Introduction
Becoming a Psychologist in Australia is a big adventure. You can “choose your own adventure” (to a degree). For instance, I could have completed four years of study and two years of internship experience. This path (called the 4+2) is now phased out in Australia. I wanted to continue my university studies, so I ruled this option out. Or I could have finished the fourth year, then undertaken a Master’s degree covering two full-time years of study. Yet you would need to undergo 1000 hours of placements across three or four different learning environments. This was not an option for me, with a family and mortgage to support.I took the middle road between further university and internship. I followed a path called the 5+1 model, which means five years of study and one year of working with real people. This journey took 13 years and 283 days to complete. I want to share my story, the hard parts, and the good things I learned.
The 5+1 Model: Learning and Growing
Here’s what my journey was about. Years one to three covered normal human psychological functioning (for the most part). I enjoyed examining neuroscience and behavioural psychology. Did I read and absorb ideas outside of the prescribed texts? You bet. Books like Man’s Search for Meaning by Dr. Viktor Frankl, and enjoying the practice of Zen, for instance. This learning accompanied by real-world experience. I learned many things:
- Stressed about work? If so, sometimes anxiety or depression may have interesting causes. You may be anxious because you work with turkeys or basic people — “human doings”, rather than human beings.
- Choose your pain. The pain of improving yourself, feeling ugly feelings to their fullest and grasping the nettle of tough situations. Or the duller, enduring pain of mediocrity and lack of purpose.
My fourth year was challenging. The drive to get high marks was intense, as was the challenge of producing a 10,000-word thesis. Rewriting essays 18 times would yield the highest marks, but was it worth it? The “not knowing” whether your final fourth-year mark was good enough to take you further. Beyond this I learned:
- When one door closes, another opens — often a better one. I took a postgraduate diploma in psychology for my fourth year. This was one of two awards for the fourth year — the other being a course called Honours. I missed out on Honours by a narrow margin — the door shut. Yet I ended up benefitting from my diploma. I gained counselling practice in my course. Honours students at the time did not. I found that I loved counselling. It was like putting on an old, familiar pair of socks. My fourth-year marks soared from this affirming experience too.
- Gaining life experience makes you a better Psychologist. I was a manager, a father, and I gained experience in complex working environments. I won, failed, and learned a lot. Each year of experience (and grey hair to go with it) helped me wield patterns and wisdom which I can bring to bear with my clients.
After my fourth year, I applied to become a provisional Psychologist. Things were becoming real now. Fifth year was also intense, both academically and because it became training. I learned Cognitive-Behavioural Therapy (CBT). The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders became essential reading. Learning case formulation, treatment planning and ethics. Our cohort also practiced counselling on each other. Talk about feeling like a “grown-up”. Us baby psychologists, learning how to start a counselling session. Struggling to adapt CBT and formulation to made-up clients. We finished our fifth year Masters with a 300-hour online internship. Mine took place in the thick of COVID lockdowns in Sydney. My “clients” were fellow Master’s students located in different states. Each of us hammered through twelve final weeks. We logged our hours, completed case reports and undertook supervision. Some of my cohort who landed high marks went on to the next year of university to complete a Masters of Clinical Psychology. Me? I didn’t bother — I wasn’t a good fit for clinical and was glad to finish university. I liked to ask clients about their strengths and values, not just tap into “what’s wrong with them”. My values (even as a baby Psychologist) were clear and strong.
I was exhausted at the end of my fifth year. Fate intervened while I planned on taking a year away before starting my sixth year. I bumped into a potential supervisor on Facebook. This supervisor had a similar professional background, and we clicked immediately. I took a leap of faith and started my sixth year without a break.
- One Year of Working: This year took place over eighteen months. I worked in organisational psychology, namely as an organisational change manager. My internship allowed me to drive organisational change. I led group counselling sessions, training facilitation and undertook organisation-wide assessments. Hours against my internship started to rise. Yet something was missing. Australian psychologists need to show skills against eight competencies. Org work wouldn’t completely cut it.
