How did you know you wanted to become a psychologist?
The short answer here is I don’t know! That is because I knew it from when I was about 10 that it was something I could imagine myself doing. All I knew was that I spent a lot of time being an ear to my friends and feeling deeply that there was a good reason why everyone thought or acted the way they did. Curiosity would inevitably lead me down the path of asking questions and I would find myself really being able to empathise. I felt it was both my superpower and my weakness.
What inspired you to work with young people?
I love that there is so much optimism and hope about what the future holds. A young person’s identity is still forming and the possibility that you can be part of what influences that trajectory for the better – a small shift in trajectory early on can translate to a significant directional change later.
What is your typical therapy mode and why do you find it to be so helpful?
I am a cognitive behaviourist at heart. I actually believe that many therapy modes boil down to this underneath it all as it is essentially looking at how we think, act and feel and the interaction between these factors. Whilst there is an awful lot of science that underpins this approach (it is the most researched therapy after all), I think there is so much art to the way it is implemented and in the end no therapy can really work without connection and engagement. It is not something you can “do to someone”, it is always “with”.
We all feel stressed sometimes, including psychologists! What helps you to manage your own stress?
I find different things work for different stress! I find with stress of a more chronic nature, it is a balancing act – putting enough in the cup for what the stress pours out. .. And I am the first to say that I don’t always get this balance right and sometimes I find myself running on empty. What fills up my cup is daily deposits of exercise (mostly walking) and nature. I would absolutely love to add meditation to this and one day I will! I also find having a routine to the start and end of my day helps – something to get me moving so I don’t become waylaid by other tasks and something that helps me shut down my brain computer systematically so I can sleep (a major stress fighter!) For more acute stress, I find focusing on avoiding overwhelm with list making, prioritising and problem solving, and of course I try to nail down the unhelpful thinking that might see me start to spiral in face of too much stuff to deal with.
If you could have given your teenage self any advice – what would you have said?
Take more (healthy) risks – nobody is watching you or waiting for you to fail. Push the boundaries of what you think is possible – you are more capable than you think… it will be ok.