The Aspiring Psychologist Podcast - Using Autoethnography to aid learning & comprehension as an Aspiring Psychologist

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, today's episode is all about autoethnography

Starting point is 00:01:35 And you might notice some slight weirdness when I say the word autoethnography Because I got to the end of filming all of it and I got to the end of that day I got to being in bed and I got to being asleep and then suddenly my brain woke me up in the middle of the night to make me wonder whether I had accidentally said ethnography all the way through instead of auto-ethnography and of course when I listened back to do the editing I had so I've tried to fix it where I can but you know perfectionism there's no place for it in modern mental health services and so I have just done the best I can. I hope this doesn't take away any enjoyment but please know that I am referring to autoethnography.

Starting point is 00:02:26 Hope you find it really useful. Hi, welcome along to the Aspiring Psychologist podcast. Thank you for listening. It means a great deal to me. And I record this at the point where we are at about 2,500 downloads of the Aspiring Psychologist podcast. And that just is incredible to me you know I hatched this idea in my kitchen one day as I cooked tea and the idea that people are really enjoying it and finding it beneficial and helpful is just you know so validating and so wonderful and energizing to me. So, you know, I set out to hope that this would be useful and it turns out that it is. It's been really nice hearing people's

Starting point is 00:03:14 stories about what they are doing and how they are doing it whilst listening. So some people have been in contact to say that I am their running companion or their companion for out walking the dog. You know, they've got me in their ears as they are out and about. You know, some people really like to step it up when the jingles come along. That's their chance to sprint. And other people say that even though they're not psychologists, they like listening to this because it really helps them think about mental health. It helps them think about how therapy is put together. And also some people say they use me to listen to as they are going off to sleep. And I shan't take that too personally but people say that they like my voice which is just

Starting point is 00:04:05 really nice so thank you but in the in the most part I believe our our audience are mainly listening apparently on Spotify but there's lots of other ways you can listen as well. So Apple podcasts, Amazon Music, Google podcasts, you can watch on YouTube as well. This is, you know, largely helpful for an aspiring psychologist audience. And, you know, your feedback is so welcome. If you want to get involved with the podcast and you'd like to leave an audio testimonial, either for the podcast itself or for one of my books, then please do check out my website. There's details in the links section for how you can get involved, how you can download information about how to create your audio testimonial. It could just be your little thank you to me

Starting point is 00:05:06 if you are enjoying the content. I would so, so welcome it. I'd be really grateful. So thank you for that. And if you are listening on Apple Podcasts, please take just two seconds to scroll down to where the trailer is right at the bottom of all of the episodes and just click rate.

Starting point is 00:05:27 Just click rate rate out of five stars how much you're enjoying the podcast. And if you have one minute more than that, could you maybe leave me a review for the podcast? That would be so appreciated. And why that is helpful is because podcasts with more reviews and more ratings get shown to more people. And it empowers people to give podcasts a chance if they can see that other people who might be people just like them are finding it useful. Why do we like what others have got to say? And this is going to be the topic for our podcast today. Why is it useful to hear how other people have done things and why? I know that this is certainly a way that I learn really well from working with clients, but also from reading books and it is a form of um literature

Starting point is 00:06:29 called auto ethnography which is just beautiful um and it's something that i've always been interested in but i didn't realize that there was like a word for it a phrase for it and it's actually only after i published the Clinical Psychologist Collective that I realised that that is what we are doing in the book. So autoethnography is a way of learning or a way for someone to talk about themselves and their experiences by talking exactly about themselves, by talking about their own personal accounts and reflections. So I guess technically it could be thought of as a type of research, an ethnographical account or an ethnographical piece of research. So perhaps grounded theory strays into ethnographic territory as well.

