A journey towards becoming a Sport and Exercise Psychologist

HI there and welcome to our next blog entry. Today we learn from Hana Nasser, Sport and Exercise Psychologist in Training (SEPiT). Hana talks about the process of planning and the extensive time and commitment involved in pursuing this particular career path. She also shares lots of useful advice and suggestions, which may help any aspirant Psychologists out there interested in this field of Psychology. We hope Hana's journey could potentially inspire your own!

Hello everyone, 

My name is Hana, I’m a Sport and Exercise Psychologist in training. I’m not a blog writer, however, I am excited to be sharing my journey with you, so bear with me and hopefully I'll make some sense.

I took Psychology at A-Level, and it was clear after my AS-Levels that it was not the subject I was best at, but I absolutely loved it. All the different elements, the variety of information and I was just fascinated at human Psychology. 

Someone once said to me, ‘do what you enjoy, not necessarily what you’re the best at’; this has guided me through a lot. I am a firm believer that we should enjoy the work we do, and if you’re passionate about the topic it will (hopefully) feel less like work. 

I’ve always loved sport and have played a range of sports since I was little. So, while at University, I got involved in the uni sport world - I was on a few sport committees, gained new experiences and learned even more about different sports.

Luckily for me, my personal tutor, who then became my dissertation tutor, was an incredible mentor and even though my university didn’t offer a Sport Psychology module he guided me through a dissertation that linked Sport and Psychology. I finally found a topic I was really passionate about, which along with hard work, late nights and many stressed out tears resulted in me getting a first in my dissertation. 

After I finished my Undergraduate degree, I studied an MSc in Performance Psychology. My error here was that I did not check if the MSc was BPS accredited (it was not). I found this out when I was already on the course and felt totally deflated. Don’t get me wrong, it was a great course, but I thought I would have to do another BPS accredited MSc to get there (and then QSEP stage 2). This would mean finding funding for me to do it, which as we know, is not always easy.

 After I finished my MSc, I wasn’t sure what I was going to do so I took a job as a Support Worker and spent a couple of months trying to figure things out. My friend mentioned to me the BASES Sport and Exercise Psychology Accreditation Route; at the time it was a new pathway, maybe 1 or 2 years old, but naturally I jumped at the chance and applied. Finding a supervisor is the first step; I would recommend talking to a few of them. At the time I stuck to the ones near where I was based. However, you never know if you’re going to move and with zoom etc., I would recommend exploring different options and see what they have to offer too! 

 I’ve been on the pathway for about 2 years, and it has been a journey. I have been in full time work whilst doing the Sport and Exercise Psychology work on the side. When I first started, I linked up with a university football team, a youth national hockey team and an exerciser. I was really thankful I found such amazing clients to work with. My full-time work at the start was as a Psychological Wellbeing Practitioner. I have always been passionate about mental health, and it will always be a focus in my work. I first started in November 2020, at the height of the pandemic. I loved this job and getting to connect with so many different people. It gave me an incredible experience and I learnt so much but I found it to be quite mentally draining.  Therefore, it was difficult to spare emotional / brain energy to support my Sport and Exercise Psychology clients. I kept pushing through this, until it was too late, and I found myself burnt out.

As a result, I moved to a youth development charity, where I ran a mental health and physical activity programme for disadvantaged and disengaged young people. Again, this was an incredible job, with even more incredible young people, but I continued to feel emotionally drained and again, at times I found it difficult to find the emotional energy to support my clients. 

It got to a point where I had to ask myself: where do I want to focus? Am I doing a disservice to Sport and Exercise Psychology if I am not at full emotional capacity for my clients? I felt guilty that I couldn’t do more in Sport and Exercise Psychology, but at the same time I needed a full-time job to live and pay bills. Perhaps if my roles weren’t in the mental health domain, it may have been easier.

Not only are there the 1:1 sessions and the team workshops, but there’s also a big portfolio to be written up, log notes to keep, CPD and evidence to track. The accreditation pathway was a lot more than I anticipated and there is a lot of hard work that goes into it. However, I realised this was my passion and I wanted to give everything I could to it, so I took the hard decision to quit my job and put my full energy into my accreditation. 

I was pleased to have some space to focus on Sport and Exercise Psychology, which led to me applying for a job in a football academy as an Assistant Academy Psychologist. 

After two years, I am finally in a job that is solely focused on Sport and Exercise Psychology. I have an incredibly supportive manager who understands the task of getting accredited, provides a space for me to learn and ask any questions, while I try to quieten my imposter syndrome. 

In addition, through networking I recently found a small group of trainee Sport and Exercise Psychologists where we now have a monthly call and can message / call about any silly questions or unsure moments we have. Find your people, they will support you. I still have other clients, some paid, some not, but it all contributes towards the hours and experience to ensure I complete the accreditation.

The pathway to being a Sport and Exercise Psychologist is not a simple one, and not necessarily a linear path. It’s a lot of imposter syndrome, low / un-paid jobs, and at times feeling isolated. It’s important to find your people, have a support system in place for yourself and make sure you self-care.

Looking back, I wouldn’t change my journey; my MSc led me to some amazing people and opportunities that I don’t know if I would have got anywhere else. I have found SEPAR (Sport and Exercise Psychology Accreditation Route) to be a supportive route, whether that is from your supervisor, assessors or from other candidates. There are still lots and will always be lots to learn in this type of career but I’m looking forward to the next parts of my journey. Everything happens for a reason, and it’s how I’ve got to where I am today so believe in your path, follow your gut and keep persevering.   

If anyone has any questions or wants to hear more, please reach out. I’m always happy to chat. Thanks for reading! 

Thank you so much Hana for your honest depiction of your training journey to date. You show lots of courage and commitment to stay the path and we are excited to see you fulfill your hopes and dreams as a qualified SEP very soon.

Please get in touch if you would like to write an entry for the blog, who knows, it may be just the thing an aspirant Psychologist needs.

Kind regards,

The Pathways team