The Aspiring Psychologist Podcast - Life After the DClinPsy: Job Uncertainty, Anxiety & Real Choices

Episode Date: January 23, 2026

In this episode of The Aspiring Psychologist Podcast, we explore the realities of life after qualifying as a clinical psychologist. I’m joined by trainee clinical psychologist Taniya Wellmillage, and together we discuss job uncertainty, unemployment after qualification, fixed-term contracts, stigma, and the emotional impact of moving from trainee security into an unpredictable job market. I share my own experience of signing on after qualifying, and we explore NHS versus private practice, moral injury, imposter syndrome, and the pressure to appear successful. This episode is essential listening for trainee and newly qualified clinical psychologists, and for anyone wanting an honest, compassionate insight into post-DClinPsy life.Timestamps00:00 – The myth that qualification guarantees a job01:41 – The bittersweet reality of finishing training03:18 – Being unemployed and signing on after qualifying04:42 – Stigma, shame, and fear around not having work05:31 – Fixed-term contracts and the shock of losing security06:14 – Course expansion, funding, and job availability07:23 – The false promise of the training “ladder”08:06 – Competing roles and widening applicant pools09:09 – Part-time posts and juggling multiple jobs10:25 – Private practice as necessity, not choice11:38 – Anxiety about going independent too soon12:10 – First qualified posts and clinical responsibility14:09 – Why support matters after qualification21:03 – Reclaiming identity, interests, and values post-trainingLinks:📲 Connect with Taniya Wellmillage here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/taniya-w-8a010a169/ 🫶 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:

My name's Yana 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 of confidence that no, I'm not doing it wrong and put less pressure on myself. 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. For three years, trainee psychologists believe they're climbing a ladder that leads straight to a qualified. post but in reality that ladder can stop abruptly you might step off into a job market where roles are scarce jobs are part-time and some psychologists even find themselves signing on at the job centre not because they aren't skilled but because the system really isn't designed for this today we are pulling back the curtain on what it's really like at this stage from someone who's living it right now as an end-stage trainee and someone who's been through it already as a qualified

clinician if you want the truth about what it's like to do jump from trainee to qualified, this is the episode for you. And if you find it helpful, please do like and subscribe for more. Hi, welcome along to the podcast. I'm Dr. Marianna, qualified clinical psychologist. And today I'm welcoming back Tanya Well Milligate to the podcast. Hello again, Tanya. Hi, Marian. Thank you for inviting me back for another one. So yeah, looking forward to speaking today. Absolutely. And we really wanted to think about what it's like when you are nearing the end of training or maybe even when you've qualified and then you are having to apply for jobs, which may or may not be there. Certainly in my own experience in 2011, they were not there. Of a cohort of 16 when we qualified, I think three of us had jobs to go to when the course. ended and I was not one of those people. How is the landscape looking currently, Tanya?

Yeah, so I think, so from my, and I guess this is also kind of like my own experiences as a trainee and, you know, coming towards the end of it and in third year, it was quite bittersweet because like you said, coming towards an end, the end is in sight. We're kind of looking forward to kind of finishing, qualifying, not having the pressure of the course and the thesis on us anymore. But then also that means that then we go into the real world and kind of go into qualified life and and stepping into a job. And I think, you know, if three years ago someone said that you might not, you know, you might struggle to find a job as a qualified psychologist, maybe that would make me think a little bit before. I'd have maybe a few more conversations and think

about employment prospects post-qualifying. So I think that's something that myself and my fellow trainees and trainees in third year and other universities that are having conversations about is the availability of those jobs. Because our friends in cohorts above us have struggled a little bit to find employment and secure a job. Sometimes it's possible to do that in your last placement to secure a job. And as you mentioned, you have three trainees in your cohort that were able to do that. But for others, we're talking a couple of months of interviewing and kind of going through the process. And that can be really tricky and a little bit anxiety provoking, you know, if we have other commitments like children or mortgages to pay other responsibilities that mean that being out of work for an extended period of time is very tricky and, yeah, possibly. Yeah, and something I did not envisage in my very newly qualified Dr. Days was joining the queue at the job centre and going and signing on.

you know, having to do certain job seeking responsibilities every week and going physically to the job centre to have meetings and be able to, you know, to claim that money. And for me, it was important that I did do that because I didn't know how long I was going to be unemployed and I wanted my kind of national insurance stamps to kind of show the system that I was still existing. And yet it was interesting conversations to have with people in the job centre when they're like, oh, you know, you could apply for this, you could apply for that. And it's like, I know the jobs are coming. Just give me a little bit more time.