Starting point is 00:07:28 But I have always learned really well from being able to hold in mind case stories and case histories. And so that, for me, is what is going on in the Clinical Psychologist Collective and in the Grief Collective. And may this be a little exclusive scoop that you are the first people to hear about this. There is another book coming because, you know, the Clinical Psychologist Collective is great if you are already on the path and looking to apply to become a clinical psychologist. But I know that some people are not yet there. You know, you may be listening to this podcast because you are, you know, perhaps studying psychology either at university or maybe even college. I know we've got some college and sixth form students listening too. And why this can be really useful is because it can help you

Starting point is 00:08:26 think about what your next step job will be or what it could be, what route to becoming whatever type of qualified psychologist is on your wish list might be useful for you. And so the book that is coming, there's a working title for it the aspiring psychologist collective and it is going to include the ethnographic accounts of people who are not yet on clinical training so there might be some stories in there of people who are having interviews for for either educational psychology or clinical psychology, you know, maybe forensic psychology this year. So it's going to be a really current finger on the pulse kind of book, you know, I'm hoping to have it published for October so that we can see out

Starting point is 00:09:21 this cycle of certainly clinical applications. And I am asking for aspiring psychologists who are already on their path to their chosen psychology career to get involved. So at this point in time, I'm asking for you to, you know, get in contact and show interest in writing and to then submit a few hundred words with a little bit of information about you and what you'd propose to write in your story and then I will be collating those to make sure that we've got a real medley of stories within the book and then if I ask you to write it I would want that back I guess by September so I haven't quite sorted out the dates yet this is hot off the press so I'm going to be working feverishly to get all this sorted so that when this podcast episodes goes live the details are all there in the show notes for how you can find out

Starting point is 00:10:27 more information if indeed you would like to for anyone who has a story published in the aspiring psychologist collective i will be rewarding you with a paperback copy once it is published. That's obviously going to be a lot easier for me to sort out if you are in the UK. If you're not in the UK, it's perhaps not a deal breaker. But yeah, I would imagine that because the majority of our audience are UK based, that it will be UK based people that are writing stories. But if you are not UK based and you are still interested in thinking about whether you could add some narratives, add your own ethnographical accounts, then please do request more information. Because, of course, it's relevant and it's, you know, it's going to be engaging and relatable for people who are then going to buy the book, hopefully, in future. And also, it's really useful for you to do as a reflective account in your own right.

Starting point is 00:11:37 So I know when people put together their accounts for the Grief Collective and the Clinical Psychologist Collective, they found it a really you know fulfilling experience in itself so i hope that you will find that really useful and that you will want to get on board and to kind of get that out there as a dissemination as well as a bit of a publication for you for your own cv which would be really useful for you for your own CV, which would be really useful for you. But of course, useful for so many people who want to do what you do one day. So it might be that you're a research assistant. It might be that you're a psychology assistant and assistant psychologist. It might be that you're a psychological well-being practitioner. It might be that you're, you know, a high intensity or low intensity CBT therapist. It might be that you're doing, you know, care assistant work or mental health support worker or support role work. So I want to know, you know, and if you've done a few different roles, then I'd like to know about those as well.

Starting point is 00:12:41 So, yeah, I hope that this sounds really exciting and that you are keen to request more information. Let's just take a quick pause here to hear a little bit more about the Clinical Psychologist Collective. And I will be back shortly so that we can talk more about why and how autoethnography is useful to us, not only in clinical practice, but also when we're striving for our own goals too. And 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.

Starting point is 00:13:40 It's the Clinical Psychologist Collective The Clinical Psychologist Collective is a fantastic read for aspiring clinical psychologists. This book provides insights from real trainees and qualified psychologists. They offer their advice, hope, and encouragement to aspiring clinical psychologists. This book helps to put in perspective the variety of journeys people take to become qualified.

