The Aspiring Psychologist Podcast - Living your best life as a mental health professional

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. With Dr. Marianne Trent Hi, welcome along to the Aspiring Psychologist podcast.

Starting point is 00:01:34 I am Dr. Marianne Trent and I am a qualified clinical psychologist. Now, if you are a regular listener or watcher, you might notice that A. The sound doesn't sound quite as good as it usually does and b if you are watching on youtube you might notice that i'm in a different location guilty as charged on both accounts and actually i'm probably doing the opposite of what i'm going to tell you to do in this episode so this episode is all about living your best life as an aspiring psychologist or a mental health professional because it's really important that we do in order to help us to manage the ebb and flow and the hustle and bustle and the kind of take-take nature that our jobs can feel like. So I am on tour currently.

Starting point is 00:02:28 I am on holiday. It's October half-term, and I am, I'd say, living some of my best life here, really. So where is here exactly? And if you're on YouTube, shall I show you where here is? So if you're listening, and even if you're watching what I'm doing is I'm showing you the estuary view from this window from the office window which is just wonderful I will level with you that this is the second time I've recorded this podcast episode so for some reason the microphone

Starting point is 00:03:06 wasn't working and when I came to edit it it had no sound and a podcast with no sound is many things but it's not a podcast and unless you're really good at lip reading you're not going to get very much from that at all so when I I was recording it earlier, there was a windsurfer out there distracting me in the most joyful of ways. A slightly less joyful distraction is that in the house next door they're having a refurb. And so if you can hear banging and clanging, that is what that is. So, yes, why am I doing the episode today? So the episode kind of came to me because I just had a great day yesterday, really great. And I was just out and about on a kayak with my husband in the afternoon. So a really lovely time time this beautifully sunny day and just really making

Starting point is 00:04:07 me reflect on the last time I'd been on a kayak with him which was I think in 2010 it's been a long time you know when you've got young children it's kind of it's kind of hard to kayak but we left them home with the grandparents yesterday and so yeah they were happy playing Roblox, whatever it it's lovely um as we were walking today I saw a sign that said something along the lines of Christ Church where time is pleasant and I think most people were like time is pleasant is pleasant really a word that we use when things are really really good or is it when things are like fine um but yes if i i was trying to decide whether if i lived here and this was the view from my window whether i'd be super super productive because i'd always want to sit at my desk or whether i would just end up laying down on the sofa with a similarly glorious view

Starting point is 00:05:30 and not get very much done at all. So as I do sit here, I think, oh, if I wrote a book here, it would be just a lovely, lovely view. So when I was writing the Aspiring Psychologist psychologist collective and doing the editing for that I went away with a week for a weekend with my friends and before they arrived I sat and overlooked the most beautiful Malvern Hills view and that was really inspiring so I'm all about the view and that's one of my top tips really is you know if you are feeling a bit bogged down by life and the views around you then could you get out and about to even have a day of looking at something a little bit more awe-inspiring so I wrote a piece for the

Starting point is 00:06:21 media a while ago that suggested that when we're seeing and experiencing awe-inducing things that we have a better quality of life so where could you look in your life to even have low cost awe so it might be going to a forest you know with really big tall trees where you can kind of just appreciate the difference in size and how long it would have taken for those trees to grow so tall or it might be going out to see some water you know big strong winds today's definitely wouldn't have been kayaking today although my little boy did want to go kayaking before you still want quite that safe oh you'll be pleased to know our favorite wind surfer is back but is

Starting point is 00:07:15 if I can show you so you obviously took a little bit of a break. Maybe he wanted to have some hot chocolate and warmed up. Another lovely, comforting thing that you can also do. So for those of you listening, what I'm doing is I'm showing a lovely man on his white and blue water surfer. Is it? Wind surfer. Wind surfer is it wind surfer wind surfer so as he whips about now i'm sure he will distract me in the most wonderful of ways um but yeah i went uh wind surfing in 2010 it was very very difficult um i went on one of those nielsen holidays had an absolutely brilliant time and so that was and I was just about starting my third year of doctoral training so yeah very very much recommend going out and doing some active things if you can to help you

Starting point is 00:08:18 get through whatever you've got going on in your life now but it's really important that we are living some of our best life ideally even when we're waiting to kind of get to where you think might be the good stuff where all the good stuff happens we need to be enjoying life along the way too one of my next top tips is when you get a new diary for the year this is mine I favour an A4 diary like lots of room is to think about best case scenario and if you could get all of your choice of annual leave what would you want and make sure that you are ideally booking it if you're part of a team

