Sophia Hussain
What was your reason for choosing the Msci over the BSc?
I remember the MSci course being introduced in my third year of uni and at this point I had already decided that I wanted to study a Masters in order to help with my job prospects. I was lucky enough to be able to apply to enrol onto this course which I am glad I did as it gave me the opportunity to learn and develop more skills that I knew would be valuable for my working life. The combined MSci gives you a lot of variety of modules to choose from which is different from Postgraduate Master’s degrees which can often be very specific. For example I did a module called “Introduction to Matlab” which taught me how to code which can be used to create experiments from scratch.
What is your current role and what does it involve?
I am a Senior Psychological Wellbeing Practitioner (SPWP) working in an IAPT (Improving Access to Psychological Therapies) service within the NHS. The primary role of a PWP involves conducting thorough assessments of clients coming into the service and delivering low intensity psychological therapies in a range of different modalities including 1:1, groups, and online, creating variety in your week. As a PWP you will have a high caseload as it is designed to deliver low intensity treatments in high volume.
As a senior PWP whilst conducting assessments and delivering treatments, I also supervise other staff members and work on service development projects to help improve the service we offer. For example, offering treatments in different languages. Working in IAPT also gives you the scope to explore any interests you have such as working with particular groups of people e.g. Older adults, Peri or Post-Natal, Long term Health Conditions.
What advice would you give to someone considering this career?
The best advice I would give to anyone considering a career in IAPT is take your time and do not compare your journey to others. Everyone’s journey into their chosen career will be different and remember there is no deadline.
I would encourage everyone to seize and embrace every job and/or volunteer opportunities during and after their studies as they will always teach you valuable lifelong skills. Gaining experience is important no matter what field you want to go into in Psychology so don’t be afraid to put yourself out there and enjoy the process rather than focusing on the end goal. By working in different environments, you will be able to gain a variety of skills that are required to work in a target driven environment such as IAPT.