"What’s going to make you get out of bed in the morning?"

The BPS recently hosted its first Careers Festival – a week packed with careers-related talks and activities for anyone wanting to pursue a career in psychology, with more than 1,200 people attending across the week. On the first day a diverse group of chartered psychologists came together to share their typical working day – with the caveat that for psychologists, there is rarely a typical working day.

In her post-lunchtime talk coaching psychologist Lorna Mills acknowledged that the audience may be more prone to daydreaming at that particular point. She encouraged them to use those daydreams to think about their potential future careers in psychology. Mills started by busting some myths about coaching psychology – that everyone who sees a coach gets the same advice, that coaches only discuss lighter topics, and that coaches only work on mental wellbeing.

Mills said her day will often start with meditation and keeping in touch with peers, and she carries out remote meetings and works with clients in groups and individually. She said she tends to work with leaders of tech and renewable energy organisations, and uses listening skills and reflection to help them to work through any issues. Once her working day is finished, Mills emphasised the importance of note taking and reflection. Gibbs' reflective cycle will help in asking herself about the experiences of the day, and what she has learned from them.

Forensic Psychologist Dr Nic Bowes (Cardiff Metropolitan University), Chair of the BPS Division of Forensic Psychology, explained that practitioner psychologists in general engage in a cycle of assessment and intervention and evaluation and recommendations. In forensic psychology, she said, practitioners explore clients' early life experiences, and explore how someone has come to be in the situation they are in, and find interventions that may help them. However, Bowes explained, that prison was a challenging work environment. 'We work to support hope in a place where it's really easy to despair. We work to support people in thinking about reconnection in a place where they're socially isolated. And we work in this dialectic of change as well as acceptance.'

Consultant Clinical Neuropsychologist and Chartered Occupational Psychologist Dr Ben Marram, explained that as a neuropsychologist he works with patients who may have experienced a traumatic or acquired brain injury, those who have dementia or who have had a stroke, as well as Parkinson's disease and multiple sclerosis. Marram was initially drawn to occupational psychology, partly inspired by his grandfather who had experienced a mental health problem and mentioned that returning to work may have made him feel better. However, after his psychology degree he worked as a brain injury support worker where his interest for neuropsychology was ignited.

As a clinical neuropsychologist Marram said his working day is always different, but he explained his job usually involves discussing patients with a multidisciplinary team, scoring neuropsychological tests, working with patients at home or in hospital, and clinical supervision with psychology colleagues. He ended his talk by sharing some tips for becoming a neuroscientist including getting experience, not necessarily in the NHS, building a network of neuropsychologists and reading topics you are interested in. Finally he encouraged people not to rush: 'The journey is typically more important than the destination.'

Best interests

Educational Psychologist and co-chair of the BPS Division of Educational Psychology (DECP) Dr Victoria Lewis, said every day was different in her working life. Working with individuals, whole classes and schools, the overriding Principe is that the best interests of a child are paramount. Also a tutor on the Educational Psychology doctorates at the University of Nottingham and University of Sheffield, Lewis said demand for educational psychologists was outstripping demand, and explained the route into qualification which involves a three-year doctorate.

Lewis said the work of educational psychologists involves thinking about children and young people in their individual contexts. A typical week might see an educational psychologist working with secondary school pupils who may be struggling with literacy, carrying out home visits with social workers, training school staff, and making recommendations to local authorities. She also highlighted some of the recent work of the DECP on anti-medicalising childhood, climate change and contributing to the recent Special Educational Needs and Disabilities Review consultation.

Finally health psychologist Dr Laura McGowan (Queen's University Belfast) interviewed Professor Gerry Molloy (University of Galway) and Professor Lucie Byrne-Davis (University of Manchester) about their own journeys into the field. Byrne-Davis said she got into health psychologist almost by accident – after initially being interested in studying cancer and quality of life she discovered the field and ended up doing a masters and PhD in health psychology. Molloy said an undergraduate placement at the Royal College of Surgeons in Dublin, which included a health psychology group, transformed how he saw health psychology and went on to do a PhD in the field at the University of St Andrews.