Starting point is 00:14:20 I would recommend this book to anyone interested in the Declclincy. 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. Welcome back. Thank you for listening. So before the break, we were thinking about what autoethnography is. And now this side of the break, we're going to be thinking about how and why this is useful. And for me, it's about the personal resonance. It's about the human story. It's about the connection. It's also about the, well, if they can do it, then so can I. I find it really helps bolster my faith in myself. It makes things seem so much

Starting point is 00:15:53 more attainable, so much more relatable, because I can then hold in mind those case studies, you know, those examples. So when we open up the Clinical Psychologist Collective, the first story you'll read is by Dan. And Dan opens up the beginning of his story by explaining that he got a 2.2 at university. And then the story recounts how he has got onto the right track to then be a trainee clinical psychologist. So, you know, that is really heartening for people to think that actually it is possible. People are holding Dan in mind, thinking, well, if Dan can do it, then I can do it. It makes it, you know, more tangible, more achievable, more relatable. And I know when I was preparing for interviews, either as a qualified or as an aspiring psychologist, I would, you know, sit down and try

Starting point is 00:17:01 and put down sort of case studies of people that I'd worked with. So perhaps from, you know, a psychological perspective of depression, perhaps people that I'd worked with, with interventions, so, you know, for OCD, or, you know, panic. And I'd write up case studies about the client and how it worked well for them and what we did and what we were able to achieve. And for me, having those little sort of potted histories, it was then easy for me to be able to draw on that theory and to bring it to mind. And that for me, again, is what the Grief Collective and what the Clinical Psychologist Collective offers to you. It offers you the chance to have extra stories in your mind to reflect on, to draw upon,

Starting point is 00:17:56 to consolidate your own learning and to show you that everything and anything is possible. And this is the case for me as well. So coming up in a few weeks time, we've got another guest interview with a wonderful researcher and academic book producer. And I'm not going to tell you who she is, but it is going to be an incredibly useful resource. And for me, part of my journey into bookishness and beyond has been holding this lady in mind. You know, if she can do it, then I can do it. And I want you to be able to take from people in the Clinical Psychologist Collective. I want you to be able to take from the content I create for the Aspiring Psychologist podcast. I would love to be part of your inner monologue. It would be an absolute privilege if that was starting to happen for you. I fully expect that the jingles are already part of your

Starting point is 00:19:14 inner daily monologue. Are you singing them in the shower? Are you humming them to yourselves as you chop peppers? You you know I do hope so because yeah people have been saying they're really liking the jingles which is just lovely because as you know I'm a big big fan but yeah I would like to be on your team one of the good guys in your head that helps you know you can do this. It might be that some people in the past have told you that you can't or that you shouldn't or that you're bad. You know, no good will come from this. You should go and do something different.

Starting point is 00:19:57 And it might be useful at this point for me to tell you about some feedback that I received about myself once upon a time. It was actually my grandfather. And he said, once upon a time, Marianne, listening to your voice is one of the most painful experiences of my life. And I think I was a bit sort of flabbergasted, really. I didn't quite know what to say and how to respond. So I'm not really sure that I did much at all in response to that. I was, of course, aware that he had been a paramedic in the Second World War. And so he had seen all sorts of awful things, you know, awful things, trauma. And yet, you know, what a thing to say to someone.

Starting point is 00:21:05 And this was at the point when I was striving to be a psychologist as well. So it really made me think, well, if my voice is that awful, how am I going to make a living out of this? How am I going to have people want to listen to what I've got to say? And this is why, you know, the feedback from my clients along the journey and the feedback from some of you guys as well. Actually, you like listening to my voice and that you find it calming and soothing and inspiring. It means a big deal. And actually, sometimes I think we can just treat feedback as erroneous, you know, not that helpful, kind of so left field that we just don't even need to take it on board. You know, people are entitled to their opinion. He passed away in 2012. So I'm never going to know what he, what exactly he meant by that. But nor do I need to let it trouble me any longer. You know, I heard it. I didn't like it. I can choose to move on from it.