Yes, I know I could potentially go and, you know, apply to ALDI. But I don't think I'm quite at that stage yet. Like, I really would like to just look for qualified psych jobs. And please just allow me a little bit. more time. Yeah, like, so please, de-shame that process. If you're out of work, you know, a fixed-term contract has ended, you know, there are benefits available. But yes, certainly not what I expected. Yeah, thank you, Marianne, for sharing that because I think, yeah, there is a bit of a stigma around it. It's like, oh, do you have something lined up? Have you done your interviews?

you know and maybe if people feel like they might need to pivot around psychology for a short time or to think about alternative options and yeah there may be a little bit of stigma around that and I think like you said it you know the training is a fixed term contract and it's been three years of obviously a lot of change but in some ways a lot of consistency because we knew for the next three years we'd be on a fixed term contract we'd have it's a salary job we would get paid every month. And so there was security in that over the last three years. But and, you know, arguably before that in assistant psychology posts or RA post, there is that consistency. And, you know, it's a to training, it's like a step ladder and you're kind of going up that. And when you get

to the top, it's like, well, I imagine it's going to keep going. But, you know, unexpectedly, you might not see that next bit. And I think that does cause a little bit of anxiety. And so, So, yeah, I mean, we were speaking a little bit about how courses are increasing and how it can be difficult, I guess, with funding through the NHS to fund more positions for qualified psychologists. So I guess that's something to think about as well. I mean, we're a cohort of 56 now. So I'm not sure if there'll be 56 jobs in London, but it's, yeah, there's those kinds of conversation that we're having at the moment.

Yeah, and of course you're not the only London course. And what we often forget is that other qualified psychologists might have applied last year and might be looking to apply for those jobs as well. And of course, if they've got a one year post-qualification experience, they might be more likely to get that job. So you're not necessarily just competing with your cohort. Like you could be, it's an open market. And yeah, we had a little look before we started recording at the clearinghouse data

for how course places have changed over the years. And when I trained, there was 15 of us. And it's interesting that actually, even though the numbers have gone up over time, currently they're at 15 again, the course that I trained with. And your course has got much bigger and then has come back down again to kind of the 56.

And it's, yeah, it's sustainability. So I think they do try and predict and plan, but I think a lot of that is, it feels like it's more linked to budgets, how much money they've got to be able to train psychologists rather than necessarily looking at job forecasting. And yeah, what, it's really hard because I think you kind of think, oh, well, I've taken, you know, lower paid work to be able to get onto the doctorate and you, maybe it's this naive hope or trust in the system that you'll be looked after ultimately or eventually. And then when you get qualified, you will have a job

but yeah getting a trainee psychologist role is not a guarantee of employment you know it's hopefully that if you jump through all the right hoops it's a guarantee that you'll come out the other end as a qualified psych the rest is the rest is not promised yeah totally and I think something that we're finding more is you know as we've been saying that the courses have been increasing but also posts have been become more broader in terms of what they're looking for. So you might have in one job advertisement, you know, clinical or counselling psychologist or clinical or counselling or practitioner or CBT therapists. So it's like the pool becomes bigger as well. And so not only are you kind of competing against other trainees, but also qualified psychologists, there are other

practitioner psychologists who fall under that. And so there's a lot more to it than yeah maybe rounds of interviews i don't know i'm not sure how they do that do that now um and also a lot of positions being part-time can you know cause a lot of strain on the individual if they're having to kind of juggle more than one job or i know a friend of a friend is working to NHS posts part-time and doing private work you know because they've recently um just bought a house so it's like having to juggle all of those things maybe wasn't something that we'd anticipated prior to kind of applying and doing the training. So yeah, it's kind of opening up this whole other world of post-qualified life. And I think it's, yeah, causing a bit of anxiety.

Yeah, and private practice always used to be something that you probably perhaps thought about starting as you were winding down to semi-retire, maybe. And, you know, that's not the case these days for sure. Maybe it was never the case. That might have just been my own assumption. But Yeah, I think for my own imposter syndrome, I didn't start my private practice until 2019, and I'd qualified in 2011. So I definitely felt like I needed some qualified years under my belt. Even then, I still had this imposter syndrome about doing that with eight years post-qualification experience. And I'd also become a mother during those times. So I felt like I'd kind of learned about very new and different ways of kind of understanding psychology and the real world as well.

But yeah, people are having to think about private practice as a way of primarily, you know, paying the bills. And this is not necessarily a free choice. You know, when I started training, I hand on heart would have said I will be working for the NHS until I retire. That is what I thought I would be doing. That is not what has happened at all. So is it having to make different choices than that which we thought to be able to live our lives? Yeah, totally. And I think there is this kind of moral injury when we think about the NHS and private practice.

