Is it ridiculous to try and become a child psychologist at 42?

Hate to be negative but I’d also be concerned about employment prospects with so many NHS cuts and the fact you don’t have geographical flexibility. Agree that CAMHS OT is an option

One other option is to train to be part of a Mental Health Support Team in a school: https://www.england.nhs.uk/mental-health/cyp/trailblazers/
This is still rolling out - you could contact your local one and see if you could do any observing?

I would look at mental health nursing and then specialise in children - many mental health nurses will end up doing a similar role to psychologists and once working within a team, will likely get funded to do additional training in CBT or family therapy. I work in CAMHS and have worked with a lot of mental health nurses, who are now working as therapists

Same for me- but looking back I am glad. My best friend got in and he was managing whole teams on relatively little pay (for the responsibility). I ended up starting my own business which personally, was much better.

My mum retrained in something similar (not psychology or counselling or playt therapist) when she was in he early 40s. Plus she had to commute to just south of the border of England.

I was primary aged at the time and realised it was VERY hard work only much later in life. Not just that, the emotional toll. I was in my 30s when I realised why she would reach for a glass of wine the minute she came in. She saw and heard awful stuff.

All of that said... she now is at the top of her ladder and still works flexibly at 88 because she loves it so much.

I wish you luck OP.

🤣 I knew something didnt sound right about your original brag!

Why didnt you tell the OP this instead of making her think it was so easy peasy? highly misleading

It's quite healing to know I wasn't alone in being someone who so desperately wanted to become a clinical psychologist, but never made it. I remember sitting the surrey exam, writing my personal statements... being so, so optimistic about it all. Until I tried to pursue being a clinical psychologist I'd honestly never "failed" at anything in my life 😢

@GreyCloudsLooming

Talk about misleading with your very ordinary

young relative..,who didn’t have to move who had not worked as an assistant psychologist and just happened to be accepted on the course on his first attempt. So it is possible.

I don't think you're mad for retraining or doing this course in particular, OP, but it's very hard to get into-just be very aware of that. Some people try 3/4/5 years running and still don't get a place.

Jesus wept. Your whole oh my ordinary relative got in 1st time was a complete confection , you rock up implying mr goodfortune just got on doctorate .You omitted he had a PhD and was a lecturer in….wait for it….psychology

That’s quite the drip feed

He was an academic researcher in psychology at university with a PhD already.

My son had an art therapist when he went through a traumatic time but couldnt find a way to talk about it. She was so amazing,. really transformative
I felt privileged I could pay for her privately

It's not ridiculous, no. But it will be very tough.

You could consider slightly more feasible alternatives. Eg I am training to be a therapist via a Bacp accredited course. It might provide similar job satisfaction?

I personally would say 45/50 is not too late to change careers. My DM got divorced at 52 and is still working part time as a care worker at 78. She got into a top top UK Uni to study maths at 48, but dropped out due to DBs illness. Her tutor was strongly advising she explore statistics and she definitely could have had a 20 year career in statistics. She looks back now and regrets it!

I changed career at 32 and admittedly faffed and did it slowly but I'd say 10-12 years working in a field with the right roles and you are are very experienced, so there's definitely time.

I think the main barriers at this age are too much choice, cost of retraining, having to lower income, loss of pension savings, fears about ageism, competitiveness.

Worth having a look at Brave Starts OP. Lots of people moving into psychology roles, behavioural economics, etc.

Nurses are fantastic and worth their weight in gold but their job is completely different!

*maybe a few years younger when I did it

I say this as someone who has actually done the conversion at your age and worked with nurses who do virtually the same job.

Mental health nurses do the same job if you can get up to a grade eight. And it will be a faster route NHS

Im a clinical psychologist and unfortunately I would say don’t do it. It’s incredibly competitive to get into the doctorate and then it’s 3 years of very intense work (I got 3As at A-level and a first class degree and it was still very hard). The job at the end is fantastic but it’s underpaid for the amount of stress it involves.

Possible,y. Common, absolutely not
Did he have work experience prior to or during his degree.

A lot of the Ed Psychs I know spend quite a lot of time doing assessments and reports for EHCPs.
I'm a psychologist as a second career and love it, but it took a long time. If you're going to, start soon!
As others have said it may be worth looking at other allied roles eg psychotherapist and having a think about what you'd like to do after with it and where.

One of my young relatives didn’t have to move. He also had not worked as an assistant psychologist, and he was accepted on the course on his first attempt. So it is possible.

I thought that! There was a jump to clinical

This is something I've been considering too, clinical or educational.
For those that say it's highly competitive, when were you trying to get on the course? I had a friend who did a psychology degree about 10 years ago and ended up training in a different field because she knew it was really competitive and she didn't feel she got the grade needed to get on.
We hear so much lately though about a huge shortage of psychologists so I thought things would have changed. Although recognise I might be naive to think the government would be working to get more people qualified and in posts! Is it still very competitive?

You won’t get onto a clin psych doctorate. No chance sorry.

Counselling psychology doctorates are less competitive as they are self funded (to the tune of around £20k!) but you would still need some clinical experience.

best option would be a CYP counselling/psychotherapy course of some kind, would still be expensive but not uncommon for people to go into in their 40s and older. Then you can look for placements in schools etc while training.

After you qualify, where do you see yourself working? CAMHS? It's very competitive, it takes years working after qualifying at a lower band to gain the clinical experience. Have you considered other psychological professionals within CAMHS teams? Child psychotherapists unlike psychologists, are trained specifically to work only with young people, it's a doctoral level programme as well. Jobs are easier to come by straight after qualifying, but it is hard to get past an 8a. If you're in the south east, the Tavi would be your training school. Training posts are paid by NHS and full time. You need to have your own analysis, which is at least partially financially covered by the training school.