McGowan also asked Byrne-Davis and Molloy about their typical working day. Byrne-Davis said every day is different but that she attends meetings, works with colleagues on her research on health-worker behaviour change, and supports postdoctoral researchers. Molloy said that, while there is no typical day, he teaches undergraduate and postgraduate psychology students as well as nurses and midwives, while his research focuses on behavioural science approaches in understanding the ways people use medicines across their lifespan, and has recently begun work on antibiotic prescribing.

Who you want to be

Tuesday's My Super Mind event emphasised the diversity of psychological professions with an opening talk by Dr Linda Kaye (Edge Hill University) – an expert in the field of cyberpsychology. Kaye explained that cyberpsychology explores the ways we interact with the internet and technology, and that it provides a new perspective on core areas of psychology – for example the social psychology of making friendships online.

Kaye didn't plan to study psychology, but thanks to a schedule clash when choosing her A-levels she felt psychology was worth a try and ended up loving the subject. 'Sciences and more creative subjects often don't mix and they're often separated in the curriculum, but studying psychology was the first time I felt they could be connected.'

Kaye's research explores emotional responses to emoji, socialising online, and wellbeing in relation to gaming and social media and she also has a private business, The Cyber Doctor, which helps organisations to maximise their online marketing and communications. Ending her talk Kaye reminded the audience that, in exploring future careers, it was important to think about who you want to be, not just what you want to do.

Sakib Rafique, a coach and founder of Orange Ball Mental Fitness, said he uses positive psychology in his practice which sees him working with grassroots football teams, teachers and senior leaders in schools, organisations and the community. A former teacher himself, Rafique said he arrived in the UK at three months old after his parents moved from Pakistan, and that his formative years emphasised the impact of mental health, poverty, racism and discrimination.

After working as a PE teacher Rafique took a 'leap of faith' and went back to university for a master's degree in applied coaching psychology and founded Orange Ball Mental Fitness. 'Think about what's important to you, what's going to make you get out of bed in the morning. What was important for me was to make people less fearful of the term mental health, get them to understand wellbeing in a more practical personalised way… Never underestimate your lived experiences, it doesn't matter where you start from, whether you do GCSE or A-level psychology.'

On Wednesday morning Beyond Autism's Head of Research and Learning, David Anthony, shared some of the opportunities for graduates at the organisation. Beyond Autism, originally called The Rainbow Charity, was founded in 2000 as a response to a gap in education for autistic children – the organisation now runs several schools for primary and secondary school children and services for over-19s. The charity's two-year graduate programme gives experience in all of the organisation's schools and post-19 services as well as workshops, training and supervision. Anthony said Beyond Autism looked for dynamic thinkers and flexible learners to apply to the programme which pays graduates £19,000 per year during probation rising to £21,250 after 12 months.

Outside the comfort zone

Thursday saw a host of talks from psychologists working in applied areas of practice including counselling, academia and occupational psychology. Sarah Watson from the British Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy (BACP) who is a senior children and young people's therapist shared some of the joys and challenges of her job.

Watson said she had a passion for working with teenagers and using different tools, techniques, methods and approaches in her practice. Watson said there are challenges to working as a counsellor, coping with the darker and more difficult side of people's lives, she said, had changed the way she viewed the world herself – however she added that embracing boundaries as a therapist can help cope with the difficulties of the work.

Medical Research Foundation Fellow and Senior Research Fellow Dr Dawn Branley-Bell (Northumbria University), also chair of the BPS Cyberpsychology Section, shared her experience as an academic psychologist. She said her days are incredibly varied and can involve research, reviewing papers, student supervision, attending conferences, media interviews and managing a team.

Branley-Bell's PhD explored online communications around eating disorders and self harm, she said she was asked whether her PhD would work if the internet was 'just a phase'.  Thankfully, Branley-Bell said cyberpsychology is a much more widely accepted field now that the internet and technology touch every aspect of our lives.

