The Aspiring Psychologist Podcast - How to be the 'perfect' aspiring psychologist, with Meg Salter - Trainee PWP

Starting point is 00:00:00 Hi there, it's Marianne here. Before we dive into today's episode, I want to quickly let you know about something exciting that's happening right now. If you've ever wondered how to create income that works for you, rather than constantly trading your time for money, then you'll love the Race to Recurring Revenue Challenge with my business mentor, Lisa Johnson. This challenge is designed to help you build sustainable income streams. And whether you're an aspiring psychologist, a mental health professional, or in a completely different field,

Starting point is 00:00:32 the principles can work for you. There are also wonderful prizes to be won directly by Lisa herself. And if you join the challenge by my link, you can be in with a chance of winning a one-to-one hours coaching with me, Dr. Marianne Trent. Do you want to know more? Of course you do. Head to my link tree, Dr. Marianne Trent, or check out my social media channels, or send me a quick DM and I'll get you all the details. Right, let's get on with today's episode. If you're looking to become a psychologist, then let this be your guide. episode. Without a merry entrance Hi, welcome along to the Aspiring Psychologist podcast.

Starting point is 00:01:33 I am joined today by the lovely Meg Sota. Hi Meg. Hi, it's lovely to be here. Really nice to have you here. And we connected on LinkedIn. I'm not lying, I do like LinkedIn, I mention it quite a lot but I'm often on there and yeah we were just thinking about a number of issues and I was like why didn't, how do you feel maybe about coming along and

Starting point is 00:01:58 recording a podcast episode and you were naturally a little bit apprehensive but we, you went for it and so thank you for being brave. So, yeah, we were talking about a number of things. But before we do that, could you just give us a little bit of an overview about who you are and what stage of your journey you're at as an aspiring psychologist, Meg? Yeah, of course. So currently I'm a trainee PWP. I started that role in March and before that I worked in more um private mental health organizations it more admin than a clinical um I've spent a couple of placements doing kind of voluntary assistant psychology post but never had

Starting point is 00:02:44 um an employed I've kind of preferred to go down the PWP route as it seemed kind of voluntary assistant psychology post but never had an employed I've kind of preferred to go down the PWP route as it seemed kind of right for me at the time and I think I've wanted to be a clinical psychologist since I knew what they were and I've taken a bit of a break and here and there I think after my undergrad I was like no more psychology I need a break and so I went kind of more into organizational psychology for a year and but clinical psychology brought me back and that's my interest and so I'm just kind of building up my experience hopefully get my qualification to my PWP and then we'll see where it goes. Brilliant so not everyone listening to this will know what a PWP is could you tell us a little bit a quick run through about what they are what they do and how the training for it works please

Starting point is 00:03:34 Meg? Yeah so it's abbreviated for psychological well-being practitioner and basically the role is within the stepped care model of mental health and it's a step two approach so basically the role looks like you are you are a therapist but in a step two approach which means that it's very low intensity kind of working with people with mild to moderate anxiety and depression and what we do is it's a lot more like guided self-help than actually you know treating a client so they will come to us if they have these issues we assess them see if we can meet their needs and then when we go into treatment I suppose every fortnight or weekly sessions we will go through various different interventions with them depending on what they're struggling with and so the training for that is 12 months

Starting point is 00:04:32 and you're at uni maybe one or two days a week and the rest of the time you spend in service and then once you've finished your training that's when you are fully qualified and a lot of people step up and after they've finished their training or after they've spent a year or two are qualified so then step three is like your high intensity CBT therapists and or similarly people will then try to get on to the doctor as well so it's a really good way because it's very very clinical and you have a lot of contacts in a week a lot of clinical hours it's very high volume work and you don't you know have a long-term relation like therapeutic relationship with your clients but you get through a lot of them and so it's a really really good experience to build up your clinical skills but potentially a bit draining as well if it's if it's absolutely yeah absolutely draining

Starting point is 00:05:30 I think that I think you need to kind of manage your expectations of the of the role and of the service and because step two care is the first kind of point of call after your GP so you know we get through a lot of assessments and a lot of them won't be suitable for the service you know they'll need either higher intensity treatment or even outside services you know if it's more specific within trauma or anything that basically can't be contained within you know six half an hour sessions so it can be very draining but for the people that it's meant for it works for and so I think that just needs to be kind of like bared in mind if people are looking at the looking at going

