Case studies : Trainee educational psychologist: Sally Brewer

Sally is a trainee educational psychologist based with the children’s services of a local council. She received her BSc Psychology from the University of Surrey in 2006 and is currently undertaking her doctorate in educational psychology.

After embarking on my psychology degree I began to consider how I could use the subject as a career. As an undergraduate I completed a one year placement as a student support worker at The National Centre for Young People with Epilepsy. The students had quite severe epilepsy and a range of learning difficulties. It was in this role that I decided I wanted a career using psychology to help young people.

Before starting my doctorate, I also spent time as a volunteer teaching English in India. When I returned I worked in a school as a cover supervisor where I took the lessons when teachers were unavailable. After that I worked as an education welfare officer dealing with attendance and other issues. This gave me a lot of experience with young people, which is necessary for this role as I am not a qualified teacher. Anyone considering applying to train as an educational psychologist should contact their local authority enquiring about opportunities to work shadow, though this can be hard to arrange. It may be easiest to arrange shadowing from within a related industry. For example, if you work in a school contact the school’s educational psychologist.

All of my degree study has been relevant to this career but particularly the knowledge I gained from the developmental psychology and psychology in education modules. My role has developed and will develop even more in the next few years. I started off shadowing initially and then worked more independently and now I have started to take on my own caseload, though at present I am still very heavily supervised. Part of my role involves consultation meetings with parents, Special Educational Needs Coordinators (SENCOs), and class teachers. I work together with them to come up with ideas as to what might be the issue and what interventions might help. I also have begun to do some basic report writing.

The downsides of the role can be the amount of paperwork and also it can be difficult to work with children who have had some terribly hard times. Sometimes it can be upsetting but you have to remain professional at all times.

There are many positives however and I particularly enjoy the work that I do with young people and also enjoy the chance to use the knowledge that I have gained from my degree. It is good to feel you are doing something worthwhile whether it is making suggestions in a meeting or when working with a client. Ideally, I would like to work with a local authority when I finish my training. There is the opportunity to have a specific interest, for example my supervisor is very interested in cognitive behavioural therapy. I have not decided on a particular focus yet but I am aiming towards that.