Allied Health Professionals
Real life stories
I have spent all my working life in psychology because I am fascinated by people and by understanding the reasons for their behaviour.
I went straight into engineering from school and after 24 years was getting to the point where I felt I needed a change. It was getting a job as a technical instructor with an occupational therapy department that pointed me in a new direction.
A year after qualifying as a radiographer, I moved to a big London teaching hospital to get experience with the specialised procedures that were being developed, particularly in trauma services and CT scanning. Radiography was advancing quickly and I was keen to keep up.
My first experience of speech and language therapy was as a volunteer with a local stroke rehabilitation group. I think my mum came up with the idea that I might like it as a career, so I volunteered in order to find out more. I enjoyed it and the experience helped with my university application because there’s strong competition for places.
I’d been in office work for ten years when I stopped to have my son. I knew I wanted to go back to something different, working directly with people rather than paper-pushing.
* For the purposes of grouping occupations together, psychologist is listed in this section of the website but it is not an occupation covered by the remit of the Department of Health Chief Allied Health Professions Officer.