Starting point is 00:06:12 into a PWP wrong. Brilliant and I know one of the common questions I'll be asked is well do you get paid to train do you have to pay to do the course could you talk us through the finances a little bit Meg? Yep so you don't have to pay to go on the course that is all paid for and you your starting salary is a band four in the NHS and I think it goes up to band five once you are qualified but yeah you have no payments to for university fees or anything like that it's all covered within the service brilliant so it's sort of comparable to an assistant post yeah absolutely yeah but you're getting specific training specific sort of modalities and for a specific client group is it all adult work nope so you can you kind of choose because you have your adult IAPT services. So PWPs work under the IAPT, which is Improving Access to Psychological Therapy service. But then there's also a child and young persons PWP late teens some are seen as children some are seen as adults

Starting point is 00:07:26 and so for instance you know you could have a 17 year old client if you're in an adult IAP service and there'll be certain safeguarding procedures and things that you will have to kind of do that you might not have to do for you know your 40 year old client or something so there is a little bit of a crossover but there are two different roles great thank you for that and one of the reasons we were chatting on socials is thinking about when life deviates from the course we'd intended and the ensuing panic that can you know be awakened within us when that happens of you know but I want to get on to training by a certain year or a certain age and you know what will this say about me and how will it look on my CV and you know and I was like

Starting point is 00:08:11 hold on it's okay you know there's no race yes and we you know we get there when it's right for us. And I firmly believe I got on training when it was the right time for me. And had I got on the year before, even though I applied, I would have been a bit out of my depth. I just wasn't ready at that stage. And, you know, there's that sense of what's for you doesn't pass you by and that you know I know there's a great deal of um competition for these places on doctoral training but um you absolutely wouldn't want to be looking around the room and thinking everybody else is amazing and I really not just as an imposter syndrome I really genuinely do not know what I'm doing. Like, I feel like this is wildly outside my comfort zones. You know, what I want for you and what I want for everyone else who is successful at getting a place is that they look around and they see their contemporaries, actually. You know, so we would expect on training that at some points, especially if you've worked in a particular client area before that you're like oh this is a bit boring

Starting point is 00:09:25 I sort of feel like I know this but as training progresses you might find that teaching on learning disabilities intellectual disabilities or you know different areas of mental health that you haven't worked with before you will feel less skilled and so that you've got more to learn but there should be some feelings of mastery and what we're doing which shouldn't feel like totally starting afresh but there should be some bits where you're like this is a bit trickier than I imagined um you know it should feel like a bit of a stretch but not wildly um you know wildly out of your comfort zone so we were speaking about um the impact of work but generally our mental health and how that can how that can affect us at times you know

Starting point is 00:10:08 I've absolutely had time off for my mental health in the past so when my dad died I took a chunk of time off to kind of grieve I was qualified at that point but absolutely if that had happened during my training I would have done that during my training um and but I'm reflecting on well if that had happened when I was an assistant psychologist would I have still felt that pressure then to keep on striving and to keep my nose to the grindstone I wonder if I would have done more so and so I think there's something around the compassionate voices within the services we work in and I guess the compassionate voices within this podcast as well that really encourage you to see yourself as unique and special and important and that we treat you as such in a service and we you know I know when we are an

Starting point is 00:11:02 aspiring psychologist it can feel like you're just a number in the system sometimes um don't know if anyone listening to this has listened to episode 52 of the podcast but it is um all about how to get an assistant psychologist post in modern times and we're thinking about contextual admissions um and that is with with Dr Alistair and with Anna as well and it's a really useful episode and definitely I feel that their service is getting it right in terms of treating people as unique and important and special and that they're not thinking about them as short-term fly-by-night employees they really want to welcome them back as qualified staff. They want them to feel so understood, validated, seen, heard and important that they want to come back. You know, it's not like you clock off on your last day as an aspiring psychologist and you think, thank God for that.

Starting point is 00:11:59 You know, this would be the ultimate level of success. It's like when we're raising children that if your children choose to be in your life in adult life that's the biggest you know the biggest um well done isn't it you know a sense that we've allowed them to individuate but they're still choosing to be in our life and i think the same is true of the services we work in if we are super keen to go back to them and still be in their lives when we are qualified that is that is good you know because it says that we've had a decent decent treatment and care so um please don't share more than you want to but would you be able to talk us through

