Pearl's of wisdom from those who have studied psychology or counselling.

[Namechangegame123]

I am thinking of studying for a degree in psychology, unsure whether to apply through the OU or my local university.

I worked in a totally unrelated field for my 20's and now I'm a foster carer. As a foster carer we can choose various bits of training each year, and some have elements of child psychology, which I find really. I'm aware that the degree alone wont qualify me to work with people as a psychologist.

I'd like to know what do those with psychology degrees do as a job now? Did you use it?

I'm also looking into training as a counsellor, so if anyone has any experience working or training in that area I would love to hear about it.

I’m a psychotherapist.
I trained psychodynamically originally but have post grads in CBT and Systemic therapy too. I work full time in private practice and see individuals and couples. The work is flexible around a family, I work school hours and two evenings generally which suits us. I’ve had a full practice for a few years now but being self employed was daunting to begin with after years of working in a corporate (unrelated) role.
The work is hands on and rewarding, though emotionally hard at times, lots of personal therapy whilst in training (and after) helps. It can be a lonely profession so important to have peer support and enough social interactions/hobbies outside of it. Good luck with your decision OP

After doing a degree in psychology I had a career in an unrelated field (IT) and then I retrained many years later and did a doctorate in psychology - this took 5 years. I now work as a psychologist in the NHS. It was a long haul.
Maybe you would like to work as a psychotherapist or counsellor, in which case as someone else said, you do not need to do a psychology degree, there are other easier routes. But it's a competitive field.

I’d agree with those who suggest having some therapy to get a feel for it and to explore different modalities. Sign up for an introduction to counselling skills course if possible (and if you haven’t already done so) as, again, it will give you an idea of some of the elements of the work. An OU degree could be a great option for a mature learner and they are indeed very well regarded. You don’t need a degree to train as a counsellor, but having a degree would possibly widen access to a larger range of courses.

I’d heard some higher counselling courses require you to have counselling yourself.

Thankfully I am experienced in that area 🤣 TBH it was my own therapy journey that has made me want to do something along those lines.

I’m quite interested in running courses too - I had an excellent experience doing an ACEs (adverse childhood experiences) course last year (sadly cut short because of lockdown) and could definitely see myself doing something like that in future. It’s a course where the leaders have ACEs themselves, I love the fact there is so much empathy and solidarity. One of the leaders was a psychotherapist and did this on the side.

I’m sorry to piggy back but hopefully it’s something that will help you too OP - I was just wondering what might be good voluntary roles to look out for in order to build up some experience alongside study? I’ve just applied for my first, supporting families after new autism diagnoses, which fits my other main interest very well.

I have a Psychology degree, 2:1. Applied for several post grad courses and didn't get into any of them (I tried over several years). So no I haven't used my degree, it's useless without a follow up post grad specialism and I guess I'm just not smart enough for that!

The job I do now doesn't even need a degree at all.

Hello! I'm a Clinical Psychologist, I completed a BSc in Psychology at a university that at the time wasn't massively well-respected and then went on to do an MSc in Health Psychology before I started working on mental health units as a Healthcare Assistant and finally got a job as an Assistant Psychologist before I got a place on my doctoral training course. And now I work in forensic personality disorder services in the NHS as well as in private practice.

I think my advice is to think about what you want to get out of your career- If your main interest is in the face-to-face therapeutic work then psychology is one route, but practitioner psychologist roles (educational, counselling, clinical etc) often include LOTS of training that you may or may not have time for, and also cover quite broad stuff early on that might not be as interesting depending on what your interests are. The role itself also includes research, service development, and consultation elements as well as direct therapeutic roles. I have friends who work in counselling and this seems to be much more focused on therapeutic work only (at least for them). So perhaps counselling or psychotherapy (I'm less familiar with this route) might be a more direct way into doing client-facing work? There's so much to choose from!! Hope this hasn't been too vague or rambly to be of use to you! And good luck :)

OP I hope you don’t mind me bumping this.

I was just reading a bit about how therapist/psychologist is very much seen as a white female middle aged and middle class/privileged occupation.

It’s not something I’d thought about before - my wonderful therapist as a teen was male and maybe mid thirties. I don’t think who the therapist really is matters much if they’re able to centre the client.

I suppose I am wondering (was tempted to start a separate thread?!) how much that stereotype appears in the real world, and also if it’s actually difficult to counteract etc.

Me: female, white, not sure about class growing up but now I’m on UC in a HA property. The things I’ve experienced - abuse, being undiagnosed autistic and ADHD until adulthood, health issues - are what have driven me towards this as a career, but sometimes I worry they will be huge barriers if they mark me out as different.

What did you decide to do, Namechangegame123? I am really interested 😁