Starting point is 00:09:01 or if you are self-employed like me that you're just taking it out of there as not available for bookings because it's really really nice actually when you are doing client work and you're looking for the next available appointment and then you flick past you know annual leave and you think oh yes oh I have got that thing coming up oh brilliant so I tend to put all of my social things into my work diary as well to give me like a little bit of a boost as well when I'm flicking through the diary I think oh yeah that thing's coming up oh I'm really looking forward to that that'll be really good to help bolster where you're at now so yeah that's something you might like to consider but it's really important to me as a parent that I'm having time with the children when they're on half-term breaks so even before the

Starting point is 00:09:54 half-term holidays and the school term dates get published what I do is I am earmarking those I'm looking on the local government website to look for the term times and making sure that where possible I book out as much time as I can to be off with the children during half terms so that I can have a good break sorry about the noise next door that I can decompress you know because we carry a heavy load in the work that we do and so making sure that we're able to maximize our time off is really key and of course we don't always want to be away from home sometimes it's nice just to have down time to be at home to enjoy you know this space that you've created you know and have a little bit of R&R from right where you sit and right where you live. So it's

Starting point is 00:10:45 not all about rushing out and spending money, but it's about having time to just relax and to do the things you like to do. Might that be naps? Could be. I absolutely used to love a nap. Or just to go out for walks in your local area, or a little bit further afield. You know, you could head to the seaside for a day and have fish and chips. You know, small pleasures can be very richly rewarding indeed. So don't think that life is suddenly going to become glorious when you're qualified. You know, we need to be working hard to create a life that you're enjoying along the way um and then of course we hope that the same continues when you are qualified

Starting point is 00:11:34 trying my best to dodge the incredibly noisy noises but if it goes on for much longer i might just need to plow on through regardless um so yeah as I said before this is the second time I've recorded this and so um I think the light is probably more favorable now it was a little bit sunny earlier it was in my eyes um but it might mean that we have a slightly shorter podcast episode as well because I've done it all already I know where I'm gonna go and also quite keen to go and sit downstairs and have a cup of tea so um yeah get your diary fill it in request the leave you know and if you're part of a team it might well mean that you've got to negotiate what you're going to have but it's really important

Starting point is 00:12:18 that we're not just you know saving all our leave until the end of the leave year often in the NHS that will run until the end of March beginning year often in the nhs that will run until the end of march beginning of april but we don't want you to be having you know just lots of fallow time um in in the new year it's important to try and spread out that leave as much as you can and i know that um bank holidays are likely pro-ratted and they certainly were when I was in the NHS but please use your leave not just in one go please try to make sure that you're using it to enrich your life your soul your spirit everything about you so that you're not just totally burned out all the time and we need to think about the power of evenings and weekends and holiday as well. I'm being a bad girl

Starting point is 00:13:07 because I'm working on my holiday, but I'm choosing to work on my holiday because it matters to me that you guys have a new podcast episode to look forward to each week as well, because I know that many of you have this as part of your weekly routine and thank you from the bottom of my heart if that does describe you. So, yeah, using your evenings and weekends. And when I first got together with my husband, he was like, why don't you have more hobbies? Why do you not do more things? I was like, well, I like a bit of pilates. I like chatting with my friends.

Starting point is 00:13:43 I like going out for dinner. I like naps. Naps are a key hobby and if you are lucky enough to still have naps in your life, perhaps you don't yet have children or you have some magical method of ignoring them so that you can nap, please let me know. Tag me when you've had a really good nap, won't you? Come and talk to me about your naps on the Aspiring Psychologist community on Facebook. Yeah, I love a good nap. Love a good nap. My in-laws are currently asleep right now on the sofa downstairs because they've come along away with us. That was noisy. That was noisy. That's not them snoring. That's not them snoring. That is the work people next door.

