The importance of curiosity - Marianne's summer soundbites

Dr Marianne Trent (: 00:00

Coming up in today's episode of the Aspiring Psychologist Podcast, I am guiding you through two important steps that can help you think about weathering the storm on your journey to becoming whatever type of aspiring psychologist you fancy being.

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(singing).

Dr Marianne Trent (: 00:49

Hi. Welcome along to the Aspiring Psychologist Podcast. I'm Dr. Marianne Trent and I'm a qualified clinical psychologist. Here we are with another episode from the Marianne's Summer Soundbites series, which are going to be slightly shorter episodes than the standard episodes to help you to be able to continue with engaging with your goals for learning and development in psychology over this summer period where you might be a little bit busier. Don't worry, this isn't a permanent change to the format and the usual longer and guest episodes will be around over the summer and in the autumn again too. Another series that you might well know and love is the Free Compassionate Q&A series. And don't worry, that one is back for the 2023 season too. Here's all the details you need to know.

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So as you can see on your screen, we have the first of those coming up on Monday, the 4th of September, 2023, and that starts at 6:00 PM. A replay will, of course, be available too. And the best place to find the replay is Dr Marianne Trent on YouTube. The second of the sessions is Tuesday, the 3rd of October, 2023 also at 6:00 PM. Again, a replay is available. And the third and final session to support application season, for the DClinPsy but also EdPsych is also a similar time of year, is going to be Tuesday the 7th of November, 2023 at 6:00 PM. So don't wait, don't delay, connect with me on socials now so that you can dive right in when the time comes.

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On LinkedIn, I am Dr Marianne Trent. Come and connect or follow. On Twitter, I'm also Dr Marianne Trent. Although on Twitter, I can't see your comments because StreamYard and Twitter don't integrate properly. But if you want to just watch from Twitter, you absolutely can. On YouTube, I'm Dr Marianne Trent. My Facebook page is also Dr Marianne Trent. And last, but of course not least, come and join my free Facebook community group, which is called the Aspiring Psychologist Community with Dr Marianne Trent. I do always endeavour to get live on Instagram as well, but it's not quite so interactive because it means I have to get my phone rigged up behind my webcam. It's a little bit rustic, but you absolutely should be able to catch it there too. And on Instagram, and on Threads, I'm Dr Marianne Trent.

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So let's not waste the summer away, let's make it a really mindful and enjoyable one. So let's take a look at another of Marianne's Summer Soundbites. You, my dear, have a unique perspective to offer. You are the product of your own upbringing, of those you've met, those you've spent time with, those you've been around, those you've learned from, those you've been in staff teams with, those you have been in school cohorts with. You are the product of your experiences. And all of those things have given you a unique perspective. Or maybe you've always felt a little bit like a black sheep in your collective, and you've always felt like you think about things in a slightly different way. But whatever position you find yourself to be in, you are unique and you are special.

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And I believe you have something rich and rewarding to be able to offer your clients, maybe even shape, build, and grow services, interventions, research, and important things that are going to make a real difference to people's lives around the country, around the UK, and the world for that matter. And that all comes from you. That comes from your commitment and your determination and the unique way that you see the world and the problems that you will navigate and how you come up with ideas to get around them, to overcome them. Makes me think about the famous book, Going On a Bear Hunt. "No, we can't go over it. We can't go under it. We can't go around it. We have to go through it."

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And you will find your own ways to get over, round, down, under the problems, or to have a real errorless learning approach where you eradicate the problem cropping up in the first place. You have the opportunity to bring fresh perspectives and fresh insight and fresh determination and enthusiasm to the career, to the field. And I know when I was in my second year of training, my supervisor, who randomly managed to break both of her arms at the same time I recently broke one of my arms, so sending lots of love to you. She said to me during a supervision session, just how much she had enjoyed supervising assistants and trainees because she felt that she gained and learned so much from them, the way that they saw the world and the things that excited and delighted them and drove them, their passions, the things they were interested in, the research they've done, and the clinical areas and populations they previously worked with.

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So yeah, don't forget to really consider yourself as unique. Don't necessarily feel like, just because you're not in agreement with someone else in the team, or perhaps even your supervisor, that you're wrong or that you need to squish that in some way. So sometimes we need to be able to play the game. But of course, if you've got concerns about anything, then you need to raise those in the appropriate way. But know it's okay to explore the way you see the world in supervision and to think about cultivating your own research and clinical interests.

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Let's take a quick break and I'll be back along with the next of our learning points.

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(singing).

Dr Marianne Trent (: 07:34

Welcome back. So the second of today's points for consideration is thinking about learning as a continuous journey. It's a lifelong journey as well. So it might feel that the time is not quite right for you at the moment. So even among the people that I did my undergraduate psychology degree with in the late 90s and early 2000s, there's recently been people who have started to think that maybe a career in professional psychology might be for them. And so it's never too late.

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As you might well remember from our recent podcast episodes with Fiona and with Mark, when it's your time and you're ready for the next step, you can always climb back on board. And the rich way that you will have learned about life and clients and how to tackle and overcome difficulties, and also how to better engage service users from your time doing different career pursuits is likely to be invaluable, not just to the clients you work with, but also to your peers who end up being in your cohort and ultimately in your teams.

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Stay curious. Commit yourself to expanding your knowledge and your skills. If a training opportunity crops up, ask if you can do it. If there might even be a training budget in your department, how you could put in a bid or a request to be able to fulfil some of your learning objectives. And this is where your yearly appraisal, if you have one, can be really useful too.

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So, hope you have found today's episode of Marianne's Summer Soundbites useful. If you like the kind of things that I've got to offer, do check out the Aspiring Psychologist membership. I hope you're being kind to yourself, hope you're having a really lovely summer. I will look forward to catching up with you for the next episode of the Aspiring Psychologist Podcast, which is around from Monday, 6:00 AM. Thank you so much for being part of my world and be kind to yourself.