Written by Luke Gibson
There’s a common phrase that goes “you don’t know what you don’t know”. I’m happy to admit I don’t know what I don’t know about Psychology and the extent to which seemingly endless career opportunities present themselves. So it was opportune when I received an email advertising an online session named “Where can your Psychology degree take you?”.
At Charles Sturt there’s a huge amount of information to access within the Student portal, including some exceptional content under the Learning Skills tab. The beauty in the choice of areas to access is that ultimately these resources are in place to do one thing: enhance your chance for success. The targeted email offering up the chance to attend this Psychology career information was too good to pass up.
It was facilitated by the engaging Michelle Lane, a Charles Sturt Careers and Skills Adviser and the team had gathered five panellists from four areas to participate. John Wagener is Charles Sturt Alumni, having completed the very same course I am undertaking. As a self-described mature age student, just like me, he was relatable and was able to provide his experience since graduating in the last couple of years. John didn’t sugar coat the journey within his new industry and talked about the speed humps he had faced.
Mel Thatcher, the General Manager, and Christine Coates, Clinical Director of Aurora Behaviour Support provided some very different information to John, but it was around information I was more across. My almost 10 year old son is on NDIS and we like to refer to him as having “different abilities”. Having been on the NDIS since just after his third birthday, I was familiar with the various early intervention and behaviour supports which have been crucial to his development. Listening to Christine and Mel though opened my eyes to possibilities of working for similar organisations.
Representing Lifeline Mid North Coast was Kelly Saidey, Suicide Prevention and Postvention Manager. Although I have not needed to access Lifeline’s services throughout my life, my connection is that my Dad volunteered on the phones for several decades. Through him and many other people, I recognise the great work they do in the community. Once I have my first Uni year out of the way I would like to see how my skillset, even at this early stage, can assist Lifeline.
Rounding off the panel, Dr Jasmine B MacDonald, Research Fellow at the Australian Institute of Family Studies opened my eyes to a whole new world. Her lengthy list of qualifications is only the beginning: Jasmine’s various studies which have been published under the broad heading of mental health in peer-reviewed journals are exactly what I want to know more about and area that is if extreme interest to me. And Jasmine has a podcast called “Psych Attack”!
The opportunity to listen into this online session was invaluable. It answered many questions of mine and opened the door to potential areas I knew nothing about. If you have the chance to attend any session focused on your chosen course, especially around career paths, don’t hesitate to sign up!
To find more online workshops from Careers, Academic Skills, Wellbeing and Library teams, visit here.
Charlie blog is a SSAF funded initiative.