Starting point is 00:14:33 So, yeah, try to make sure that you've got things to look forward to in your evenings and weekends, but don't over cram them. Just because there's a gap in your social calendar doesn't mean you need to fill it so I'm trying to adopt the kind of the concept of not booking more than two things over a week to do because I'll just be burned out you know and it's tricky to do anyway because the children seem to relentlessly have football I was going to say football rehearsal football practice and training and actual matches and stuff so yeah gone are the days where my weekends are my own anyway but yeah I was really just I enjoy my work you know and I did as an aspiring psychologist so if you're not really enjoying your work as an aspiring

Starting point is 00:15:25 psychologist it might be an idea to reflect on how different you envisage qualified life to be when you get there because in my experience they're not vastly different you know I do more media now I do obviously write books and things and I do podcasts but my day-to-day work isn't that different really and so yeah think about where you might be able to crank up the joy perhaps using supervision to think about creating more opportunities within your work to do the things that you really really do enjoy might be useful so what we'll do is we'll take a short break here um and i'll be back along very soon if you're looking to become a psychologist then let this be your guide filled with lessons and experience that will help you get qualified.

Starting point is 00:16:26 So come and take a look. It's right here in this book. It's the Clinical Psychologist Collective. It's the Clinical Psychologist Collective My name is Diakolola Amujam. I am a recent psychology graduate from Ireland. I am also an aspiring clinical psychologist. Dr. Marion's book, The Clinical Psychologist Collective

Starting point is 00:17:11 has been so helpful to me on this journey to becoming a clinical psychologist. As I plan to continue postgraduate studies in the UK, I found it extremely useful that this book provided in-depth information on the UK DeclinSci application process. I enjoyed reading about the experiences of both qualified and training clinical psychologists. The various narratives were my favourite part of the book, as everyone's story was different and it provided amazing insights into the clinical psychology journey. I would definitely recommend this book to anyone interested in psychology

Starting point is 00:17:48 and aspires to become a clinical psychologist. If you're looking to become a psychologist, then let this be your guide. Filled with lessons and experience that will help you get qualified. So come and take a look. It's right here in this book. It's the Clinical Psychologist Collective. It's the Clinical Psychologist Collective. Thank you for coming back to me and hope you found this first half useful so far. So, yeah, in the first half, we were thinking about the blank diary and the power of evenings and weekends.

Starting point is 00:18:52 I was also chatting to somebody today, actually, who's gone straight from being an aspiring psychologist and working really long hours with zero downtime and zero annual leave to go straight to doctoral training and finding that after teaching block and kind of hustling and jostling to form cohort relationships and expectations from the university as well as new placement expectations and pressures both self-imposed and supervisor imposed finding they're feeling a bit burned out already which is really really tricky and so I really do advocate using your diary to think well if I were to get on to doctoral training this year what could my summer look like what could I afford to how long could I afford to potentially not work for or could I use some of my annual leave to take before I finish to make sure I have a really enjoyable break so when I started training as you might know already because I talk about it quite

Starting point is 00:19:58 a lot I'd had just the most wonderful summer I'd been away backpacking with a friend in Spain and Morocco and then I came back and finished off my work in the service I was working in and then went away to India for five weeks too and also I seem to recall I went to Barcelona with a very big group of assistant psychologists. I think we already knew we were going to be on training at that point and it was just such fun until I got mugged but even then on the other side of that it was such fun we had a great time and so it was just a really wonderful summer and so I really came to clinical training just energized, enthusiastic, tanned, happy, you know, living my best life. I'm really excited for this next stage. So yeah, where could you imagine or hope or dream that you might spend

Starting point is 00:20:59 this summer if this is your summer before you go on to doctoral training so yeah dare to dream and um just before the first time I recorded this podcast episode there's a book here just behind me called the best moment of your life and it's about um it's about a hundred stories it's a bit of a collective actually a hundred stories um written by people who have had, you know, really amazing moments. And one of them, the first story is actually something that I've already done, which I thought was incredible. So I haven't had a chance to look through it, really. But it's about someone who went to Varanasi in India and lit these little candles and then put them out across the Ganges and you do that with kind of mindful hope a connection to people that you've loved and lost and to for your hopes and

Starting point is 00:21:54 dreams in future and so I've done that and it was really it was like a really nice spiritual thing to do so that was really nice that made me reflect upon some of the other really lovely things I've done as well like going to Australia and driving around the world's largest sand island which is Fraser Island and you know encouraging the dingoes not to steal our barbecue and pitching a tent and sleeping out there and sleeping under the stars in the Thar desert and riding a camel which I talk about in the Aspiring Psychologist Collective book and what other things, hanging out in Thailand and swimming with dusky dolphins in New Zealand like and all of these were you know things that I've done whilst being an aspiring psychologist you know so in chunks of time that I've taken um to go out there and see

Starting point is 00:22:53 the world but also nourish my soul you know and actually I don't know if I'd be here without doing that because on the days that are tricky I've very much drawn on many of those experiences so how could you do the things that nourish your soul you know that might be dancing it might be singing it might be traveling it might be eating great food or cooking great food or spending time with people you really enjoy spending time with so how can you look to do that because all work and no play makes life not feel very enriching so yeah that was a loud noise how can you do that as well and we need to make sure we're looking forward to things so So having things to look forward to. So, for example, comedy gigs maybe.

