To want to retrain as a forensic psychologist?

[BigglesPants]

I left school with no qualifications but fell into a sales/marketing career quite accidentally, and have studied part time along the way so I now have a master's in a marketing related discipline. I have a decent paying job and am good at what I do, however, it is stressful and although I used to enjoy it, I find I have become more and more disillusioned with it over the past year or so.

I've always been interested in psychology, especially the forensic side of it and have always wanted to explore it further but never got the opportunity. However, I've been browsing part time courses, and I could potentially do a HDip in Psychology over 4 years,and then continue on to a forensic psych masters. I am 35 now so would probably be 41/42 by the time I would be qualified (and would then obvs need to build experience).

Has anyone done something similar? Can any forensic psychologists shed any light on how relaistic this could be? Or is it just a January pipe dream?

I suspect it would be easy enough for you to do the courses but much more difficult to get a job in that exact field.

I agree with Apollo. The course will be interesting but there are very few actual job vacancies.

I think it's unrealistic. Sorry to be blunt. I have a 2:1 BSc in Psychology from a top university and places on (good) Masters courses are very competitive and you need quite a bit of experience / volunteering for them to be interested. Assistant psychology jobs are incredibly difficult to get due to competition and these very specialised jobs (forensic psychology) don't come up often and if you want to get experience / do a masters / get a job you're likely to have to move locations to those jobs. I lost all hope after my degree (I wanted to do clinical psychology) and now do something completely different. My psychology degree was a complete waste of time and money. Only a handful of people from my degree course went on to become psychologists.
Sorry to put a downer on your dreams but it's really difficult to get into and you have to be committed to aggressively pursue this avenue and be prepared to move

Just in terms of the timing, I'm 35 and started retraining in Medicine this year so you're not too late.

In terms of whether there are vacancies out there in this area etc, I totally defer to others but even if you decide against this course, don't be put off from looking around if you're starting to get disillusioned with your current field.

We've got a long working life these days, changing careers to something you're more interested in isn't a bad move at all, even if there are a few years in education at the start.

I could have written your post myself OP!

I've always wanted to do it and our situations are remarkably similar.

I'm studying with OU. I know employment isn't a guaranteed outcome but I keep my hopes up.

At the moment I cannot work due to caring responsibilities but I hope by the time I finish the course this will change.

I guess for me it isn't as important as you because going back to employment isn't 100% for me in the future.

But I live in hope...! And if nothing else I'm enjoying it.

I say this but if you're in the south please don't... I don't need any more competition

If isn't totally infeasible, bit make sure you are going into it with your eyes open. It involves many years of training. Getting an assistant job is tricky and not very well paid (and tough when you are doing it). A lot of training and supervision for your qualification would be self-funded for forensic psychology, unless you pursue the Cardiff route in a role that supports this, but that will be challenging to access.

Let's say you do the qualifications and training.

What job do you actually want to do? What would the wages really be? Where are the work places?

Go for it! Just because someone else had a bad experience above doesn’t mean you will. I know a forensic & educational psychologist. Both love their jobs. They worked hard to get where they are & were persistent. Don’t be put off by others negativity!

In general terms, you’re not too old to retrain. I qualified into my current profession aged 39, when most people do it in their early 20s. However, you need to consider how realistic it is in the specific profession you want to re-train into. The job I do is everywhere and there are currently loads of vacant roles. It seems from the above that might not be the case in forensic psychology and so you need to proceed with your eyes open.

Thanks for the replies, and no worries with the bluntness, I appreciate the truthfulness. Thingy sorry you didn't get a job in your related field, I've heard that it can be extremely difficult to get a job in it.

I did think that getting experience and employment would probably be a challenge. Ideally, in my dream scenario I would love to work in a prison/for the courts service, writing reports or evaluations on offenders.

I'm in Ireland and there are always a few jobs like this popping up in prisons but really, I have no idea what the competition is for these positions (it could be very high).

Don't be put off by your age. It's quite usual for people to train in clinical psychology in their 40s and often desirable to have previous life experience. Clinical can be a more straightforward training route than forensic and they have just massively expanded places on the courses. Many clinical psychs work in forensic settings. Research the courses and routes thoroughly and have your eyes wide open but definitely don't be put off by your age.

How about getting a job as a prison officer first to see whether you like working in that environment?