And I mean, this can be a whole conversation in itself, isn't it? But yeah, and I think the anxiety also is from a trainee perspective through some of the conversations that I've had is going into it, early. I know you mentioned you spent eight years in the NHS before considering private work. And I've heard that people are one year in post-qualified and I've already started their own practice or renting rooms in London for their own private practice. So yeah, I think that causes me a bit of anxiety because I'm like, wait a minute, I've done, you know, this is my fourth placement. And so I've had a taste of this job role in four different places, but is that enough? And, you know, it's not a qualified case role that I've been doing, been doing a trainee case,

trainee cases and caseload. Am I confident enough? Do I feel like I need more support? Like, I'm going to miss that from the NHS, that supervision, the kind of clinicians coming together, the MDT, like there's a lot of valuable things there that may be so early on to leave and to move and become more independent. Again, is maybe a bit daunting. But I do appreciate that some people might be in that position as well if it feels like there aren't as many jobs going around. Yeah, absolutely. This isn't an ideal scenario. And I definitely learned so much from my first qualified post about being qualified and about being a clinical psychologist within that team. And finding my feet, finding them quite quickly, I have to say, because they definitely

wanted me to be up and running. There wasn't this kid gloves that actually at the time I thought I needed, but actually, I don't think I did. They, you know, they were like, amazing. We've wanted someone in this role for so long, we're delighted to have you, off you go. And that was probably quite empowering, actually, because it kind of like, oh, okay, they see me as competent and ready and able to do this rather than, you know, it's not like, so my experience when I came back from bereavement leave after my dad died is that, yes, I was given a slower pace. I was, you know, more thought given about my capacity and what I could give and what would be maybe a bit too much, it's not like that when you're qualified, that it wasn't like that.

And that's what I thought I wanted. In hindsight, I didn't get that. And I'm glad I didn't because that would have fed into the narrative that I couldn't do it. But that said, whilst I might never have applied for that job that I did get and was in for almost four years, if there'd been more jobs available closer to home, so glad I did that work. I loved it. I loved, love, loved it. I learned so much. And it was, yeah, I think back very fondly to those times, working in those two services because it was split post. But yeah, I definitely am pleased that I didn't go straight into private practice because there's something about

holding a clinical caseload as a qualified member of staff that did take a bit of adjusting. I would say. Suddenly, you're signing your name and you have clinical responsibility, I definitely felt like I needed some support leaning into that aspect. And had I just been trying to set up my business, do all of those things, think about referral, think about marketing, and holding clinical responsibility, and working out what was okay for private practice and what wasn't and what needed bumping up. Like, for me, personally, that would have been a stretch too far. So I'm very pleased that I had that period of employed life to be able to allow me to make

that transition. Have you got any thoughts on that, Tanya? Yeah, it just reminded me of this lecturer that came into our university a couple of weeks ago. And I think she worked inpatient. and I think she said that when she qualified, she was the only psychologist in the trust. And it's a trust towards us south of the country.

And we were all shocked. We were all like, how? Her supervisor was not in the trust. They had to externally hire a supervisor and kind of pay for that through the NHS. And she had been in that role since she qualified and she's still in that role. And it really is amazing because I think she's doing

such amazing work and clearly so needed in an inpatient setting. And I remember she said when she qualified, she thought, you know, I've got a job so that's great. I'm going into impatient. I don't have that experience or like she didn't have, feel like her placements were that relevant to her qualified role. But she kind of said that's okay. So she took up private work almost as a way to top up her experiences, which is the first time I heard of that, which was really interesting because she said, well, I've never really done OCD during my placements. So let me just privately work to find an OCD client to kind of explore that, gain that to a certain sort of like competent level, understand the kind of how to deliver the intervention. And so, you know,

when it comes to it in my inpatient work, I know how to, you know, how to do that. It doesn't feel like it's first time round. Yeah, which I found really interesting. So I didn't think that, you know, the private work could also supplement, you know, some of the things that you wouldn't necessarily get in certain qualified NHS posts to kind of boost up your experience. Yeah, that is interesting. And I think I tend to only work with people using the skill set that I had in the NHS or, you know, I might have done some additional training, but it's certainly in those areas that the passion was ignited for me in my kind of client work in the NHS. But yeah, like imagine being the only, the only psychologist.

like, oh, I think I'd find that quite lonely. Like, I really enjoyed our kind of wider psychology kind of away days and events where we could all be inspired by one another's practice and eat biscuits. And like, yeah, I definitely like the energy of being around other people. And I guess this is why I've curated this aspiring psych community, really, in the membership. I like learning from others and being inspired by others. I think I would find it quite difficult to be the only. Yeah, hmm, not something I've considered. Yeah, definitely.