Starting point is 00:23:50 I was supposed to be going to John Richardson tomorrow, but we had to cancel because it had originally been scheduled for the pandemic. And then it rolled forward and moved to a date I couldn't do. So we had to refund it which was a shame but yeah I might well look to think what other comedy gigs I can get booked in trips to see friends meals in restaurants I'd like to go to you know family I might like to catch up with I've got a shopping trip with a couple of different friends university friends and psychology undergraduate friends. Yeah, so what can you do that might enrich your life and help decompress, you know, take off some of the pressure from this pressure cooker of life that we get

Starting point is 00:24:37 when we are working as a mental health profession or any kind of role where you're supporting and caring about others. And along those lines, I would say it's really important to use supervision as well. And we can use supervision to look forward as well and to think about when you, you know, where you might like to go, you know. And we can also use any yearly appraisal to think about what experiences you might like to have to, you you know shape you and direct you and point you in the direction that you want to go don't be afraid to say that you're not thinking this is going to be your forever job you know it's absolutely okay to want to go to different places so perhaps you want to be a senior pwp or a senior assistant psychologist or perhaps you want

Starting point is 00:25:23 to get your first kind of assistant psychologist role for example a research assistant role and i would say i hope you're in an environment where you're able to be honest about that and they can help support you um to get to this next step of the rung of the ladder which is going to be so useful for you um so this is a slightly brief episode and it was originally i think we came in about 29 minutes before but there was more distraction available with more windsurfing discussion opportunities and we've had more of a focus the last episode was a little bit a little bit woolly and a little bit too relaxed whereas now i was slightly annoyed when I started this because I

Starting point is 00:26:05 can't believe I filmed an entire podcast and there was no sound and I checked it and everything but yes I came and did a redo and if there's no sound this time then frankly you're just gonna have to listen to no sound and to try and work out what I was saying but yeah I've done away with the airpods and you might have slightly worse sound and also quite a lot of noise to put up with and you might be able to hear buffeting wind as I sit here in this office room looking out at the wonderful estuary views so yeah if you found this useful then please come and discuss it with me on socials tell me about your naps as well I'm very excited about naps even when they're not my own um yeah and talk to me about your hobbiesaps as well. I'm very excited to buy naps, even when they're not my own.

Starting point is 00:26:45 Yeah, and talk to me about your hobbies and your past terms. Come and discuss it with me on the Aspiring Psychologist Community, brackets free group, that's on Facebook. And yeah, if you would welcome some more support, then come along to the Aspiring Psychologist membership. Details in the show notes. And also, the day this episode is released is Halloween, the 31st of October.

Starting point is 00:27:10 And so we've got a live Q&A, compassionate Q&A across my socials as well. Do bear in mind if you're joining on Twitter, I can't see your comments live. So perhaps come along, Dr. Marianne Trent, most other places, but also on Facebook for Good Thinking Psychological Services too. So yeah come and see me, ask me questions, let me answer them for you

Starting point is 00:27:36 and bearing in mind there's a competition running until midnight on the 31st of october as well more details for how you can win a one-to-one with me are available to you at www.goodthinkingpsychology.co.uk forward slash my hyphen books and you can see all the details there that you need to know um but yes thank you for joining me i'm going to go and hope there's some sound on this episode. Maybe see if I can get a little bit of a glass of wine on the go, maybe. It's a little bit of a random Wednesday afternoon off work. And, yeah, look forward to the fish and chips that we're having for tea tonight, which I seem to be aware have got rather good reviews from the local GP. So, yes, I hope you found this useful.

Starting point is 00:28:23 I hope you found it inspiring. Give yourself permission to allow yourself to do the things that make you smile and enrich your soul because it's going to be so important along the journey. I hope you found it useful. Thank you for being part of my world

Starting point is 00:28:36 and I'll look forward to catching up with you for our next episode, which is available to you from 6am on Monday. Take care. My name's Jana and I'm a trainee psychological well-being practitioner. I read the Clinical Psych 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

Starting point is 00:29:48 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.

The Aspiring Psychologist Podcast - Living your best life as a mental health professional

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