Yes they have expanded training places but it remains intensely competitive. It’s important to have a plan B if you are thinking of going down this route.

Expanded training places for clinical psychology that it. I don’t know about forensic. Many people working as forensic psychologists qualify as clinical psychologists first though.

Try not to be motivated by what you see on TV of the psychologist "solving" the crime. It's not realistic. I imagine it's actually a pretty gruesome, and traumatic job. You would be seeing humanity at it's worst.

I did a psychology degree, graduated in 2006. Of the 200+ on my course (95% white women), only 1 (a mature student) has actually ended up working in psychology.

I still belong to the British Psychological Society, and they are actively seeking a lot more diversity on the training courses, and in the work place. Historically, it's been dominated by white, middle class women, and they are trying to move away from that.

I don't mean to discourage you, but odds aren't in anyone's favour for pursuing a career like this.

You might want to look at being a probation officer as well. They write to most of the reports you're talking about.

Alternatively, there is an in-house training and progressions scheme with the MoJ - jobs.justice.gov.uk/role/forensic-psychology/. Note a B4 pay in the HMPPS starts about £24k.

I think it depends what you see your end goal being. What do you want to work as as there are several different avenues you can take.

Secure hospital?
Prison?
Youth offending team?

Would you want to run programmes in prison? Programmes for those on probation? Work with those who have personality disorders?

I think while a lot of the advice has been negative there is from for getting on training programmes etc. I know of many people on training pathways so I wouldn't be too discouraged.

If you want to do it do it, but have a clear goal, don't just go into it because you're "interested"

Also research pay etc first as while in training it may not be as high as you're expecting (depending on what your currently on now of course)

Psychology is such a tough job to get into, like the other posters have mentioned it’s highly competitive.
In addition, it’s naive to think you wouldn’t be just as stressed and disillusioned, if not more so if a forensic psychology role!

Realistically bsc isn't likely to open many doors.

Psychology is highly competitive, and every psychologist in my local team has a doctorate or is working toward this. There is also a high proportion of unpaid psychology internships which become essential to join the nhs.

It's a sad fact that nhs psychologists in my experience rely on people completing many hours of unpaid work prior as part of the course, then an internship which is unlikely to be paid. Some people get experience by working in hca type roles

Obviously this might be financially viable for you, or potentially something like mental health nursing, social Work or probation work might be more accessible

It's not realistic.

I remember a careers day we had at school a few years ago. Some forensic officers from the police came in. Was very interesting, I was talking to them later and they said the amount of people wanting to go into the field had exploded due to programs like csi, they said they had to be positive on careers days, but the reality was in training wading through lots of bodily fluids and then there weren’t many jobs.

You could train as a social worker and go into prison/probation services. There is quite a big element of psychology in the SW course (I have a degree in psychology and a DipSW). You would then be writing reports and working with offenders.

A friend of a friend a friend did her bachelors then a master in it, very cheeky northern girl. She ended up working at Isle of Sheppy prison.
She might have looked a bit blonde but fuck me... This girl could figure you out in a heartbeat.

At the time that we were of an age to be going to university, criminology or related psychotherapy was the 'in' thing to choose (It was at a time when Cracker was on TV so I think that had influenced things...) However, not one of them ended up working in that field. As PPs have said, it's highly competitive.

Like another PP suggests, if working with offenders interests you then maybe a job as a prison officer or probation officer? I'd also suggest reading Gwen Adshead's Better The Devil You Know about her career as a forensic psychiatrist - I take off my hat to her, but even as someone who finds psychology really interesting I would find that work utterly harrowing.

@Withnailandyou

Realistically bsc isn't likely to open many doors.

Psychology is highly competitive, and every psychologist in my local team has a doctorate or is working toward this. There is also a high proportion of unpaid psychology internships which become essential to join the nhs.

It's a sad fact that nhs psychologists in my experience rely on people completing many hours of unpaid work prior as part of the course, then an internship which is unlikely to be paid. Some people get experience by working in hca type roles

Obviously this might be financially viable for you, or potentially something like mental health nursing, social Work or probation work might be more accessible

All clinical psychologists have Doctorates-for last 25 years or so.

The only ones who don't are assistant psychologists... As you say often working voluntarily to get in the above doctorate courses...

It is really competitive... But expanding... And many people in 30/40s are training