How did you get started in Psychology and what has been your journey so far?

By Dr Marianne Trent, Clinical Psychologist

I was asked:

"What's been your story from starting out in psychology to now?"

And so thank you very much for that question. For those of you who don't know me, I am Dr Marianne Trent, and I'm a qualified clinical psychologist. I now specialise in supporting aspiring psychologists to fulfil and pursue their dreams.

So, it's a great question! And it is actually a question that I have answered already quite nicely within my own story in the clinical psychologist collective book. And that is something that you can grab by clicking the link here. But let me tell you briefly now what my journey has been in case, you know, you'd like a potted history.

So, I went through what was quite a traditional route, really!

I did a psychology, A Level and a psychology undergraduate degree. Then, I kind of saved up a bit of money doing, non-psychology work. So I could go off traveling for six months after I graduated. Um, And then I came home and was hotly pursuing, relevant roles. So I was doing non-relevant roles for a bit when I got back to the UK.

Then I started working for a local council as a rehabilitation assistant for people with physical disabilities. That was a wonderful role that I did for about two years that taught me so much about compassion and respect and, you know, helping to support and rehabilitate people and have people live independently, and just flourish as much as they could with their, physical disability which they might have had lifelong, or it might have been an acquired disability such as, a head injury, a traumatic brain injury. But I worked with so many different people. I learned so much about mental health, as well. So that was my first kind of relevant clinical experience. I also then, was aware of a clin psych who was working locally and working with some of my clients. So that was my first foot in the door because I doggedly pursued her and made her give me an honorary contract. So, I did that by taking annual leave from my, paid role.

Then I was able to get, a paid assistant role working in forensic, older adults service, for a large private hospital. And that was transformational for me. I did that for about the next 16 to 18 months, I think and I met so many wonderful people who I still call friends today.

And then from there, I went on to, a forensic adolescent paid assistant post, at a youth prison. Then I got onto training, that summer and then I went off traveling around the world for a bit as well. So, yeah, that is my potted history. And then I did my doctoral training. Of course, when I qualified there were no jobs. So I sat around and watched homes under the hammer for a bit. Then worked in a child and adolescent mental health service for almost four years and then started working in adult services. And then I went all in self-employed, in April last year and along that journey, I started supporting aspiring psychologists, with free, Q&A sessions because I know how difficult it can be as an aspiring psychologist.

And then that led to me developing the clinical psychologist collective book, which also includes the stories of lots of other qualified, clinical psychologists, but also educational, health, counselling, forensic and academic, psychologists too. So it's a great read for anyone that is, a psychology student or wants to be a specific type of psychologist, wants to learn about other people's experience, their discipline, their determination, and get their useful tips and techniques as well.

Then from that followed the aspiring psychologist podcast, we have just celebrated our 8,000th downloaded episode. We've got a brand new episode out today, all about disappointment and how to carry on with the next application season, if you are feeling disappointed, or dejected.

And then came the aspiring psychologist membership, for more information about that, check out this link, and then we've got the aspiring psychologist collective book coming up soon too.

Hope you find this little parted history of me and my journey to becoming the person you see right now, really useful. If you've got any questions, feel free to get in touch with me and I will absolutely, get back to you where I can, but if you've got any questions about how you can get involved with me and my work, just click the link here and all the answers will be revealed. Hope you have a lovely day, whatever you are doing, and I'll look forward to catching up with you very soon.

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