And I think there is, you know, we kind of spoke about having like that bonders trainees. But also I think under the NHS, you do have that kind of shared identity. And if it is going on away days or just, you know, even now we're thinking about planning our Christmas do like these are like things that you'd get in the NHS which obviously you do pay for it doesn't get funded they don't have the money for that but if there is something in that i guess in that struggle of working things out in the NHS that really ties you together um which is really nice that maybe yeah you wouldn't have to have or you have to kind of curate a little bit more um in private work for sure yeah we definitely do have to fund it all ourselves and it's reminded me of a post i saw on

social media the other day if you saw it someone was celebrating their long service award it was either 30 years or 50 years in the NHS and they'd been given a little plastic window little plastic cellophane bag with a single circular tea bag in it and it said thank you for your you know 50 years of service or 30 years of service whatever it was here's a little treat and And it's like, never more have I remembered what it's like to work for the NHS than that gift, you know. And to someone who's worked in corporate industry where you get, you know, your choice of sparkling drinks or, you know, a lovely coffee machine and, you know, this, that and the other. And would you like some whipped cream on that? Like, yeah, never more has there been a stark comparison of, oh yeah, I get it.

I remember. Yeah, I totally. That's hilarious. And yeah, it just made me think about how, you know, at this stage, we are also thinking about where we want to be, if that's in the NHS or, you know, if we're thinking about private work at some point. And just pulling upon our interests. So maybe if I could, yeah, I think the next thing I wanted to maybe just mention is how, again, that kind of like reframe on this situation about trainees like figuring out. out what they like and what they don't like in terms of like clinical work and how that can inform what they do. Yeah, I think that's sort of. Yeah, absolutely. Are there any kind of last

reflections or things we could consider before we finish today, Tanya? Yeah. And I guess I'd been thinking a little bit about, again, a positive reframe about this kind of situation with post-qualifying options for us trainees. And I guess placement is a good. time where we can figure out you know what what it is we like and don't like and for some of us me included I think having such varied placement experiences I'm not quite sure where I'd want to go to be qualified but I think I've realized that that's okay and I can use qualified life as an opportunity to kind of explore that a little bit more but it's also yeah leaning into interest and

so over training I've been becoming more and more interested in yoga and I've been maybe thinking about if I could integrate that into therapy and do like a yoga therapy course or do yoga teacher training and see how that can inform clinical practice or kind of vice versa. I have a really good friend who's an artist and so she's thinking a little bit about integrating art into her work or doing any extra training. So I think, you know, although we have this training that kind of gears us up to a certain level, we are, you know, we are still humans, we are still individual, we have our interests. And so maybe now that, you know, we're thinking about post-qualified options.

We're thinking, how can we become individuals again? You know, how can we find that route that we want to take individually, as well as, you know, having the back of being clinical psychologist, but integrating some of those things. And I've also found that LinkedIn has been really helpful to kind of speak about some of those things and kind of enter into a world of networking and trying to find kind of like-minded people, people who align with those interests. And I think that's really helpful maybe thinking about,

post-qualified kind of options and building that network and finding certain opportunities so I think LinkedIn has been helpful and that's also how we got introduced so I think yeah helpful in many ways absolutely I love LinkedIn and at the time of recording I think I'm about 19 and a half thousand connections on there so I really do love the variety of conversations and we've also just yesterday I recorded an episode entirely on using LinkedIn as a kind of psychology and mental health professional. So yeah, if people are like LinkedIn, really, do listen out for that one. Tanya, I've loved our conversation. It's been so useful to think about what this

evolving landscape of kind of qualified life looks like right now. Thank you for your thoughtful time and consideration. I'm wishing you all the best with your thesis, with the rest of your final year and with securing a job that feels like a bit of you. Thank you, Marian. Yeah, it's been a pleasure speaking today and having new reflections about qualified life. So thank you. Appreciate it. Thank you so much. Stay in touch. Take care. Thank you so much again for Tanya's time in speaking with us. Has it resonated with you? What stage of your career are you at? Let's go wild in the comments. And please do let me know whether you're watching on YouTube or whether you're listening as mp3. I love this chance to connect with you and I hope that you like being here too. If you do,

please like, please subscribe, please show me your support. That really is the kindest thing you can do for any podcaster or creator that you rate and it doesn't cost you a penny. And the other day someone even said that when they're watching on YouTube, they choose to watch the adverts because they know that's their way of giving back in a way that doesn't cost them but does help me to cover my costs to create this content for you. So if you wanted to do the same, I'd be so very grateful. If you would like to go one step further and be one of my biggest fans, you can do that by joining my paid community, which is on YouTube with Dr. Marianne Trent and Apple where I'm the aspiring psychologist podcast. You might choose to do this because you're a

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that's your side you'll be on your way to being qualified It's the aspiring psychologist podcast with Dr Marianne Tren My name is Beth and I'm a psychological well-being 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 loved having an 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.