Overview of the Psychology Sector in the UK

The Psychology sector in The United Kingdom has diverse scope to expand, operate, and get decent jobs. It falls in the Social work and healthcare industry. In the current time, the most prospectus opportunities for psychologists lie in the clinical and counseling psychology. The clinical psychology projects highest opportunities among all the other departments of psychology. Counseling form to be 14% of the market and the Clinical Psychology around 37% of the market. The lowest scope of psychologists lies in the sector such as in schools, industrial and organizational institutions, cognitive, personality and the others (Steinhausen, 2015). Due to rising amount of different kind of mental and physical ailments, the more number of psychologists are in demand. The hectic life schedules in UK, the different kind of political and cultural shocks has led to mental and physical disdain among the general people (Patrick, 2018). Thus, higher scopes can be seen among the clinical psychologists and the different kind of counselors.

                                Figure 1: Scope of Psychologists and Clinical Psychologists in the market of UK

                                                                        (Source: Cherry, 2018)

In the sector of clinical psychology, there are various kind of jobs that individuals can choose. They can work upon as supervising staffs, care home and voluntary staffs, psychologists for attachments and relationship and related ailments arising from that, dying-death and positive care, physical health, mental health and dementia. Different kind of these other people are required in order to support and help the different of the clinical psychologists in UK. These people are either present in the clinical psychology institutes, clinics or other agencies. The overall salary in the clinical psychology sector ranges from 3000 pounds to 6000 pounds on monthly basis.

                          Figure 2: Different jobs and working positions in the sector of Clinical Psychology in UK

Scope of Psychologists and Clinical Psychologists in the Market of UK

                                                                           (Source:Weatherhead, 2018)

The recent market trends have also been quite attractive for the area of the Clinical Psychology and jobs related to it. There has been a quite increasing trend in the scope and the vacancies and demands of new psychologists in the market. In 2013, the growth and opportunities was just lying at 2.0%. While in, 2018, it has been around 2.4% and in 2021 it shall be lurking around 2.7%. However, by 2026, it shall come to a decreased 1.7% as per the trends and statistics laid down by the various government agencies of UK. In 2006, there were less than 6000 people employed in the sector of clinical psychology. However, the number has been constantly rising since that time. By 2021, the total number of people employed in the clinical psychology sector shall rise to around 8000. By 2026, the figures shall cross 8000 ad it can well meet the rising demand of psychological and clinical issues among the various people of UK.

                                         Figure (and table) 3: Market growth of Clinical Psychology in UK

                                                                              (Source: Cherry, 2018)

A growth can also be seen in the labor market of the Clinical Psychology sector in the UK. It can be seen that there has been a constant rise in the vacancies for the psychologists. There have been around 7000 people employed in the clinical psychology sector of UK at present, out of which 2723 people are core psychologists. There has been a constant rising trend and the trend can be seen to be rising after 2017. The supply of psychologists is somewhat less than the total vacancies that are available for them. In this context, it can be said that there are huge untapped scopes in the clinical psychology sector for the new people who are arriving in this sector and choosing a kind of earning for them.

Different Jobs and Working Positions in the Sector of Clinical Psychology in UK

                                       Figure 4: Demand and supply of labor: Clinical Psychology in UK

                                                             (Source: Weatherhead, 2018)

After graduating in international business management, I would like to take up a postgraduate course in clinical psychology. It might seem to be quite unusual choice for people graduating in business degrees, but I have a few very personal reasons for that. I have been suffering from anxiety disorder since long back and I have gradually understood how painful it is to live with mental health issues. Most others would not be able to understand your plight and you desperately look for help (Kalat, 2016). Therefore, I believe that being a victim of such conditions myself, I shall take up the responsibility of alleviating other people’s pain.

