2,000 for it, which is a huge, a huge amount of resources. So if I was somebody in that, and you can definitely get it cheaper, I'm talking about services that multidisciplinary and particularly strong, you know, particularly thoughtfully and carefully

because that takes a lot of resources. I think if you're thinking about pursuing that, speak to services that you find, ask them whether they fulfil what's called the NICE guidelines, Ask them whether they fulfill what's called the NICE guidelines because those are the, as you'll know, the NICE guidelines. They describe what is required for any, for an assessment. And it means that if the service you go to fulfill those NICE guidelines, follow those NICE guidelines, the outcome has a better chance of being accepted in statutory services and in services you approach for things like accommodations and provisions on the basis of any diagnosis that's made. Yeah, so like anything, I guess, especially with the rise of kind of how popular talking

about this is becoming in the media, we're likely to see very cheap assessment diagnosis processes, but cheap is not always best. Not always. And that's the price range that our assessments are in. So of course, I'm going to tell you that that's the price range to imagine. And I think in services that develop to assess for autism, I think it's really important to think in services that develop to assess for autism, I think it's really important to think about what's required to make a sound and thorough and appropriate, valid assessment. What are the extras that can really add depth and completion to someone's to the outcome and someone's understanding

of themselves, but aren't needed for diagnostic integrity. And so each service and each practice will put a line in a slightly different place, put that line in a slightly different place, I think. Yeah, yeah. I think there's so much skills and benefit in clinicians who have professional qualifications and have years of experience in that. So even when I was in the CAMHS team, there was a couple of consultant clinical psychologists, a speech and language therapist who had worked in a qualified capacity for many, many years. I think two OTs actually, and then kind of CBT therapists and people that, you know, you've got all of those years of experience combined but also experience of seeing people that are, you know, neurotypical as well,

people across the lifespan, so that you're really getting a sense of whether this is something that's going to support and help that person. Yeah and I think when people don't have those levels of professional qualifications, they don't have that professional registration. I think they just they don't have the integrity and they don't have, I don't think they've got the requisite skills personally to be doing the work that they are saying they are experts in always? Yeah absolutely and I think it's really difficult as well because it leaves both the practitioners who are in that situation and the clients really vulnerable to having their outcomes challenged and that must be incredibly hard for people who have gone through a process to have the outcome challenged. And I guess I would also say, Marianne, that the cost of it is a huge barrier and so there'll

be many for whom that's impossible. I think self-identifying as autistic, if you've done the work, if it fits your way of being, if it just makes sense of the bits that didn't make sense beforehand, I think that it's valid. It's okay to say that you consider yourself to be autistic. I wouldn't challenge that myself. I think the value of having it clarified through an assessment process is that some autistic minds prefer certainty and so need an external person to go, yep, I agree, this is what it is, you haven't fooled anyone, you haven't exaggerated anything, it is what it is. So that can bring kind of internal peace to that identity kind of claim and also access to kind of the legal protections under

the Equality Act because autism is legally classed as a disability. You don't have to agree that it inherently is but it is legally classed as one so you do get protected by some legislation around kind of people providing support and accommodations to make sure that you thrive rather than burn out. So I think there is real positives for having that formal process but identifying it in yourself and noticing it in yourself and describing yourself that way is valid too. Amazing, thank you so much for your time and for helping us understand more about this. Where's the best place for people to learn more about you and your work, Katie?

So my website is theadolphuspractice.co.uk and we have a Facebook page, which is the Adolphus Practice, and we're on Instagram as the.adolphuspractice. So that's where you find us. Amazing. I will make sure that all of those details are on screen for YouTube and in the show notes and the description everywhere else. Thank you so much again for your time and for putting up with my voice, which almost abandoned us at times today as well.

I think it's just about held on. Thank you so much. No worries. Thanks so much. Thank you. Thank you so much for your time in listening or watching this episode. If you have found it helpful, please do drop me a like, a comment, a follow, a subscribe. Following a show for a creator that you rate really is the kindest thing you can do for free,

and I would be so grateful if you could do that for me, please. You might well be engaging with this episode because you are working in the mental health space. If you yourself have an autism diagnosis, you may wonder whether that would make you a good enough mental health professional. And this is where I think the book,

An Autistic Anthology, Neuro-Narratives of Mental Health Professionals is really worth checking out. It is a collab, so to speak, between Nikita Sheppardson, Dr. Vicky Jervis and myself and it is real-life look through the lens or for people who self identify as being autistic and the way that they've seen the world, the way that it shaped their experiences and how they've gone on to successfully work in the mental health space. We have psychologists in there, we have psychiatrists in there, there's all sorts of people at different stages of their career and it is a fascinating

read. So I hope you find that really useful. If you read it already, I would love if you'd put a review on Amazon and Goodreads. If you would find future episodes on autism and being autistic or any element of kind of neuro diversity, please do let me know by dropping me a comment on YouTube and or connecting with me on social media where I am Dr. Marianne Trent everywhere. Inspiring psychologist podcasts with Dr. Mary Entrace Hi, my name is Beth and I'm a psychological wellbeing practitioner from Newcastle. I just wanted to say the biggest thank you to the contributors of the Clinical Psychologist Collective Book. I've enjoyed reading this so much and have loved having insight into the range of backgrounds and experiences people have prior to applying

for the doctorate and it's been really interesting seeing the potential barriers to the application as well and how I can try and work around this. I really started to doubt myself and whether I was good enough to apply for the clinical psychology doctorate but this has really given me the confidence boost that I needed to give it a shot so the biggest thank you ever.