I’ll be launching a new course next month, it’s called Exercise Strength & Conditioning with Serena!
I’ve been a pretty active person for most of my life. I represented my school in long distance running. Ran into my adult life and have completed numerous races, including a Comando challenge and Triathlon. I’ve also regularly weight trained for the last 14 years, and know a lot about it now. I’ve also done yoga on and off since my early twenties, and have played for various team sports including Rugby for years both in the UK and New Zealand (full contact, thank you).
I’ve also worked alongside the very best S&C professionals in the UK (and arguably the world) over the last decade, and so have been privy to their teachings and courses, conferences (which I’ve presented at) and even have helped to incorporate an S&C programme into the NHS alongside the psychology I was responsible for.
I’ve also been asked to work with sports teams and athletes helping them with their brain and game, so the arena of ‘sport’ isn’t alien to me. Further to this, I’ve read a lot of books and listened to a lot of podcasts in this area, picking up on solid contemporary research and teachings in the area, so I stay current. I’m also Lead Psychologist in another small company, responsible for an exercise programme being incorporated into healthcare.
So, because of all this experience and learning I think I’m qualified and capable of teaching this to others. Yes?
Well, I hope this sounds as crazy as I felt writing it!
Yet I see this every day with people teaching psychology to the masses! Why is it when it comes to psychology, that it seems like the barrier to teaching people about how their brain works, and how they behave, is so low?
I mean, in my mind I would have to be bonkers to even consider teaching S&C. Yes I do know some things about it. I use the knowledge I have in my own life, for myself. I might even feel comfortable privately advising a friend or family member about how they could start to get into shape (hello Dad), but teach it? To people? To the public, and misconstruing myself as the ‘expert’.
This I quite frankly would have no business doing..and I’ll explain why.
A Qualification isn’t just a piece of paper
A bit like the scenario I painted above, all of which is true by the way, it’s difficult to not relate to ‘psychology’. I mean we all have our own psychology. We all have a brain.
In fact so many people I meet, when I say I’m a psychologist, say ‘oh, I love psychology’, or ‘I would love to have done psychology’. I get it. It’s fascinating. It’s about understanding humans and how they think, feel and behave, what could be be more juicy than that? It’s certainly why I pursued it, but going on to qualify in the work is a very, very different ball game. In fact it’s gruelling.
When I started University, I found out that Psychology had a very high drop out rate in the first year. Why?, because what most people don’t know is that a BPS (British Psychological Society - the only way to become chartered) degree, consists of over 50% research methods and statistics. Not the ‘dreams analysis’ and ‘disorders’ you think you’ll be looking at!
There’s the ground work to do first. The hard bit, the monotonous bit maybe; but how vital. To build that foundation of knowledge. To learn about how our brains are wired, the neurochemistry and biology. The key research around social interaction and developmental psychology which tells us how a baby develops and consequently what happens when we age. Foundations in cognition, how to properly research and test assumptions, the list goes on.
If you are qualified in any profession, you will know this.
It. Takes. Time.
A basic Psych degree is usually 3-4 years, depending on placements etc, and that’s just the beginning for a budding psychologist. On top of this, if you want to go to qualify, you’re looking at, at the very least another 3 years, but this is more like 4-7 years. Or even more.
For me, on top of the 5-6 years I spent at University (I did 2 Undergraduate degrees BSc & BA and a Masters), I then took over a decade, yes you read that right, 10 years to qualify!
To become Chartered by the BPS is not for the feint hearted. It’s difficult, you work hard, things change, you have to work and study at the same time and you have to fulfil A LOT of requirements.