I know that it would be foolish to be completely motivated by personal reasons for a career path. After considering this, I have sought for ways to combine my knowledge in business with that in psychology. I shall have a diverse range of skills and abilities owing to my educational background, which shall be rare to find in the clinical psychology sector. However, I realise that I have many hurdles to overcome to finally reap the benefits of the skill set I desire. Right now, I am completely unaware of the discipline that I wish to take up. Therefore, I shall have to put in a lot of extra effort to learn the elementary aspects of the subject only after which I can think of pursuing the subject on a professional level.

Having suffered from anxiety disorder for quite a long time, I have begun to understand the plight of people who suffer from mental health conditions. With such issues, living a life with good health and happiness becomes almost impossible for a person. As most other people are oblivious of the dismay that such patients are undergoing I would like to raise the awareness about mental health conditions and thereby see a world where people have better understanding of mental and emotional health conditions and individuals suffering from such conditions.

Market Growth of Clinical Psychology in UK

Although, right now I do not have either the required knowledge or expertise to start working upon to that end as I am graduating in business management I hope to acquire the necessary skills by opting for a postgraduate course in clinical psychology and then start pursuing my passion.  

Considering my area of passion, I have been able to think of a career option although it is nothing very conclusive as of now. I know that I have to carry out more research in my field of interest and explore more diverse career opportunities that are available to me in terms of both profession and further education. As I had mentioned above that I have a keen interest in pursuing a career path in clinical psychology I have been searching for the best option that is at the disposal of a business graduate to transition into the field of psychology. I understand that I shall require special training for that and therefore, I wish to pursue postgraduate studies in psychology. Depending upon my inclinations, I have been able to think of the following short-term and long-term career options:

• Short-term Goals:My immediate objective would be to acquire some kind of professional training and knowledge that shall make me ready for pursuing a professional path in the clinical psychology sector. There are many universities that are offering postgraduate conversion courses in psychology and I would like to seek admission in the University of Bath for a postgraduate degree in clinical psychology.
• Long-term Goals:While my short-term objective would be to be professionally prepared for a career in clinical psychology, I shall also have to think of what to do when that is done. I am aware of the fact that it can be a bit uncertain yet, I would like to make some plans and try to adhere to them. Firstly, after I have received the degree from the university I shall look for some job openings for psychologists in health institutions. I think that experience is a very important part of a career as a psychologist. My treating diverse kinds of people I shall be able to hone my skills in alleviating others’ pain. After gaining the required experience, I would like to form my own mental health institute, which shall be dedicated towards treating patients with care researching and figure out more effective ways to help people with mental health conditions.

While on one hand, the idea of pursuing a degree in clinical psychology might seem to be incompatible with a degree in business management but I have thought of ways to integrate the two perspectives offered by the two different courses in order to increase my level of competence. On one hand, the degree in psychology shall help me in treating people, on the other; the one in business management shall provide me with skills in management, which shall aid me in managing an organization that I would eventually plan to establish. The analysis of the business sector provides valuable data regarding the appropriate avenue to channelise my efforts. Clinical psychology provides 37% of the employment opportunities for psychologists. Therefore, with hard work and dedication I believe that I can flourish in that sector with the degree I get.

The career management and employability module has aided me in diverse ways in coming to terms with my own skills and abilities and thinking about the future prospects that I might have with them. The aim of this module, I believe, is to acquaint students with their own specialised skill sets irrespective of the degrees that they are pursuing. Although, I am pursuing a course in international business management, there might be other skills that I have that are not directly related to the course topic. The module teaches students to come to an understanding of their own talents and cultivate them further for professional enrichment. It was for this module that I came to have an understanding of my own passion and also how I could proceed further to reach my aims. I had realised that owing to my own condition of anxiety I had a deep insight into the issue that other people might not have. This would allow me to develop a specific set of skills that are essential for treating the condition. Therefore, I can be especially productive if I were to pursue a career in clinical psychology and use my own insights for the betterment of people with mental health issues.