- So I sent out resumes to local private psychology practices. Frustrating, I found many practices would employ only clinical (or at least fully registered) psychologists. I wasn’t a member of this club, and I felt stuck as a provisional psychologist. Yet an owner of a private practice called me one day. We hit it off straight away — he was happy to employ a provisional psychologist and someone who wasn’t a clinical master’s student. I worked for this private practice on Saturday mornings. Starting with four back-to-back clients, I quickly raised it to five. Even today, I see five clients on Saturdays.
- Private practice experience rocked my world. I found my client’s work enjoyable and an incredible privilege. I still do. Some clients rattled me, yet the vast majority are absolutely wonderful. The admin at my clinic made a huge difference to me. As a still baby Psychologist, I drew support from my admin team. I couldn’t talk about specifics with them, but they would give me encouragement when I needed it most. I used to stress about “having the answers”, and would read and study in the weeknights between my next client appointment. Rapidly learning schema therapy and other modalities beyond CBT helped.
The Challenges of the Sixth Year
The last year had some challenging parts:
- Learning from Supervisors: It was hard to find the balance between doing things on my own and learning from my teachers. I found it tricky to “slow things down” with my clients, as I wanted to find solutions for them quickly. Sometimes being quick on the mark is counter-productive, though. I felt awash with uncertainty at times. Yet my supervisors helped pick up my spirits.
- Helping Different People: Some clients were hard to help, but I learned to understand them. Some clients are not a good fit for private practice. Those who need crisis support. Others don’t want to be in therapy. Others succumb to feelings of shame about “needing therapy”, and leave after a few sessions.
- Making Connections: The Psychology profession has some divisive politics in Australia. Some Facebook groups where the debate over the two-tier Medicare system attracts vitriol. Yet others have been amazing. I have been lucky that my private practice colleagues are wonderful people. I made time to head to lunch or after-work dinner where I could and found my time with them energising. Empathic, curious, genuine and professional people.
- Doing the Right Thing: I had to think a lot about what was right and wrong. I take the Australian Psychological Society Code of Ethics seriously. Some clients would push the boundaries. Others introduced ethical concerns. I needed to navigate each ethical dilemma, often needing to bounce ideas off supervisors.
- Facing final hurdles to enter the profession. I got through four case reports, many self-recorded sessions with clients, a huge logbook of 1500+ internship hours. What else? A massive pass-fail exam called the National Psychology Exam. Then a long time of self-doubt until I learned I passed each hurdle.
- Taking Care of Myself: I learned to take care of myself while helping others. I now have an ethical imperative to remain sharp, crisp and light on my feet. So off to the surf I go, and my hobbies (martial arts) have become even more critical. My well-being is not only about me but about my family, clients and the community.
These challenges helped me grow and become a better Psychologist.
Learning from Tricky Clients, Building Trust, and a Special Way of Helping
I learned some important things from the people I helped:
- Understanding Tricky Clients: Some people were hard to understand, but I learned how to help them. I also learned that I can’t help everyone. I can provide a structured space for clients to be heard, to heal and gain a different perspective. Yet some clients have problems beyond your professional competency. Others won’t make improvements whilst in your care. Others rattle you and are hard to fathom. It’s worth referring these clients — this is OK and is not a failure on your part.
- Building Trust: I learned how to make people feel safe and listened to. I don’t take myself seriously, yet I aim to provide my clients with the very best of my attention and training.
- A Special Way of Helping: I found out that helping people in their own special way makes them feel better.
Then what?
Late one Friday night, I felt exhausted. A week before, I submitted my application to the psychology board here in Australia. A twenty-five-page document, with my degrees and identity documents signed by a fellow Psychologist. For some reason, compiling this submission was nerve-wracking. My last hurdle. So on a Friday night, I receive an email. It’s final — my application for full registration was approved. The journey — nearly fourteen years — was over. It felt anticlimactic. I also felt numb, although the enduring satisfaction became a warm glow in the weeks ahead.
My journey to becoming a Psychologist in Australia was full of learning, growing, and some hard parts. But those hard parts helped me understand people better.
This path helped me know what I like to do and what’s important to me. It’s a journey that helps me help others and make their lives better.