Starting point is 00:12:37 how you recognize actually you weren't really well enough for work um whilst you were um whilst you're undergoing your training but again keep yourself safe and don't share more than you want to. Yeah absolutely so I think I've I'm sure people can relate especially in this field that you always try to kind of shove your own feelings down and you want to get on with the job and you want to be perfect and you want to do your best and you want to give everything for your clients and it was earlier on in the year and I was thinking I'm not feeling so good um and I'm trying to deliver um you know meet service outcomes or try and impress my employers and my uni tutors and things like that and I just had no energy left in the tank um so I couldn't possibly

Starting point is 00:13:26 give any more than than I did and it was at that point where I thought okay this isn't working right now I need to take some time to regroup you know do the do some inner work before I then feel able to kind of give my services to other people, because I'm a strong believer of, you know, if we don't look after ourselves, we can't look after anybody else. And so although there was a lot of inner conflict with that, because I'm, you know, very much a perfectionist, and I really want to just give my all all the time. The reality of it was my personal situation had changed and I had to kind of respond to that in the most effective way without, you know, kind of sabotaging future Meg

Starting point is 00:14:17 or also current Meg. So there was definitely a fine balance of trying to, you know, assess the situation, see what I could give and what I couldn't. And it turned out I just couldn't give what what my clients needed. And I think for me, that was the main thing that went through my head was, you know, we have our clients that come into the service for support and for guidance. And at that moment in time, I didn't feel like I could give them my best authentic self and so I spoke with my airline manager and his manager who have been very very supportive and they just said no you need to look after you first take some time

Starting point is 00:15:00 we'll come back when you're ready and I think for me you know the timeline of wanting to be qualified as a PWP by a certain time apply for the doctorate by a certain time all of that was going through my head when I did you say okay I'll take a break and there was so much shame that brought up that got brought up because you know you you want to do what you intended to do and life unfortunately doesn't work like that you can have the next decade of your life planned out fully and something is gonna turn show up and turn your path a different direction so it's definitely been a learning curve this year but I think I kind of want to explain that it's probably for the best what's happened this year because I think I kind of want to explain that it's probably for the best what's

Starting point is 00:15:47 happened this year because I think it could make me into a better practitioner you know because I've had the time for myself I've managed to work on myself and I think a lot of people will be able to relate that they have their own stuff I mean I think that's the main reason why we like to be in the field is because we know we know what the main reason why we like to be in the field is because we know what it's like and we want to be able to help people who have been in similar situations or feeling in similar ways.

Starting point is 00:16:12 So by me really focusing on my inner work and healing and, you know, all that sort of stuff, I think, you know, when March comes and when the trainee PWP course starts again, I think I'm in a much better position to be able to take it. And although I felt, you know, I loved the job that I was doing and I enjoyed going to uni and I thought every, you know, I soaked up all of the content and it was honestly, it was, I found it great fun. I knew that it wasn't long lasting. It was, you know, burnout was pending and burnout happened. And so, but now, you know, after experiencing that, I'm now able to implement, you know, my own well start my training to know okay what are the signs of that

Starting point is 00:17:05 you're working too hard or what are the signs that you need to take a break or things like that so I think it's really important to try not to try and go by your timeline which I'm still battling with you know um but at the end of the day where if you do have to take time off I think it can only be a positive because you are always learning you are thank you for sharing that with us and um well done for having that level of insight and reflection as well so it sounds like that had been you know self-directed that you discuss that with your team but I know um from working in services myself in the past that sometimes it's a top-down process sometimes people recognize with you I'm not sure this is you know the best time for you to be here

Starting point is 00:17:53 right now and they might highlight things that they've observed and that can feel really triggering and add to shame but hopefully people are having conversations with their superiors or their supervisors that feel compassionate and don't feel judgy or critical or hostile. You know we want our staff teams to be well and thriving so that they can help our clients to do the same. Yeah I'm really pleased that you had a good experience from your um supervisors if you could take some of the learning you've got this year um to apply retrospectively is there anything you think could have been different that would have led to a different outcome at the time yes lots of things I think hindsight is is something of a mystery. But yes, so I think where I'm

Starting point is 00:18:48 based and where the job was, complete other side of the country. And when I think when you're in the position of being offered this, you know, fancy new job on your road to being a clinical psychologist, you kind of take it without thinking about it because there's the places are so competitive and somebody says that they want you and you're there and so I just took it and I was like okay I didn't really think I didn't really think it through at all you know I'm from the north of the country and on a purely logistic level the north is cheaper than the south and so then transferring to the south I was like I don't actually know if this is feasible um but so at the time I would commute I had a family friend in the same city so I would commute down stay with them and commute back up and it was four and a half hours to five hours at a time