Demand and Supply of Labor: Clinical Psychology in UK

Therefore, as can be understood, self-awareness is an important part of career management. Only when one is aware of one’s true passion and the talents that come associated with it can one hope to flourish in a chosen career option. My teachers who conducted exhaustive group interviews were keen on eliciting the true calling of each student. By interrogating them about their interests and activities, they suggested appropriate career options to each student. I am thankful to the teachers who made me aware of my own abilities that I seemed to be oblivious of until then. The group interviews have also led to discussion about various kinds of ways and manners that can be succumbed to in order to increase all of my skills and abilities. By better interaction with all the knowledgeable people in this interview, I have come to be aware of my inner true abilities and interests. I have seen and felt that psychology is a good and unique option in which it is a good choice to pursue for meeting the career needs and growth options. I have faced many problems in my life and thus have felt that management is not a better choice for, me rather than psychology. The better growth options in the clinical part of psychology have also showed me a path in order to change my stream and later study in that stream. The group discussion has also revealed my inner abilities that I can well understand and study people by talking to them over sometime. I have also done good amount of study in the line of psychology and this has also raised my interest in this line.

The study has also helped me a lot to develop my abilities of understanding people, their suffering and pain and what things in the society make them exclusive due to their uniqueness. I must mention that my issue helped me inculcate the habit of reading books as I used to be alone most of the time. Part of the reason why I was intrigued into clinical psychology was that I felt deeply inspired after reading Sigmund Freud’s The Interpretation of Dreams. It is a groundbreaking work and it provides various insights into the workings of the human mind. I became aware of the unconscious part of mind. It has also helped me a lot to recover my own situation. I went on to read The Psychopathology of Everyday Life almost immediately after. It provides psychological explanations behind the everyday activities of human beings. It came to my realisation that mental illness is no longer an insurmountable wall but has to be dealt with rationally in order to be countered. From then on, I have been reading various works on psychology profusely. I was made aware of the various mechanisms of the mind. I believe that has been a sort of preliminary reading that shall subsequently prepare me for the psychology course that lies ahead of me. However, I need to read a lot more as of now. I must say that Freud, while he may be convincing, is not always correct (Hunsley and Lee, 2017). Therefore, I have been trying to get hold of modern works of psychology that are based on research that is more thorough.

I have also come to be aware of the skills needed to be selected in the job profiles related to Psychology and clinical psychology as a whole. I have come to know of the selection process through interviews that are conducted at several of the health agencies. I have constantly being updating me as per that and has developed my communication and understanding abilities. The bunch of class lectures has grown confidence inside of me and to shape my overall personality as per that in order to get proper career prospects. The various study of psychology that has been done by my over the years has also aroused some kind of interest in me in order to know more about psychology and clinical psychology. It has also increased my skills in order to grasp the whole subject and its participants in order to be able to succeed in this stream when I do take it as my full time career option. I would be more efficient, professional, skilled and more understanding towards understanding the issues faced by the patients when I will be a professional of the stream.

References

Cherry, K. (2018). Employment Trends in Psychology According to Recent Surveys. [online] Verywell Mind. Available at: https://www.verywellmind.com/psychology-employment-trends-2794951 [Accessed 25 Dec. 2018].

Hunsley, J. and Lee, C.M., 2017. Introduction to clinical psychology. John Wiley & Sons.

Kalat, J.W., 2016. Introduction to psychology. Nelson Education.

Patrick, C.J. ed., 2018. Handbook of psychopathy. Guilford Publications.

Steinhausen, H.C., 2015. Recent international trends in psychotropic medication prescriptions for children and adolescents. European child & adolescent psychiatry, 24(6), pp.635-640.

Weatherhead, S. (2018). Clinical Psychology Forum. [online] Www1.bps.org.uk. Available at: https://www1.bps.org.uk/system/files/user-files/Division%20of%20Clinical%20Psychology/public/march_-_final.pdf [Accessed 25 Dec. 2018].