Starting point is 00:22:08 It's not a trauma. I can talk about it in a way that is connected, but not distressing, you know, not moving me to distress. And it's been, you know, I never would have imagined that it would be topic for a podcast. But know it is and in terms of my autography you know it's part of the story but it's not the whole story and it doesn't need to shape or define me so in the clinical psychologist collective there is a real flavor a real diversity of story and of route to becoming either a qualified clinical psychologist a trainee psychologist we've also got stories in there from educational psychologist forensic psychologist health and research psychologist and counseling psychologists psychologists as well because you know as we know the path is not always smooth to clinical

Starting point is 00:23:09 but also clinical is not the only way you know there are absolutely other ways to go on and become a qualified psychologist and to offer your brilliance to the world in a way that might not involve ever going anywhere near being a clinical psychologist. So there is so much to learn from others. And I just adore this way of learning about people and, you know, becoming part of their world. So, you know, if you've been listening to the podcast for a little while now then hopefully you've enjoyed my little stories I know someone said that their favorite bit recently was when I was talking about being a millionaire feeling like a millionaire as you walked on the carpet with your shoes on but hopefully you like my little anecdotes and you know they might just serve you well at a time where you are needing some examples

Starting point is 00:24:08 to draw upon a point of pressure they might just serve you well when your inner critic chimes in you know some of the stuff we've spoken about might rise up for you as a compassionate other to say, actually, that might not be that useful. So, yeah, what we are doing is important and what is on offer in the Clinical Psychologist Collective and the Grief Collective is really useful and could really help shape the way that you're thinking about your client work, the way that you're thinking about striving for your future goals as well, and to help you balance where you are yourself and how that might look for you. You know, you might find it helpful to, you know, scribble all over the book if that doesn't break all your book reading rules. There's a very few number of books in my life

Starting point is 00:25:06 that I've allowed myself to write in. But if I had not put this book together myself, I do believe I would be, you know, highlighting and annotating and adding, you know, those little sticky note things, two pages in the Quincyte Collective so that I could draw upon it and so I could put it into themes that resonated with me. So yeah, do your worst if that doesn't break all your rules about how to look after books. I hope you found this episode really useful, really thought provoking about what your own ethnography might look like. And like I said, if you'd like to get involved with your own story for the Aspiring Psychologist Collective, then do check out the details in the show notes

Starting point is 00:25:52 for how you can request more information. But if you head to my website, which is goodthinkingpsychology.co.uk and then head to my books, there will be information there for you please do come and connect with me on socials as you might know by now i am dr marianne trent on linkedin dr marianne trent on instagram twitter i am good thinking ps1 and Facebook you can come and grab me on my personal account Marianne Trent or my business account which is good thinking psychological services when there are interview episodes all of them are available to watch on YouTube but even the audio versions are also available on YouTube too, which is Good Thinking

Starting point is 00:26:48 Psychological Services. Come and subscribe, come and like, and come and comment on an episode. Give me your favourite emoji in the comments so that I know that you've been listening and that what we do matters to you. Help us spread the word and just, you know, be on my team like I'm on yours because it's so appreciated. Looking forward to catching up with you for our next episode very soon. and resources for interview season for psychology, then we have currently, as I record this, got the first compassionate Q&A available on YouTube for you to watch on replay. People found it really useful, soothing, calming, validating, inspiring,

Starting point is 00:27:40 all of that good stuff. So do check that out. And I will look forward to catching up with you through our next episode of The Aspiring Psychologist very soon. Take care. Being well supported during any interview season is so important. I have therefore planned some compassionate question and answer support sessions for you. You are absolutely welcome to come along to all of them, some of them, none of them. No need to book and here are the dates for you. Monday the 28th of February from 7.30pm, Monday the 21st of March 7.30pm, Monday the 4th of April 7.30pm and Monday the 9th of May 7.30pm. And they will all

Starting point is 00:28:31 be live streaming via my socials, which includes Twitter, YouTube, LinkedIn and Facebook. So you can absolutely pick your favourite platform and they'll all be available on replay as well hope you find it so useful and i will look forward to catching up with some of you then take care if you're looking to become a psychologist then let this be your guide with this podcast that's your side to be on your way to being qualified. It's the Aspiring Psychologist Podcast. With Dr. Marianne Trent. My name's Yana and I'm a trainee psychological well-being practitioner.

Starting point is 00:29:26 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. So if you're feeling a bit uneasy about becoming a clinical psychologist, I 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 - Using Autoethnography to aid learning & comprehension as an Aspiring Psychologist

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