To think my racist SIL should consider another profession?

[Adventcalendargobbler]

I’ve known my SIL (35) for just over 10 years. She’s currently at the tail end of her psychology degree, and is aiming for a career as a psychologist.

She’s a very self absorbed, braggy person anyway, and constantly use unnecessary vocabulary when talking - e.g. using really obscure scientific/medical names for things in a casual conversation.

She’s adamant that she’s going to go on to earn 80k+ as a psychologist, however she is extremely racist, homophobic, and slut shames other women.

I don’t understand how it’s possible or ethical for someone to work in that field while having such awful views of people? It’s a common occurrence for her to make awful racist slurs about people!

Do people in this field have to be assessed before being let out into the wild to do their job? I’d be devastated if I knew my therapist (or whatever it is that she’ll end up doing) was not only judging me for my race/sexual orientation, but didn’t like me because of it.

I’ve told her before that her views and comments are bang out of line, but she just calls me a bore who can’t take a joke, and “obviously” she wouldn’t say this in front of people.

AIBU to think this, or am I being a bore who should keep her nose out?

I can't believe you are being called judgey OP!

Though I will say my therapist was neither psychologist or psychiatrist, she was called a counsellor (and attached to the college I attended at the time).

Could you explain what is wrong with judging people who are racist and homophobic, @Sausagenbacon?

Racism, homophobia and slut-shaming are everyone's business. None of them are acceptable.

Oh dear.

Hopefully she won’t get through the components of her training requiring supervision. I agree it would be concerning if someone like this had access to vulnerable people.

This is quite common, especially in psychiatry/psychology.
She has a long way to go anyway. Things get very competitive at PhD level. There's some help at the moment if she wants to go down the EP route but again, that's very competitive.
Whatever her views are, it's not your job to police them.

Well there are 2 racists and homophones on this thread already, dread to think what profession they are in!

A psychology degree is just that, she is very unlikely to get any kind of decent job in the area without a lot of post grad study or voluntary experience so the chances of her getting near actual people are slim for a while. I know a few people who got psychology degrees, it’s pretty generic
IF by some miracle she ends up as a Psychologist she should be supervised, the friend I have in this area has regular sessions herself and provides that to others as well.
Having said all that she can just set herself up as a “therapist” as it’s not a protected term.
She sounds awful OP but none of it is your problem at the end of the day so focus on avoiding her as much as you can rather than her (fantasy) future career

I'm sure she pathologize everyone, assign them all a disorder and feel good about herself. There are lots of people in the field like this. Heck, if I hadn't had a few learning experiences myself I'd be there (minus the phobias and isms I hope!). Leave her alone, either she'll learn or she'll fail professionally and blame it on the patients not being compliant.

Don’t worry. Many professions now have psycho-metric tests to root out people who have views and thoughts that don’t conform to the acceptable standards required today.

If she’s a problem she won’t pass.

Being a bigot has nothing to do with "thought crime". It's more about being a cunt. It's ok to call people out on being a cunt.

Psychologists are NOT part of the "medical profession". They're not medically qualified, and they're not doctors. They do a 3 year degree a d that's it

To practice as a Clinical Psychologist there is much more to it than a psychology BSc! I agree with @Surprised90 , your SiL has a looonngg way to go before she’s a CP and the barriers to entry are high. I am a CBT therapist and my training, though not at the same level as a CP still required an MSc and many hours of supervision and reflection whilst working with clients before and during accreditation. It definitely weeded out a few characters who weren't really suited to either the pressure or were not able to build good therapeutic relationships with non-judgemental positive regard for all clients. That said, there will always be people who aren’t ideal in these roles.

Everywhere I’ve worked someone making flippant or “humorous” comments of that nature let alone expressing racist views would have had a very short lived career. If she’s doing it for the money she thinks she’s going to earn she’s definitely in for a disappointing time - tell her to try for a career in finance instead!

You summed it up better than I could.

There is a difference between Psychologist, Psychotherapist, Counselling Psychologist, Clinical Psychologist, etc. They are all part of the same family of roles, but are widely different in practice, and have widely different qualification needs.

Some of these roles are regulated by the Health and Care Professions Council www.hcpc-uk.org/public/what-is-the-hcpc/ To do one of those roles in the UK, you have to be registered with HCPC, and meet their standards, which include to have a BPS accredited degree, and a minimum of a Masters in your role, in some cases a PHD. Counselling Psychologist and Clinical Psychologist are regulated roles.

But, anyone can call themselves a Psychologist, because it's not regulated as a role. Likewise Counsellor, and Psychotherapist are not regulated roles (which is baffling because how much harm can be done by a dodgy therapist?). So I could, realistically, with my OU degree in Social Psychology, set up shop as a Psychotherapist or a Psychologist and start dishing out therapy to people, and actually be more qualified than some in the field already doing it. I wouldn't, I'm not qualified enough to do that, and it's incredibly unethical, but there are no regulations stopping me.

So there's unfortunately nothing stopping your SIL either I'm afraid.

Personally I think anyone who can be described as 'extremely racist, homophobic, and slut shames other women' sounds like a bit of a wanker, but 'thought crime' implies they haven't shared these views outwardly, which obviously isn't the case here.

Do people in this field have to be assessed before being let out into the wild to do their job?

Well, yes, I would think it’s standard practice that they are assessed before being licensed. Not intimately familiar with this area but I’d imagine a certain number of hours of supervision or such? May be wrong but I can’t imagine it’s a multi-choice exam and then being licensed?

Of course it matters. She could well treat people differently because of her views without airing them. If you were black would you be happy being treated by a racist psychologist?

We should judge people who are racist. It’s not a good thing to be. But I’ve seen your other posts so this doesn’t surprise me. Very telling that you should post this comment. Not so covert.

If that’s what she’s like then let her dig her own grave and keep out of it

Tell me you're racist without telling me you're racist.

Hope the racist dickhead dies before she becomes a psychologist.

A lot of these replies are really sad. Of course someone who is racist, homophobic and slut shames women shouldn't be working as a psychologist. Would you want someone like that teaching your children? It's similar to that in my opinion. We don't even know what kind of psychologist she wants to be.

She probably won't end up working as a psychologist though - most people who do that degree don't.