Finding her own way- Charlotte's journey towards becoming a Forensic Psychologist

Hi everyone and welcome to the next instalment of the Pathways to Psychology blog. Today we hear from Charlotte R, Trainee Forensic Psychologist. Charlotte shares the rollercoaster of training to becoming a Forensic Psychologist and the vital need for self care along the way. We hope reading about Charlotte will inspire your own journey towards becoming a Practitioner Psychologist. 

Charlotte R GMBPsS

Trainee Forensic Psychologist

From around the age of fourteen years old, I have known I wanted to be a Forensic Psychologist working within forensic mental health. What I didn’t always know was how to get there, nor did I anticipate some of the challenges life was going to throw at me.

As an undergraduate, I thought I would qualify as a Psychologist once I completed my BSc. I learnt very quickly, this was not the case. I had no idea how to gain experience within forensic settings or how to qualify. Fortunately, I have very supportive parents and my father who is retired from the police force was able to offer some help by asking some of his contacts if I could talk to them about their journey and how they qualified as Practitioner Psychologists working within forensic settings. So, this is what I did. I emailed some Forensic and Clinical Psychologists that my father had worked with and picked their brains. Through speaking with these professionals, I started to map what I needed to do to become a Forensic Psychologist. I planned to complete a Master’s degree and later a Doctorate within Forensic Psychology, which I thought would be a straightforward path.However, this was not always the case. 

During my undergraduate degree, I developed a chronic illness that would go undiagnosed for a few years. It had a significant impact on my studies, so once I graduated, I chose to take some time out from education to focus on improving my health. During this study break, I worked as a cover supervisor within a local school to gain some experience with children and I volunteered one day a week with Rethink Mental Illness on their national advice and information helpline. When covid hit, I was furloughed from the school, so I focused on my volunteer role which swiftly led to a paid role within this team. I learnt so much about mental health in my role at Rethink (conditions, laws, etc) that it solidified my goal of wanting to work within forensic mental health. After working at Rethink, I gained a role as a support worker, working with adults aged 18+ that had a learning disability and / or Autism and other co-morbid conditions, such as mental health difficulties.

After taking two years out to recover and gain some experience, I began my Master’s in Forensic Mental health: Clinical Forensic Psychology at King’s College London with a professional placement. My placement was facilitated on an Offender Personality Disorder Pathway within Leicestershire Probation service. During this placement I worked at the Core OPD service and the Intensive Intervention and Risk management service (IIRMS). I have such high praise for this placement and the individuals I worked with (both professionals and service users) as I was able to implement my Master's teaching into clinical practice. Looking back, it was within this placement that I found my passion for offender rehabilitation and supporting individuals to successfully transition from secure services to community living. During my placement and Master’s, I became unwell again, my health seemed to get worse, rather than better, which led to me finishing my placement early and taking a short break from my Master's.

Once I completed my Master’s, I applied to many Assistant Psychologist roles (an experience a lot of us know all too well!) and finally gained my first AP role within an inpatient learning disability and autism specialist service. I worked here for 10 months on across a low and medium secure ward for women diagnosed with learning disabilities and personality disorders. I found this role to be challenging and rewarding. I built some very meaningful relationships within this role and learnt so much, however I became quite burnout and started to question whether psychology was for me. I felt immense guilt for feeling this way as I knew so many people would have given anything to be in an AP role. However, I did decide to leave this role, and I moved across to an AP role within a local NHS talking therapies service. This was quite a change for me, as I was a stepping away from forensic settings. Looking back, I am so glad I took this leap as this role gave me the opportunity to recharge and fall back in love with psychology and working within mental health settings.

Whilst working at talking therapies, I gained a place on the Doctor of Forensic Psychology at the University of Exeter, which brings us to present day. I am currently a Trainee Forensic Psychologist, in my first year of training. I am currently on placement within a forensic medium secure service for working aged men with complex mental health needs. Throughout my training I will complete two further placements, and I am hoping to complete a placement within the prison service and another within Forensic-CAMHS (child and adolescent mental health service) or young offender’s institute, as I have not worked within these settings before. So far, training has been a rollercoaster of emotions and experiences as I am learning to be a student all over again!

Once qualified, I would love to work within offender rehabilitation, resettlement and forensic mental health. I hope to one day have my own service that helps individuals who have a history of offending, are transitioning (or living in the community) and need support with their mental health, whilst also providing accessible jobs, and experience to aspiring Forensic Psychologists from underrepresented groups who may have a harder time accessing Forensic Psychology roles, like I did after developing my chronic illnesses.

If you take anything away from my story, let it be that the journey to becoming a qualified Forensic Psychologist may be treacherous and challenging at times, it may test you emotionally and physically, and it can be extremely easy to compare yourself to others. The blood, sweat, tears and sacrifices are all worth it (even when it doesn’t feel that way)! Just make sure you take care of yourself, lean on support where you can and remember your journey is yours, it does not have to look like anyone else's.

Thank you so much Charlotte for sharing your journey to date. We have no doubt you will be an asset to the Forensic Psychology field and wish you all the very best in the remainder of your training.

Maybe reading about Charlotte has reminded you of your own journey into a Psychology based career- get in touch to add your own blog entry.

Kind regards,

The Pathways team.