The other important thing to note, is that alongside this, and all throughout my studies, I worked in the field. From the age of 17, I held various roles including:
A mental health auxiliary on a Psychogeriatric Unit | Hospital/ UK
A mental health auxiliary on a Mental Health ward (hospital) and an in-group therapy home | UK
A mental health auxiliary within the community | UK & New Zealand
With acquired brain injury patients | ABI Rehab - Auckland, New Zealand
Therapy facilitator with children with ASD | Wellington, New Zealand
Manager for the audit of all Cognitive Behavioural Programmes being run in English & Welsh prisons | HM Prison Service (UK)
Asst Psychologist - own case load/groups | Rampton - Maximum Security - Hospital, UK
Senior Psychology Lecturer | Nottingham Trent University (current)
These aren’t even all the roles I’ve held over 30 years of work in the field, but they help to make sense of some of the things I’ve done that have built my knowledge over the years. It made my academic work more meaningful, as I was working with patients with schizophrenia when I was learning about the disease. I was working with patients who were struggling with psychosis when I was learning about what happens when someone is suffering in this way. Applied practice. It all made sense and made me want to learn more. My work was also meaningful.
Why does this make a difference..and who should be teaching you psychology?
So, back to the original point of this blog. What do you get from learning psychology from a psychologist? I would argue that you typically get a lot more from learning from a qualified psychologist than many other professions. That is specifically psychology just to be clear.
A qualified, in this case Chartered Psychologist (in the UK), would have worked a long time and would have to have done a lot of work to be able to Charter. In many ways then it is a seal of approval and shows to you, the consumer, that they have an ability to integrate their practice. They’ve done their due diligence. They work ethically. They are monitored by an active body. They have the understanding to go deeper when they are teaching you They can connect the dots and show depth and understanding in regards to their area of expertise. You ask a question for example, and there is a wealth of knowledge to draw upon in order to answer your question. That is what they are trained to do**
So with so many people now taking to social media teaching basic psychology, mindfulness and protocols on how to re-wire your brain (!), I’d just be mindful of how deep their understanding really goes? Do you really want to learn from someone who has read some books, done an on-line Coaching course or listened to every Huberman Lab podcast, and now thinks they’re qualified to re-spout the same stuff? Errrrmmmm?
Fig 1: Substrates of who is best to teach psychology - tongue & cheek don’t get upset!
And this is the deeper issue; clever people can re-spout! It’s easy to ‘parrot’ information back if you’ve learnt it from somewhere, but without being able to make sense of that in terms of the bigger picture, the deeper underlying psychology, you are really just getting surface level sub-structures - clay if you will.
In the figure (fig 1), I presented above, you can see a general idea of what this looks like, presented as a geological rock substructure. This isn’t true to life obviously, but is an ‘at a glance’ representation of the illustrated difference on ‘depth of understanding’.
I have to say it’s not that other people can’t teach psychology, and I’m not even saying that people shouldn’t teach it. I’m merely making the point that if a focus is to understand the ‘psychology’, and not other facets, then maybe work with someone who knows and has qualified in the area of psychology.
Behaviour Change from a Psychologist and why it’s different?
One of the reasons I’ve thought about this a lot lately is, as a practitioner teaching Behaviour Change to Healthcare Practitioners, I see a lot of other professionals teaching this or similar courses?
Now I want to be crystal clear here, this is not in any way a dig at those people. We have to look carefully at what they are offering before critiquing? Maybe they aren’t really going into the psychology, but are drawing more upon the practicalities or essence of their own professional practice? Maybe looking more at theoretical constructs? If this is the case, then fantastic!
I’m sure that there are courses like this that offer great value, and I always say that when it comes to Behaviour Change, having many tools that you can draw upon is so very helpful, so this is great. I do believe though, that as I’ve tried to illustrate here, if it’s the psychological element you are after then you get a very different experience doing this with a qualified psychologist.
In my course for example yes I go into the psychology of Change, we look at why some people change and others’ don’t. We also look at many different psychological tools you can employ, and make sense of theory in a practical way, but I think one of the main benefits is (and if you’re a previous student, please do comment below), I can answer your questions with real knowledge and experience. I know how to connect those dots I mentioned and make sense of how our psychology is at play.
So for now, I’m going to stick within my remit of psychology and not become an S&C Coach, for good reason. And if you would like to find out about the course I am qualified to teach, which starts on Monday 5th June, then just CLICK HERE.
I’d love to see you!
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Footnote/Disclaimer
**Let’s be real, psychologists are also not on a pedestal..you get a**holes in every profession, so check on any individual you are working with. Obvs!**