Case Study: Assistant Psychologist - Ruth
What do you do?
I'm an assistant psychologist, based in the Medical Psychology department of
a hospital. One part of my role is clinical work, which could be one-to-one
work with a client or group work - I might help run a group with a supervisor.
Another part of my role is research - helping to design research or helping to
do the research itself. There's also literature-searching before doing a piece
of research.
I also get involved in training some of the hospital staff. For example, helping
staff to recognise where they can use their experience and skills to help
patients and families deal with psychological issues like needle phobia and bereavement.
I do some admin, but not as much as I used to. Some assistant psychologists do a lot of admin work, while others
don't really do any; it depends on the role.
What is your background?
After my GCSEs, I wasn't sure what job I wanted to do. I decided to do some A levels, and picked psychology because I
thought it sounded interesting. I found out that I really enjoyed it, so I decided to go to university and do a degree in
it.
I still wasn't quite sure what job I wanted to do. But in the second year of my degree I got a holiday job in a children's
out-of-school club - to get some experience of working with people. I also did some volunteering with young
offenders.
At the end of my degree, having decided that my aim was to train as a clinical psychologist, I got a job as a carer for
boys with severe epilepsy and learning difficulties. That was a hard job, but I learnt a lot from it.
I'd already decided that I'd do a care job for about a year, and then hopefully get an assistant psychology post. So
after a while I began applying. After trying for about 30-40 jobs, I got the job I'm currently doing; I've been here for
almost two years.
What characteristics do you need to be successful in your job?
Firstly, you need to want to work with people who have mental health problems. Although it's hard to actually know
what that's like until you do it. You need to be caring and sincere - people are not going to want to tell you how they
are feeling if you don't have those qualities.
You need to have a degree in psychology to do this job. You also usually need to have some experience of working
with people; doing some voluntary work while doing your degree is really helpful. But people come in to it from all
different walks of life and of different ages.
You would usually need the desire to do the clinical psychology training. Most people do this job as a step on the way
to becoming a clinical psychologist, so it's not usually seen as a permanent job.
What other jobs could you do using the skills from this job?
There are some similar jobs within the NHS, such as graduate mental health worker and assistant practitioner. While
these are similar to assistant psychologist roles, they don't tend to be done by people who are aiming to train as
clinical psychologists.
Some people - who decide that they don't want to follow the route into clinical psychology - go on to do teaching or
human resources, things like that. The skills from this job could help with a lot of jobs where you are working with
people, really.
What changes will there be in the future?
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There have been voluntary assistant psychologist posts springing up. Some people have said that this isn't fair, as it
might only be richer people who are able to afford to do it voluntarily, and this could skew the type of people going
into the clinical psychology profession. It's difficult to know how long this will be an issue for.
What are the biggest challenges in your job?
It's a challenge to 'kind of' have responsibility, but not have complete responsibility, in that you see clients on your
own but aren't yet trained to be a clinical psychologist. You are always supervised - you have a meeting with your
clinical supervisor every week, where you talk to them about what's going on with each case - but sometimes, you can
find yourself unsure of what to do.
Also, the uncertainty of where your next job is going to be; you might have to move to the other end of the country,
but you're not even sure to get a job if you do. If you restrict yourself to only applying for jobs in your area, you're less
likely to find something.
Are there many opportunities to enter this career?
At the moment there aren't as many opportunities as there is demand for the job. There are posts out there, but
there are a lot of people applying for them; 200 people applied for the post I hold here.
What do you like about your job?
I like that it's varied; I like that you are given responsibility; I like meeting different people. I like it when you help
someone improve their life. I like the fact that I'm on my way to hopefully a good career. And I like the fact that you're
always learning; you'll never come to a point where you're not learning any more.
What do you dislike about your job?
I don't like not really knowing where the next job's going to be. Although, in a way I don't not like it that much,
because I find it quite interesting - going to different places.
I don't really like the photocopying and things like that. But I think if you're not doing too much of it, then it's not a
problem.
What are your ambitions?
My ambition is to become a qualified clinical psychologist. I'm not quite sure where I'd want to work, because I've
enjoyed working with all the different types of people I've worked with so far.
I probably wouldn't want to work in forensics, though. Also, a lot of people who become a psychologist eventually
become the manager of a service; I'm not sure if I'd want to do that.
What advice would you give to someone interested in your career?
I would say get some experience of working with people - it could be in a care home, school or prison, for example.
Also, try to make sure that you get a 2:1 in your degree, because a lot of clinical psychology courses are having that as
a cut-off point.
Getting research experience is useful, especially if it's clinical-based.
A day in the life
9:00 - 10:00 am
See a man at a GP surgery, who has a needle phobia. He used to faint when he saw or talked about needles, and he
needs to use them as part of a medical treatment. With a nurse, we do some systematic desensitisation (this is where
the patient is introduced to the thing they have a phobia of in small stages in a relaxed setting).
10:00 - 11:00 am
Back at the hospital - meet with my supervisor to discuss ongoing cases and research.
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11:00 - 11:30 am
Give a talk to renal (kidney) patients, letting them know that this department is here to help if they are struggling with
anything, such as anxiety, depression or needle phobia.
11:30 am - 12:30 pm
Write some letters to patients or reports to referrers.
12:30 - 13:00 pm
Lunch.
13:00 - 14:00 pm
Spend some time making phone calls, eg, to find out why we were unsuccessful with a recent research funding
application.
14:00 - 16:00 pm
Use a computer touch-screen memory test with people who think they may have memory problems.
16:00 - 16:30 pm
Finish the day with some reading.
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