Reporting from the 2023 BPS Careers Festival

We asked student delegates to report from five stages featuring key speakers sharing their experience and knowledge. Monika Pallai did the rounds, while Vlad Makar and Kimberley Tedds dug deep into the world of forensics…

Monika: I think I spent most of my time at the festival saying 'wow, this is incredible!' For a psychology student, this event was everything I could ask for. There was core advice and guidance tailored to every discipline of psychology. My immediate thought was how unlike a regular virtual event this felt like. The BPS used Remo, the virtual events platform to facilitate the festival. This meant we could 'walk' around from table to table, chat to who we wanted to, when we wanted to and go to each individual stage to hear speakers. I really hope this platform will be used for all future events.

The journey so far

Clinical psychologist Dr Marianne Trent opened the festival with her keynote speech, and hearing her was one of my biggest stand-out moments. It was fascinating to hear about her varied career so far, including setting up Good Thinking Psychological Services and hosting The Aspiring Psychologist podcast. She spoke of the skills she gained from her qualifications, which she still uses every day, and what she loves most about her job. She told us about the psychological approaches she uses with clients, including EMDR, Compassion Focused Therapy, Acceptance & Commitment Therapy and CBT and also gave us some of her favourite book recommendations, including The Body Keeps the Score by M.D. Bess van der Kolk, and The Compassionate Mind by Paul Gilbert et al.

Dr Trent covered so much in her speech, but what really moved me was how willing she was to share her own journey and how passionate she is about helping aspiring psychologists. It really felt like she was gunning for us all and she ended with an invitation to contact her for any future advice we may need.

Pinpointing opportunities

I then moved on to the Learning Stage to hear Dominique Price and Jennifer Foden-James – employability officers from Liverpool University. They explained how it is vital to be aware of the transferrable skills that can be gained during our university years. Transferrable skills can be gained through work experience, volunteering, and extracurricular activities, not forgetting how we develop skills through our studying and research such as analytical and critical thinking. Jennifer and Dominique explained that the earlier we start to gain practical experience and transferable skills in our university years, the easier we would gain self-confidence, creativity, communication, and teamwork skills. By leveraging resources offered by the universities we'll be in a much better position to grasp the opportunities that await us.

A day in the life

Next up was Callum Van Dyk on the Pathways stage. He told us about what a typical day as a Trainee Occupational Psychologist at the Ministry of Justice looks like for him. His day includes administrative tasks, meetings with stakeholders, social work, project work and survey design.

Following straight after Callum was Dr Clare Mulligan-Foster on the main stage. She has so many strings to her bow as a chartered psychologist, registered occupational psychologist, chartered business psychologist and accredited coach. She shared her own journey, the variety of places where you can look for employment and the most common challenges we can come up against as trainees. Her knowledge was priceless, and I felt like I could listen to her for hours!

A future in forensics

Vlad: I headed over to the Main Stage to hear from Nic Bowes, Dr Rachael Wheatley and Michelle Smith from the Division of Forensic Psychology. Working in this field can involve the assessment and evaluation of criminal profiles, research in academia, teaching or policy making – there's a huge variety, but as the speakers explained, the work can be distressing.

Bowes described forensic psychology as a 'challenging but helpful' profession to go into. Some areas of forensic psychology can involve analysing traumatic events, working in prisons, and looking at how we can work with offenders to reduce the risk of them reoffending. As the speakers said, it's worth considering whether you would be happy working in such an environment. But if the answer is yes, then there are several pathways to get there, if you are starting with a psychology degree (and you can convert after graduating from a different degree) then ensure it is accredited by the BPS.

The speakers also explained that there are two stages to becoming a registered and licenced forensic psychologist which always involve further training and study after graduation. As with any other psychology role, work experience is vital. In the case of forensics, this may look like working with the police, in prisons or other related areas, not only will this be helpful in your career pathway but also give you an insight if this is the career for you.

A prison designed with psychology in mind

Kimberley: Two members of the psychological services team at the newly built prison HMP Fosse Way; Georgia Roughton and Laura Gardner, then came on to the stage to speak about their career journeys and the important services they provide to prisoners.

Georgia's prior experience included volunteering in courts, supporting witnesses, and work as a healthcare assistant, before she decided to apply for the doctoral qualification in forensic psychology. She said this provided her with a lot of transferable skills that were useful throughout the three different placements she undertook. These were a medium secure forensic hospital, a category B private prison, and a category C resettlement prison. This experience enabled her to complete the work she does today, as both a Senior Forensic Psychologist and part-time lecturer.

After completing her degree in Psychology & Criminology, Laura gained experience by volunteering with Victim Support, and worked in several customer-facing roles while applying to jobs in prison-based psychology teams. This led to her becoming a programmes facilitator at HMP Dovegate, and now her latest role as an Offending Behaviour Programmes Manager at Fosse Way. HMP Fosse Way was designed with psychology in mind: there is a family playground that can be shared during visits; users live in separate housing blocks, which have in-cell technology. There are no bars on the windows, inmates have their own bathroom, there are plenty of communal spaces; and it is an open-wing design, i.e., inmates are not separated by their crimes.

The psychological services provided by forensic psychologists can be broken down into different parts: interventions and assessment, research, training and consultancy. Within the interventions strand lies the offending behaviour programmes, which are accredited courses that can be delivered to provide service users with a variety of skills. As HMP Fosse Way prepares for full operation, Georgia and Laura disclosed the future vision for the department, which includes ongoing service development and creating a "rehabilitative culture in an offence-neutral environment".

The panel closed with some final advice for aspiring forensic psychologists: gain wide experience in working with others (preferably in forensic or mental health settings); don't be afraid to challenge yourself; and apply the skills and knowledge you gain in all aspects of your life.