My Own Career in Psychology - Essay Example

Your Career in Psychology First MI. In this paper I investigate the key factors which will make my career in psychology really successful. As far as our diverse life constantly sets a lot of problems both professional and personal, the need for self-investigation turns to be obvious. It is one of the objectively existing and emerging needs of natural growth in the developing personality, and it should be met adequately, in order not to become a source of tension and discomfort for the person. Thus in order to help other people solve both personal and life-long disappointments, I am developing psychological knowledge, which can be carried out by different methods. It was found out that the aim of psychology is to make distinctive contributions to health care, as far as it is evidence based and can be recognized by other health professions, policy makers and the public. Among the goals of the psychologists is to provide patient centered service that is sensitive to the culture of the society where psychologist works. The successful work in the field of psychology requires appropriate skills. Any psychologist before getting license should first of all get a degree from accredited institution and then should complete the requirements of the American Psychological Association. Nevertheless, after getting the license it is still necessary to raise the level of own professional competence constantly. To conclude it is important to pay attention once more that personal qualities and professional competence should be balanced, techniques and methodology of the work should be combined with the qualities of the individual, and the consultant himself should constantly develop his/hers professional skills. Your Career in Psychology Introduction Among the distinctive features of the modern multi-dimensional reality one can highlight the dynamism and originality of the processes occurring in society, as well as the development of the new nature of relationships and activities. At the same time peoples desire for social dominance, self-expression and comfort is being more insistently and actively expressed in daily life and work. It is not enough of the psychological knowledge which people usually get at school and college to deal with life problems. The development of our psyche occurs rather spontaneously, so we often manifest egocentric, childish way of thinking towards others and ourselves. At the same time the need for self-knowledge is one of the objectively existing and emerging needs of natural growth in the developing personality, and it should be met adequately, in order not to become a source of tension and discomfort for the person. Psychological knowledge can be carried out by different methods, each of which does not exclude the other, because they complement and enrich each other. It is important to note, that our diverse life constantly sets a lot of problems both professional and personal. They are intertwined, so people have to look for a way out of conflicting situations. While dealing with daily problems in relationships, it is best to go through the analysis of the behavior both own and of another person, foreseeing the consequences of the actions towards others and formatting the ability to control the behavior, emotions and communication. This way out may be found through multiple trials and errors, but it is the most difficult path with enormous psychiatric costs. In these situations the advice of professional psychologist might be helpful. Vision and Goals I have always been drawn to people’s behavior and style of acting and was interested in brain’s decision making process. That is how I found myself to be deeply interested in psychology. Later I realized the importance of psychology for society in numerous sectors like child molesting, health, education and environment. Thus, I consider the aim of psychology is to make distinctive contributions to health care, as far as it is evidence based and can be recognized by other health professions, policy makers and the public. So you may see that among my goals is to provide patient centered service that is sensitive to the culture of the society. It means that my clients will get not just all the necessary mental health and medical treatment with the full respect to their cultural traditions, personal values, preferences, lifestyle and family situation. I am also conscious about my role in team-integrated care and will do my best for the clients to get enough support from their friends and families. In addition, I am going to develop and use such psychological approach which would be effective. It will be possible due to the use of population-based data and integrated knowledge from other fields of science like biology, sociology or genetics. In addition, my goal is to provide practice-based outcomes research and program evaluation. It is especially important for me to stay current with recent psychological research and to be able to conduct it. Finally, my goal as of psychologist is to put aside the psychology conflicts over professional education and training models and to focus on specifying the competency to be attained (Lehrer 89). I consider the goal is to develop the proper approach and apply psychology science in teaching and learning process, as well as promote excellence along with defining minimum standards. Professional Competencies The most important quality in the work of the psychologist is professional competence, which includes professional knowledge, skills and abilities. Those are the traits which make me competitive enough in labor market. Professional competence of the psychologist is manifested in the creative nature of psychological activities, in an active search for innovative approaches and innovative technologies, personal initiative and professional communication skills (Lewis and Zibarras 63). The professional knowledge of the psychologist includes not only knowledge in the field of psychology, but also in the field of philosophy, history, cultural studies, pedagogy, economics, sociology, political science, law, philology and physical education. Integrity and ethics are also those qualities without which, in my opinion, the good psychologist cannot work. It is especially important to highlight the importance of psychologists clarity of objectives. One should be conscious about why he/she is actually doing this and why is applying certain methods in different situations. The psychologist must honestly answer the questions about his real purposes. Finally, the success of the psychologist depends on ones ability to empathy. Empathy occurs when one person is talking to another and means that the consultant sensitively and accurately responds to the clients experience, as if it was his own experiences. The absence of psychologists assessment allows client to accept himself and variety of his/her feelings. Empathy also helps to understand the reasons for the lack of openness and define the fears of the client (Guerney, Stollak and Guerney 276). Professional Requirements Any psychologist in order to get the right for practice needs the license. It means that one should first of all get a degree from accredited institution and then complete the requirements of the American Psychological Association. Specific requirements vary from the type of position. Psychologist must choose what type of patient care he/she wants to provide – clinical, counseling or school psychologist – and then to practice only within the scope of the expertise. In order to become clinical or counseling psychologist, one should get a doctorate in psychology, take part in internship and have at least one or two years of professional experience. Finally, to become the psychologist, an applicant should pass an exam. Still, to become a psychologist it is not enough just to get a degree and license. One should also be emotionally stable strong leader, who would be both sensitive and emotionally stable and be able to work both independently and in team (Lewis and Zibarras 64). Self-Assessment The successful work in the field of psychology requires appropriate skills. I have such qualities both necessary and important for each scientist as a spontaneous curiosity, the ability for a long time to analyze the same problems, the relatively high degree of scientific talent, which involves the developed memory, creative thinking, imagination and observation. In order to be successful, psychologist must constantly raise the level of own professional competence. That is why I regularly participate in specialized seminars on different issues of psychology. Introspection of experience and self-improvement of professional skills will help me to achieve better results in my work. Action Plan Thus, to become a professional psychologist first of all I need to get Psychology degree. Then, in case I want to practice independently I need to get some supervised experience as a psychologist and apply for the license. Along with that it is necessary for me to develop my personal skills, as far as good psychologist must be good in communication, analysis, observation and problem-solving. Some technical skills are also important for the successful career of the psychologist, so I must be good in using the biofeedback equipment and be competent with statistical, client-data, test-scoring and scheduling software (Kuittinen and Räty 18). Conclusion To conclude Id like to pay attention once more, that the effective, successful psychologist worse nothing without certain skills and knowledge, while the formation of these skills and the acquisition of knowledge depends on the personal qualities of the individual consultant. In addition, it is worth to remember that empathy largely determines the success of the client’s cooperation with the psychologist. Thus, it is impossible to determine what is primary and what is secondary in the work of psychologist. Parity of personal qualities and professional competence should be balanced, techniques and methodology of the work should be combined with the qualities of the individual, and the consultant himself should also be constantly developing. References 1. Guerney, B., Stollak, G., & Guerney, L. (1971). The practicing psychologist as educator: An alternative to the medical practitioner model. Professional Psychology, 2(3), 276. 2. Kuittinen, M., & Räty, H. (2015). Becoming a Graduate Professional Psychologist: In What Ways are Professional Competences Perceived. International Journal of Psychological Studies, 7(2), 18. 3. Lehrer, J. (2010). How we decide. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. 4. Lewis, R., & Zibarras, L. (2013). Ethical and research skills you will need as an occupational psychologist. Work and occupational psychology: integrating theory and practice. London: Sage Publications Ltd, 52-88. Read More