From geography to Counselling Psychology- Dr Lucy Poxon's experience

 Hi everyone

Welcome to our next instalment of the Pathways to Psychology blog. Today we have the privilege to learn from Dr Lucy Poxon, a Counselling Psychologist. Every blog entry showcases the variety of experience and skill individuals bring to the profession, and Lucy is no different. Having initially pursued a geography career Lucy found her way to Psychology and Counselling Psychology through a number of twists and turns. We hope you will find Lucy's experience inspiring.

https://www.linkedin.com/in/dr-lucy-poxon-9508b075

I was late coming to Psychology as a career pathway. I was brought up on a farm by parents who had no personal experience of further education but valued it as a way to realise hopes and dreams. With tree surgery and accountancy being offered as top options in a career questionnaire I completed in sixth form, I discarded these and chose to follow my subject interests which resulted in a BA in Human Geography. This is despite my geography teacher telling me I would be a waste of a place. Without realising it at the time, I was already demonstrating my curiosity in people’s responses to their environment. I also developed a love for statistics that most Psychology students didn’t share!  

On graduation, I took a temping placement in a Commercial Finance office which led to a very successful 5 year career in HR and Six Sigma Project Management. Managers were quick to promote me as I took on information efficiently and was central in relationship building and conflict resolution. Nicknamed the ‘good cop’, I would be brought in to navigate tensions between colleagues and improve ‘resistance to change’ but it became obvious to me that my values were completely misaligned with the Commercial Finance industry. 

Two major life events collided in 2004 that marked the beginning of my path towards a career in Psychology. I lived through a large scale merger with a major competitor that culminated in 300 people within a couple of days being asked to leave the building permanently. I noticed how the fear of change was devastating for some colleagues and I was horrified at how my friends and colleagues were treated. During the same period, a very good friend was experiencing a severe episode of depression and had become increasingly reliant on me as I helped her feel calm and accepted. Feeling a little overwhelmed, I grabbed the opportunity to engage in a short course of coaching with a trainee Occupational Psychologist who was known to our family. Within 4 sessions, I had referred my friend to her GP and a therapist for support, resigned from Commercial Finance and been accepted on an MSc Conversion course that converted my Geography degree to a Psychology degree in one year. I followed this straight up with an MSc Occupational Psychology Master's and flourished in a learning environment. 

On graduation from the Master's in Occupational Psychology, I confidently applied for several jobs which all included psychometric testing as part of the assessment days. While I would receive positive feedback on my group tasks and interviews,  I would fail to reach the approved level of cognitive ability in the tests every time. This was a familiar point of failure for me as I couldn’t pass the 11+ for grammar entrance for the same reason. How could I have passed two Master's with distinction only to fail at the final hurdle of verbal, non-verbal and spatial reasoning? My plans to support employees through difficult workplace experiences appeared to have been crushed. I took stock and reframed this experience away from failure by returning to my values – how did I feel about being part of a system that values employees on performance in a specific test rather than empathy, helpfulness, compassion and emotional resilience? My search switched from Occupational Psychology consultancies to relation-based roles aligned to my values. 

This led me to an HR Manager position with a construction start-up where I was responsible for the recruitment, training and development of a workforce made up of people who were long term unemployed or had been recently released from prison. Whilst I felt aligned with their approach to social inequalities, it was largely an administrative role and I wanted a role where I could interact on an individual level. I engaged in a 4 month evening course with a bereavement counselling charity and by month two I remember thinking “this is exactly what I want to do!”. I was living with 3 Clinical Psychology trainees at the time and they helped me research the various routes to qualification for professionals who offer one to one psychotherapy: Psychotherapists, Counsellors, Clinical- and Counselling Psychologists. I felt immediately aligned to Counselling Psychology which distanced itself from the medical model and appealed to my constant desire to learn and develop. I was accepted onto the part time Professional Doctorate in Counselling Psychology at University of East London (UEL) which embodies a social justice approach and has a student population that is incredibly diverse. 

I graduated as a Counselling Psychologist 11 years ago specialising in working with grief and bereavement and my path has continued to take interesting twists and turns. I initially worked in the NHS for 2 years in Primary Care working full time with clients presenting with a diverse range of mild to moderate mental health issues. Working full time with a caseload of 25 clients felt increasingly overwhelming so I then pursued private practice – in an established London-based Psychology practice and my own practice based in a local GP practice. I relocated away from London a year later and took the opportunity to return to a service that had been my best placement experience across the Doctoral training – a student counselling service based on a university campus. I worked there for 5 years where I established and managed the triage system and pursued keen interests in working therapeutically with neurodiversity and gender dysphoria. This service offered the most wonderful opportunities to work with a very broad range of mental health issues where additional campus support networks could help remove the stressors that the students identified – something that NHS services couldn't supply. 

Throughout this time, I would return to UEL as guest lecturer in bereavement and qualitative research and examine research vivas. When a lecturer position was advertised during the COVID pandemic, offering flexible working from home, I jumped at the chance to champion learning for future trainees. I have worked on the Counselling Psychology Doctorate at UEL for 3 years now and have a thriving private practice alongside. Teaching has opened up a whole new avenue of learning for me and I have since achieved Fellowship of the Higher Education Academy. Understanding the theory behind what helps a student learn more effectively has been fascinating and the job develops the part of me that seeks to continually learn new skills and knowledge. 

Counselling Psychology has offered me such a variety of roles and has been deeply nourishing. It is an absolute privilege to be able to sit with clients in their darkest moments and offer hope from despair or pain. It is also incredibly rewarding to watch trainees and clients develop their self-awareness and confidence. When people talk about wanting to make a difference, Counselling Psychology offers this in bucket loads! 

Thank you Lucy for sharing your expeirences. We can't wait to see what happens next in your career as your passion for the Psychology profession shines through.

Maybe you found Lucy's experiences resonated for you, or perhaps you had your own story to share. We welcome Practitioner Psychologists, PWPs, Counsellors, Psychotherapists and trainees in all these professions to share their journeys. By reading about each other, we can see the potential pathways available to build a flourishing Psychology career. Get in touch to share your own experience.

Kind regards,

The Pathways team.