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

[Spookygoose]

AIBU to even consider trying to do this? I’ve got a very high-paying but soul destroying career that I’ve begun to really hate (and which is completely unrelated to psychology). I want out and would love to train as a child psychologist. I own my own home outright & I’m married with one primary-age DD. I’ve got the funds to put myself through a psychology conversion MSc and then the 3 or 4 year doctorate to be able to practice as a licensed psychologist. However, I could not move to another area of the country for the doctorate (which I know is sometimes necessary). I live in the South East. I know doctorate programs are also ridiculously competitive and I’m not confident I’d be one of the most academically gifted students. My previous career was in the arts and I’ve always been creative but not amazing when it comes to maths and science. On top of that, even in the likely event I managed to get onto a doctorate not long after the MSc, is still be pushing 50 by the time I qualify. Am I dreaming or has anyone actually done anything similar?

He had a penis.

Maybe an iapt programme that focuses on children?

I'm referring to mental health nurses who move up grades to 8. The work was not very different to what I did.

I'm so glad it was helpful. We have a fabulous art therapist where I work. I don't fully understand it but I do know she gets brilliant results with children who have been through a variety of traumas.

Yeah I don't know what kind of magic she worked but gradually my son started opening up (to me, after the sessions rather than to her)

Came on to say exactly the above. I tried for 4 years to get on the DClinPsych to no avail.

Don’t do it
I’m a psychologist, don’t work in clinical (don’t want to), but got tons of friends who do.

1. you need maths. i did A level maths, and glad I did. especially for the doctorate
2. the doctorate is extreme competitive
3. the job is hard, especially with current funding. its a case of doing too little too late all day every day. one of my friends compared it to being an intensive care nurse, but only being given band aids.Or going private, knowing you can only help people with money/people are going into crazy depth to help their children

Your age is not a block to training as a clinical psychologist (if that's what you want), life experience is often helpful. However you'll need some experience working clinically (not necessarily with children, that can come later on the doctorate) as without that you are very unlikely to get a spot training (especially if you are geographically limited as to the courses you can apply for - luckily there are quite a few in south eat, depending where you are). Research is a valid pathway to training too - working as a research assistant if the project has clinical contacts (such as working with a mh population with face to face contact, etc). You don't have to have been an assistant psychologist, there are other ways to get experience (but all will involve a pay cut for you!).

I will caution that many trusts have hiring freezes in psychology, despite increased pressure and increased clinical target to reduce waiting times (essentially see more patients with no more staff). There is a lot of pressure on the profession to account for every minute, and a lot of hurt and upset people when they finally get to your appointment after waiting years. It'd not do a different job but it's not easy and it's often morally challenging working in such a broken system.

Alternatives that might be of interest are speech and language or OT. Have a think about what it is you want from this career change - I changed because I wanted to feel I was needed (not sure what that says about me!) and wanted to be a key part of an MDT. OT colleagues do lots of independent interventions, and a lot of their work is very much psychology at the core (particularly when in a mh setting, but arguably in all settings). For example, identifying values and working with people to live aligned with values to improve wellbeing whilst working with physical or mental barriers (aligns with therapies such as ACT and CFT) and some exposure type work also (helping build resilience and confidence in feared situations). SaLT (and OT actually) do comprehensive assessments and give clinical opinion and intervention based on this - both cognitively and more language specific, to the extent that I will often defer to salt cognitive assessments rather than perform full batteries myself as their insights are often more practical and applied to the real world.

Both careers would "only" require 3 years (rather than 1/2 conversion and 3 years doctorate with a thesis, plus experience in between) and would get you working in the field far quicker and are very rewarding, hands on jobs.

It depends what you want, but you are age being in a different field now is not a reason not to.

OP, working as a psychologist will be incredibly stressful. So not much of a break from your current predicament.

I work in secondary mental health service and our psychology team is incredibly stressed with huge waiting lists and carrying a lot of risk. That isn’t a reason not to do it but if you’re looking for a break from a stressful career, this isn’t the job for you.