Sharing some advice from her career so far, Branley-Bell encouraged the audience to take advantage of experiences such as travelling and attending conferences, and to become comfortable being uncomfortable. 'Growth comes from stepping outside your comfort zone.' While there are many benefits to working in academia, Branley-Bell said there are challenges with competing demands, maintaining a good work-life balance, job instability, and dealing with rejection.

Senior Social Worker Sindi Mvubu, who works in a children's safeguarding team at Shropshire Council, has a degree in psychology and master's in health psychology and shared her experience of moving into social work with the Frontline fast-track programme. The programme begins with a four-week summer institute followed by placements in local authorities where trainee social workers are allocated families to work with and after a year become qualified and gain a postgraduate diploma. In the second year social workers complete a master's degree involving dissertation research and a portfolio.

Mvubu said that a psychology degree was helpful to being a social worker in understanding what children and families may need, and her own master's in health psychology had taught her a great deal about behaviour change and motivational interviewing. Making change for children, Mvubu said, was one of the highlights of her role, as well as changing the narrative of social workers as 'child abductors'. 'Our belief is that if it's safe, a child should remain with their family and we'll do all we can to make that happen.' Mvubu added that the sheer amount of paperwork was a particular challenge of social work. She added that while there are many difficult aspects of social work – having difficult conversations, burnout and compassion fatigue – she said the amount of job satisfaction can outweigh the stressors of the job.

Be proactive

The need for work experience, how to gain work experience, and the 'right' type of work experience were hot topics throughout the festival. An event on Thursday afternoon saw a work experience provider, a current psychology undergraduate student, and an admissions tutor share their perspectives.

Clinical Practice Director of the clinical psychology doctorate at the University of Edinburgh, Dr Neil Millar, said postgraduate applied psychology programmes look for candidates who will flourish in training. He said training programmes found work experience a helpful indicator that someone has enjoyed working in the sector they would like further training in, that they can cope with the stress of working in challenging environments, and it act as a bridge between learning at undergraduate and postgraduate level.

Chair of the BPS Student Committee Eleanor Duncan has completed two years of her psychology degree at Loughborough University and is currently on a placement year working as an assistant psychologist. Duncan began gaining experience at an early age – while on work experience with an occupational therapist in year 10 Duncan met a psychologist and became fascinated by the subject. Since then Duncan has been involved with an NHS youth board, has shadowed a clinical psychologist, worked in a residential home for adults with complex behavioural difficulties, and was previously BPS Student Committee mental health lead before becoming chair. Duncan shared some advice for those looking for work experience – don't be afraid of being too proactive, use social media productively and reflect on what you learn from each experience.

Finally Luci Diggory from Open Door shared the story of a fascinating charity – one of the largest providers of talking therapies in Merseyside. Diggory explained that the founder of Open Door Lee Pennington, wanted to create a holistic mental health service which takes a non-clinical, creative approach.

Diggory had used the services of Open Door herself, reluctant to try medication for her low mood and anxiety, and has gone on to work with clients on a one-to-one basis. All of Open Door's staff and many of its volunteers have had experience of mental health problems, and the charity now runs three different projects of support – Bazaar – an eight week programme of CBT and mindfulness where people are paired with peer mentors and can choose the tools, skills and coping mechanisms they would most like to use. Colours is a four-week stress-management and wellbeing programme, originally intended for parents and carers but now open to everyone. Finally, the Open Door Oomoo project works to support young looked-after children in the Wirral.

Over 18s in Merseyside can gain work experience through Open Door by training to become peer mentors on their Bazaar or Colours programmes – both of which are delivered by peer mentors on a one to one or group basis. 'Volunteering on these programmes enables people to gain experience of supporting clients, while being fully supported by staff members to ensure safe practice.'

Next year's BPS Careers Festival is set to take place from Monday 6 November to Sunday 12 November.