Starting point is 00:19:40 um so that was kind of the first thing that I was like hmm maybe I did not think this through um and also I think the biggest thing for me is how much you put into the role I think it's so you know it means so much to us you know to do a good job and to do great but I don't think anything is worth the expense of your wellbeing. And I think, you know, I would do overtime. I would, when I was finishing work, I would read through all of the uni reading, even the recommended that wasn't, you know, core content. And even on weekends and before I went to bed

Starting point is 00:20:18 and my whole life revolved around being a PWP. And I think that that's not possible nobody can work 24 hours a day and although I wasn't you know seeing clients all that time it was constantly on my mind and so I think I would have tried to set more boundaries in place you know when I log off from work you know because I worked from home as well as in service, I'd log off. I should have hid my laptop or make it a complete anti-work zone so I can then do things for me and my family, my friends,

Starting point is 00:20:57 and then come back fresh the next day instead of feeling like you're just continually just being a PWP. And I think the journey of becoming a psychologist or a practitioner in any discipline, really, I think you need to be able to take the time because you just want to soak up everything because you do feel like you're on a timeline and you feel like you need to get through it as quick as possible.

Starting point is 00:21:23 But actually, in retrospect, if I'd slowed down then that could have you know been more beneficial and I think even before taking the role I felt the pressure to do something new the role came up quite um spontaneously I was just browsing LinkedIn and it came up and I thought oh okay and then I applied and you know a week later I'd got the job and so it well there was not much time to think about anything and because you know we do want to progress on the psychology ladder we we do take things without maybe thinking it through completely and although I felt that I was you know competent enough to do the role at the time and I didn't feel out of my depth any more than I should have um I think it's all about balance I think and I you know a lot of people talk about balance um you know it's coming up a lot in mindfulness

Starting point is 00:22:21 practice and all that sort of thing but it's so important and I always take it for granted and so I don't need mindfulness you know I just need to keep working but actually if you can just slow down and take it a step at a time and don't put too much pressure on yourself to be perfect then I think that would have got me a lot further. Thank you for sharing that and yeah four and a half hour commute is never going to be doing anyone a good service that's going to make you exhausted before you've even begun that's going to slap the soul out of anybody and i'm guessing if there'd been a choice for um a course closer to you you'd have gone for that but this isn't what that was it was like one you know one employing trust who were employing trainee to pwps you saw it applied and that was that um but yeah with with a compassionate choice

Starting point is 00:23:11 you likely would have gone for one that was half an hour down the road from you but that wasn't available and just to you know put some context in this i absolutely did this i had a bit i had a bit of a wild phase where i like decided I needed an NHS assistant post and I needed it to be in a different clinical area than the one I was working in and I scattergunned the country with applications and when it came to it and I was offered an interview in Birmingham and an interview in Nottingham and an interview in the Lake District and I was living in rural Northamptonshire it came to it I was like I don't even want to live in the lakes I think I thought oh that'd be all right be like an hour and a half or so up the motorway no that would have been like

Starting point is 00:24:02 three and a half four hours that. That's a long way. You just didn't think, Marianne. And we're allowed to be mindful and make choices that work for ourselves and our lives. And of course, you might think that would be a fantastic job, but it might have to be a fantastic job for somebody else that lives more close, you know, that lives closer than I do. And I can compassionately let that one go. I can shrink my geographical area when I'm on track or NHS jobs or wherever, so that I'm only traveling within 30 miles. And even that is probably further than I want to travel. So we can't do everything. We can't get all the experience you know I think about when I um was um an undergraduate I was 18 and I was um in uh yeah in the theoretical themes and debates

Starting point is 00:24:57 lecture and the lovely Alan Granfield was teaching me and I wonder if he's maybe not around anymore because he was a little bit older at the time but but he was talking to us about the id, the ego, and the super ego, and I always remember his little impression of the id, just going me, me, me, me, more, more, more, more, more, it's all for me, it's all for me, and I feel like it was the id bit of me that was doing all of that scattergun, you know, applying and whether we just need to balance that with our ego and our super ego and our compassionate voices to just soothe everything down and give ourselves some understanding that, you know, there will be another time, there will be another job and things shouldn't feel like a massive stretch they should feel you know just

