Final Reflections on the Stage 2 Training Process

It seems such a long time ago that I began this journey.  It has taken me 6 years and 10 months in total.  I remember after finishing my masters I felt that I had accomplished something, and that I had an experience that, whilst difficult and stressful, had been very rewarding. Finishing my Stage 2 did not feel like that, at least not at first.  I had a sense of relief that the work was finally over: no more practice diaries, no more placements, no more submission or re-submissions.  I just felt plain relieved.  Even when I received my BPS certificate and my HCPC certificate, I felt little joy or elation at my achievement.

Fast forward 6 months and I agree to attend the DFP Conference to accept my certificate in a more formal setting.  My partner and I decided to treat it as a small family holiday with our 6 month old and we drove to the conference.  My supervisor was there to greet me with hugs and congratulations and her old supervisor was also there and did the same.  I lined up with my peers who had also qualified and we sat in the front row of the conference hall waiting to be called on stage to collect our certificates.

As we waited, we whispered to one another our relief and confessed the length of time it had taken to complete, 6 years 10 months for me, some others shorter and some others longer but all of us united in the sense of gladness that it was finally over.  We collected our certificates and smiled for the obligatory group photo and then we all dispersed, back into the crowd and off back to our roles wherever we are, no one so much as looking over their shoulders.  But when I do look back at the event, I remember one thing very clearly. My little boy was the centre of attention and one lady, a senior psychologist, commented that despite the chartership, children are the greatest achievement.  And this really did place everything in perspective.

Before this, all I saw were the times of failure and the re-submissions. I had still held on to the feeling of being under constant stress and strain trying to complete the work and felt resentful of that.  I have since been able to let go of that burden, and that alone is an achievement.  To hear my peers express similar experiences and relief helped me recognise the enormity of the task we set ourselves and we came through it, slowly but surely.  More a case of the tortoise and hare than any prodigal speed to win a race but complete the race we did.  And also, if that lady was right and my little boy is my greatest achievement, then completing that chartership was an achievement along the way and I should acknowledge it as such.

I think what I am reflecting on now is that this was one of the toughest journeys I embarked upon and I know that peers on the BPS route and the doctorate are experiencing the same stresses and strains.  It is natural to feel relieved and want to push away all thought of the emotional challenges and feel bitter, but actually getting through is an achievement and each one of us should feel proud (although you won't see me applying to do any further studying for a while now, if ever!).

And also, this is one achievement, in a whole list of many that we will experience, some of which are not career related.  This profession and training can be all consuming, but it has helped me to remember that it is one part of what defines me and putting my achievements in context and in perspective has helped me take true enjoyment out of what I have done so far.

So to all of you still training, stick with it, you will get there, be brave and work through the failures - we all have had them.

To those of you starting out, don't just think about finishing fast. Think about the training route that will help you qualify, that is cost effective and that fits with the life that you want to live outside of your career. If that means choosing a slower route so that you can afford holidays and to travel and have children, then do just that; the training routes aren't going to disappear if you don't get it finished straight away, and neither is the profession.

And from me, this is my last post here as I move on to the next stage of my life.  Thank you to all those who have read, glanced over or accidentally clicked on the blog.  You have been a source of catharsis for me over these years.

Farewell.

Core Role 3 - Advice and Consultation

It has been a few years since I completed Core Role 3 on Advice and Consultation. Initially I struggled to recall some of the exact details of the work I did to demonstrate competency in this area.  I then realised that the skills from this Core Role are applied daily and over time these have become par for the course, an integral part of what I do and how I.

This Core Role focuses on how you advise and guide the work of others.  This is not necessarily just students or other trainees, but includes colleagues, peers and even more senior persons.  Fundamentally, one of the roles of a psychologist is to provide their expert advice to others.  Very specifically, as a psychologist you cannot simply offer advice in any area of psychology.  Ethically, we are each bound to work only within our particular remit, so if forensics is your area, then your remit will be within areas directly related to offending behaviour, risk and rehabilitation.

Gaining expertise is part of a person's natural training journey. However in psychology there is an extra layer of depth.  We may, through training and experience, come to know know a good deal about a particular type of offender. However, to simply give advice based on "top of the head" information would run the risk of offering incorrect information and, as a consequence, could lead to harm to a patient or prisoner.  As we know, research and policy are changing all the time, and as a psychologist you need to be able to give the most up to date, relevant and quality information. Everything needs thought, reflection and advice based on thorough research whose application is fully justified to the case in question.

The skills that assessors are looking for in this Core Role are derived from your decisions you make on whether the requests you receive for your psychological knowledge are appropriate for you to respond to and  how you make these decisions and your subsequent response.  Assessors then want to see how you review all the relevant information; literature, psychological theory, policy, guidelines and so on, to provide the best possible advice.  They will also want to see how you deal with requests that are not appropriate, how and why you decide what these are, and how you manage the subsequent feedback and those professional relationships that these decisions impact.

Areas which are key to this Core Role are demonstrating how you can advise on policy and how you provide psychological information in high pressure situations, such as courts or parole board hearings.  With policy advice, part of this challenge will be finding the need for this in your placement. This issue can be quite challenging but your supervisor and your registrar can help with ideas on how best to do this to meet the criteria for this Core Role.  With courts or parole board hearings, not everyone will have this opportunity so finding forums where you are the "expert" and will need to defend your psychological knowledge in a similar way will be vital.  To do this, you will need to review the literature for skills in delivering information to the parole board and demonstrate how you have learnt these skills and applied them to your particular forum.  Again, this is an area that your registrar and supervisor can help you think through.

As with all the Core Roles, showing a clear link between literature and psychological evidence and then action is important.  But in this case you also need to show how evidence helps you think ethically about the advice you give, how you decide what to respond to, what information to provide within confidentiality limits, how you deliver the information and how you evaluate how the information was received and acted upon, both the good and the bad. Your skills in evaluation, decision-making and application are key.