Working to keep others well- Organisational Psychology and a Phd journey

Welcome everyone to the next edition of the Pathways to Psychology blog.Today we hear from Katherine Jachens, Organisational Psychologist, Phd candidate, and workplace wellbeing Specialist. Katherine shares a valuable journey of training and working in a particular niche area of Psychology- wellbeing at work. It highlights how much we need Psychology to be widely applied and situated, and I hope Katerine's experience can inspire you to take your own next steps towards a career in Psychology. 

Katherine Jachens

Organisational Psychologist PHd candidate and Workplace wellbeing Specialist

I wanted to study Psychology because I saw it as a ‘creative science’, where many of  the theories were still up for debate / discovery, and understanding why and how people think, act and feel in different ways was always fascinating to me. Having grown up in Geneva surround by the Red Cross, the UN (United Nations), The Global Fund, and other humanitarian- and international development headquarters, my dream was to work in the humanitarian sector and hoped I would one day be able to combine Psychology and humanitarian work in my future profession – which I was lucky enough to achieve in the end. However, the path was not straightforward or exactly what I imagined.

After graduating at the University of Exeter with a BSc in Psychology, I went to the University of Surrey where I did my Masters in Occupational and Organisational Psychology. While I enjoyed the course overall, I was particularly motivated to specialise and work in the area of workplace wellbeing and in jobs with high psychosocial risks. I did my Masters thesis on cultural intelligence and intercultual anxiety in healthcare settings inspired by reading “The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down” by Anne Fadiman, a true story about the challenges of cross-cultural interactions and belief systems which interfere with medical treatments. After finishing my Masters (in which the second half was all online due to the Covid-19 pandemic) I started applying for internships, and after a few months of persistence, I landed my first internship at the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) in Geneva in the Staff Welfare team. Everyone on the team were Clinical Psychologists, so as the only Organisational Psychologist on the team, I worked to create psychosocial risk assessments for high-risk areas, and created an internal podcast on wellbeing in the workplace for staff. Trying to start my career in midst of a global pandemic was difficult, but at the same time meangingful, as I was helping to protect the wellbeing of staff in conflict zones when funding and morale was at an all time low. After my time at OCHA, I moved onto my second internship at a different UN agency, the World Intellectual Property Organisation (WIPO). Here I coordinated the launch of the Young Experts Programme, a new international recruitment programme for young professionals. While WIPO was a rewarding experience, I missed working for a humanitarian mission, so I started a traineeship at the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), where I worked with an incredible team on internal mobility, staff engagement and performance and development. After two internships and one traineeship, I was eager to find a “real” job in the sector, which is notoriously competitive. After many months of applications, interviews and teaching English on the side to make ends meet, I was lucky enough to get a job at UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency, as an Associate Staff Counsellor. I was super excited to be working in staff wellbeing again with a humaniatrian mission. It felt like I had finally found my dream job! Although, I soon realized that to progress to where I wanted to be in the future, I would need a doctorate. I applied for a PhD programme in Occupational Health Psychology at the University of Nottingham, and started in February 2024. I tried to balance my job at UNHCR part-time with my studies, and soon realized that this was too ambitious, and I now work only on my PhD.

I am loving my PhD, where I am investigating bullying, harassment and discrimination in UK surgical teams. It is a wonderful combination of my love for research, and looking at ways to assist and protect the mental health of people working in jobs with high psychosocial risks. In the future, I aim to work as a workplace wellbeing specialist and maybe return to the UN, although I am open to all possibilities! 

For anyone thinking that their dream or ambition is too niche or too difficult, as I thought mine was, it is possible through perserverance and time, and you will meet inspiring people along the way that will help you towards your goals ☺

Thank you Katherine for sharing your inspiring journey in our blog. It takes a lot of determination to carve out a path in the Psychology field, and your perserverance and focus shine through. I look forward to reading your Phd and seeing the positive change your input will make in the world of work.

If you were inspired by Katherine, look at the courses and options available to you, there are plenty of avenues to pursue, all of them related to Psychology, and all of them very much needed. Perhaps you are a Practitioner Psychologist, or a trainee colleague, a Psychotherapist or a PWP- get in touch to add your own blog entry!

Kind regards,

The Pathways team.