Starting point is 00:25:47 within our comfort zones but if they're not that's a sign so we look at window of tolerance a lot in the work I do with people if they're too much of a stretch it's going to leave you feeling you know hyper aroused or hypo ar, and those are not good states to be in. No, I'm smiling when you when you say when you share that story, because I think so many people will be in the same boat. I mean, I know a few people, I do it myself, I think, because there is this kind of expectation on the on the psychology field of, you know, the sooner you qualify, the better and, and all of that, you just you just do things, you know, you kind of it's almost like you're on autopilot, you think you're thinking at the time, but actually, you're not. And for me, especially, I had a lot going on

Starting point is 00:26:38 in my personal life at that time. And although a new job was definitely on the cards because you know I'd outgrown my my old role and I was ready to be a PWP I think within the timing of what was going on for me personally it probably wasn't a good time at all and you know with PWPs there's two intakes a year so you've got your March and your September and I could have waited till September, but I think there was that, you know, internal pressure of, no, you've got to do it now because if you take, you know, if you take, if you leave your job and just take a couple months off, then what's that going to look like on your CV?

Starting point is 00:27:17 And I think we all come back to this needs to look good, you know, even on your LinkedIn page, if there's any gaps in work or if there's, you know, you haven't, you've maybe done a clinical post, and then maybe reduced your hours and done more of an admin post or something like that. It, you know, it is this pressure of everything has to add up. And I think sometimes in life, the different experiences, what is what makes you a better practitioner, you know you've got more experience around you than just going from a to b to c to d you know sometimes life can take you around around the back and it could spin you around a bit but i think essentially like we just

Starting point is 00:28:00 have to kind of like you said soothe take a breath and try and really think about what is best for us right now instead of what's best for us for five years time. Because I think that's a very big, very big inner conflict that I have. Yeah, I definitely agree. And I think this is part of the value of this podcast is because it's very different when someone who understands the profession you're in and understands the struggles that you have says hold on a minute like really like someone needed to say to me Marianne what are you doing why are you applying to the lakes like look at a map do you know where that is you know and I'd have been like oh I've been a little impulsive but a bit hasty um but there's something you know if your mum or you know your auntie goes really like it feels like they don't really understand so I think like I said this is a value of the podcast a compassionate non-judgmental

Starting point is 00:28:57 empathic voice just to say it's okay you know there will be time there are there are other options there is another path you can take and that's going to be okay too it's not a race even though it may feel like it so yeah learn from my past mistakes um so that you don't end up doing what I did which was you know semi on the edge of burnout as I slumped on the stairs at my parents' house sobbing because I just couldn't do it. I couldn't do it. It was all too much. You know, I can't go on a job interview to Nottingham tomorrow. I can't do it. I haven't got it in the tank because I was at that time recovering from a car crash and doing a master's in part-time whilst working full-time and whilst recovering from a breakup of a long-term

Starting point is 00:29:45 relationship I didn't have the energy in the tank to get to Nottingham to go and do an interview for a job I probably didn't even really want you know and so learn from me as you listen to this and as you listen to Meg learn from that thinking about just taking stock on your individual capacity and your resources right now, which might be different than they were a few months ago, even when you applied. But you're allowed to make the decisions for you right now. And we can't, as you say, predict what might be coming and how that might affect our emotional or practical resources. And so it's always okay to take stock and continue to check

Starting point is 00:30:26 that things are working for you and actually what you've found is taking time out hasn't been as bad as you'd expected no no not at all I think you know there is that sometimes it creeps up the inner conflict and I should be in the post right now I should be doing that but by taking the time off I've you know I've learned a lot about myself I've learned a lot about kind of my approach to work to life in general and I think just spending that time of like building up some more inner awareness I think that really has kind of prompted me to move forward in a completely different way that I wouldn't have even thought of this time last year because this time last year it was go go go um but now I'm you know I'm recognizing when I'm starting to you know lose

Starting point is 00:31:17 energy or when my tank isn't quite full or you know when personal circumstances arrive you know, when personal circumstances arrive, you know, that's life. And it's about being able to tolerate that. And like you mentioned with the window of tolerance, I think this year for me has been all about expanding my window of tolerance because this time last year, there wasn't even a window. There was maybe like a crack of tolerance. But we're getting onto a window now. So I think it's, you know know it's so important like you say to

Starting point is 00:31:46 just to take your time with things and you know although I would much rather you know be in work I'm employed I'm just taking taking the time off and I think oh I'm so left behind my cohort is nearly qualified now that could have been me and you know all those negative thoughts and ruminations come up but I'm in such a better place than I was you know 10 months ago that actually allows me to kind of take on the role again when training restarts in March in a completely new light and I've got so much more in my tank to be able to offer and I've also got the kind of the skills now to recognize when I do need to take a break or and when I say break I mean take the weekend off or like have an evening to yourself or reduce screen time or you know anything