I'm usually one who says go it, but in this case no. I recently did a lot of research for a child psychologist for my daughter (private) and didn't even consider anyone with less than 10 years experience. I think competition will be too high and you'll be retiring before you've reached your full potential. Your current experience is just too different, you'd need to build up clinical experience before even getting started.

I worked in manufacturing and started full time study in my forties to become an occupational therapist. I qualified at 47. I love the role and am glad I did. No regrets at all.

one thing that was a bit hard was my kids being older they stayed up late making it difficult to study in the evenings. With young ones you could probably start studying by 9pm. My kids were always up and pestering me for stuff and it was difficult to ignore them. So don’t think it will necessarily be easier if you wait till they are older.

Also consider other allied health roles if psychology is too intense. Have you worked with kids before? Can you get advice from people already practicing?

Excellent post,comprehensive advice. Accurate too

What do you mean in relation to changes to the role of an EP as of next year?

They are involved in all EHC assessments now aren't they?

in child psychology, that’s a disadvantage.

@Spookygoose is a graduate she can train as OT or SaLT in 2year

I did a conversion at Sussex and loads of people went from that conversion into careers in mental health where they are building up experience to get onto the clinical doctorate. Two people I was on the course with went on to do a PhD at Sussex as well. If you are in the south east I can't recommend the course enough - I got so much support. The average age of my cohort was late 30s and both research and clinical pathways value age (it is not seen as a disadvantage). I would 100 percent go for it

When the White Paper is eventually published, there are whisperings that suggest the role of the EP may change. That's not to say there won't continue to be a significant demand for EP work, but that it may well change.

Yes, I've had that conversation with a few EPs recently. They are the stumbling block in the massive delays for the issue of EHCPs as there aren't enough of them (who want to work for the LA doing statutory work, anyway!).

If EHCPs are scrapped or if they are changed to not require an EP report as part of the assessment, it is likely that their role will look very different.

How can they be a stumbling block?

I don't get it??!!!

@thetallfairy what don't you get?

There are not enough EPs in many areas to get Needs Assessments done within the statutory time frame of 20 weeks. This means there are long waiting lists and LEAs are spending an absolute fortune hiring private EPs from all over the country to do online assessments to try to keep on top of it. It is not a good use of money and it's not working.

There is a new SEND white paper due any day now. There have been lots of rumblings about this bringing big changes-perhaps EHCPs being scrapped altogether or the need for an EP assessment being removed.

Get a childcare qualification, get experience in that for a couple of years, then assistant social worker in children’s services, then become a family support worker. You’ll earn less but still be doing similar work and you’ll be earning at least something all the time. You could maybe even study psychology part time and have a better chance of progressing a career whilst working

You’d be getting on a bit by the time you qualify, and you wouldn’t have any experience either. When do you plan to retire with this new career. I wouldn’t bother.

Go on the clinpsy forum to get advice from actual clinical psychologists (rather than people on here who call themselves ‘psychologists’ which is your first red flag as it’s a meaningless title).

I’m a clinical psychologist in CAMHS.

You won’t get on clinical training straight from an MSc. It’s not an academic qualification, it’s a vocational training. Unless you have relevant clinical experience it will be pointless to apply.

Consider the actual role of a Clinical Psychologist rather than a different type of therapist.

Question your idea that you'll make a big difference because in the NHS as it currently stands, you may not. You don't get long enough and you can't go deep enough because as a Clinical Psychologist you're not trained to. Thus, it's quite frustrating. And stressful. And after all that work.

If you like assessment and writing reports and kind of being a scientist that applies evidence based solutions to people's problems, go ahead and do Clinical Psychology. If you are more thinking about longer term therapeutic relationships and emotional healing, it's probably psychotherapy that you'd be better suited to.

Additional points to add based on what I have seen in this thread:

For Lancaster DClin and the Ed Psych doctorate you do not need maths or a masters.

Lancaster take applicants from a variety of backgrounds including those who have not worked in clinical settings.

There is a helpful Clin Psych online forum (forgot the name but easy to Google) where there is a plethora of useful information, and the DClin "Alternative Handbook" has information around demographics of current students which you may find useful.