Starting point is 00:32:38 like that which before I wouldn't have had any of it I I would, you know, be so adamant to do things my way to do it, you know, 100 percent. But, you know, you can't give 100 percent of yourself all the time. You know, you need to be able to rest. And so I think it's done me the world of good to take some time off just so I can recognize all of those, you know, inner awareness, really. Absolutely. And, you know, we were thinking about the move towards contextual admissions as well, and how actually what you've been through will be really useful in terms of your awareness of services, but also, you know, your ability to reflect and to draw on what you've been through. And whilst they say that you don't have to be hit by a bus to know that it hurts it sure does help you know in terms of your empathy for knowing what things feel like I wouldn't recommend everyone getting hit by a bus that is a figure of speech um okay so um yeah

Starting point is 00:33:36 thank you so much for sharing your story with you and I know it's one that many will resonate with and that will be really useful for people in future um yeah no it's been a pleasure to to be on the podcast and I think when I reached out to you initially um I did not expect to you know be offered to be on the podcast and like I say at the start although there was a bit of apprehension to start with I just think it's you know it's nice to hear from somebody who's kind of been through different things and I know that I appreciate it when guests come on on the podcast it just offers you a new perspective and yeah I really appreciate being here and I hope that I have been of some value to others. You absolutely have and I knew that the questions you were asking were important considerations for so many aspiring psychologists so that's why yeah i'm really glad that you're

Starting point is 00:34:31 able to be brave and wishing you all the best with the rest of your training but you know this is an opportunity you get an extra cohort to to have connections with and to draw on for support it's not always a negative you know there's you know benefits to all situations as well and whilst we don't need to shine up the dull side of a penny this is a nice opportunity that you're going in with the full awareness and insight into what this is going to be like and you're still choosing to do it but you get a whole new set of people to do it with and then your current cohort will be really interested in still supporting you and checking in with you so it's like it's a really nice situation hopefully too yeah absolutely I think

Starting point is 00:35:11 it's I know I'm a bit of a believer in everything happens for a reason and this was what was meant to happen and I'm just you know taking taking it on board and just seeing what happens so I'm really excited for to start my training again in March and then you know over time we'll see what happens and when the time is ready I think I'll know when I should then start applying for the doctorate but for now I'm just going to focus on getting back on training and then getting qualified and we'll see what see what happens from there brilliant thank you so much for your time wishing you a lovely festive break um and yeah thank you for your time in recording this really important podcast episode Meg thank you thank you for having me and I hope that you have a lovely holiday period Thank you. The Aspiring Psychologist Collective

Starting point is 00:36:27 The Aspiring Psychologist Collective Hello, my name is Avalon and I'm an undergraduate psychology student. I really enjoyed reading The Aspiring Psychologist Collective and I really honestly just couldn't put it down. I found it really helpful because as I'm in my final year I'm starting to think about what I'd like to do after uni and up until this point I've been very set on the idea of pursuing an AP role and the Aspiring Psychologist Collective helped me to see that there

Starting point is 00:37:06 are so many more options out there that may appeal to me and I'm looking forward to exploring some of these and broadening out my options. And I also really appreciated that people were open about their lived experience and how they navigated this over their psychology journey. I had lived experience of an eating disorder, so it was really inspiring to hear about how people have brought that into their reflections and how it shaped the clinicians that they are today. Reflective accounts of mental health professionals On their way to getting qualified The Aspiring Psychologist Collective Then let this be your guide With this podcast at your side

Starting point is 00:38:27 You'll be on your way to being qualified It's the Aspiring Psychologist Podcast With Dr. Marianne Trent my name's Jana and I'm a trainee psychological well-being practitioner I read the clinical psychologist collective book I found it really interesting about all the different stories and how people got to become a clinical psychologist. It just amazed me how many different routes there are to get there and there's no perfect way to become one. And this kind of filled me with confidence that, no, I'm not doing it wrong and put less pressure on myself.

Starting point is 00:39:22 So if you're feeling a bit uneasy about becoming a clinical psychologist I'd definitely recommend this just to put yourself at ease and everything will be okay. But trust me you will not put the book down once you start.

The Aspiring Psychologist Podcast - How to be the 'perfect' aspiring psychologist, with Meg Salter - Trainee PWP

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