My journey through career development and the setbacks

[Null79]

I began pursuing psychology in 2020. Prior to that, I worked for many years in the broadcasting and telecommunications industries. From 2016 to 2018, I experienced entrepreneurship, setbacks, and a low point in my career. After 2019, encouraged by my family, I decided to spend 3-5 years rebuilding my life's direction, making psychology my new long-term career path.

I first completed my Graduate Diploma in Psychology at UNSW, and then completed my Honours at the University of Newcastle. During those years, I persevered in my studies despite family and practical pressures, because I always believed that as long as I completed my Master's degree and internship along the proper Australian training path, I could achieve full registration.

From early 2023, due to financial pressures, I entered the mental health industry as a data analyst. By late 2024, I felt I needed to complete my Master's degree to truly enter the psychology career path, so I resigned and began pursuing my Master's at a college (they claimed they were an accredited provider of Master of Professional Psychology).

The problem arose during the internal placement process in the latter half of 2024. Resources available from the school were extremely limited at that time (a new clinic in Sydney), and I was assigned to almost only 1 client over 6 months. More challenging was the unequal power dynamics and communication style I experienced during the evaluation and feedback process. In the final evaluation, the school's conclusions did not reflect the positive feedback from my internal supervisor; instead, they used what I perceived as overly harsh, and even alarmist language to describe my performance. What I found particularly unacceptable was being labeled with the extremely negative tag of "public safety risk." This wasn't just a grade or comment; it was a denial of my professional identity, directly triggering intense shame, anger, and self-doubt.

What was even more agonizing was that this didn't end quickly. The subsequent complaints, reviews, and various procedures dragged on for nearly 7 months. For me, this period was a constant state of suspension: I was unable to complete my practicum, advance my studies, or psychologically detach myself from the situation. The prolonged waiting and uncertainty caused me significant physical and psychological reactions: anxiety, mood swings, recurring anger, panic and distraction while driving, and even triggers in my daily work. I later saw a GP and obtained a medical certificate. The GP clearly stated that I needed to leave the academic environment to recuperate and advised against returning to the same internal placement setting, as it posed a significant risk of re-traumatisation.

Before all this happened, I had always considered psychology as my main focus for the next 10 years. From UNSW to Newcastle, and then to my Master's program, I invested time, money, and a sense of identity. The result was failure and labelling in the final crucial placement (the school even said I posed a "public safety risk"). What I felt wasn't just ordinary frustration, but a "collapse of the safety system": it felt as if all my efforts had been brutally dismissed by a resource-scarce and opaque system. 

I'm back to square one, forced to start looking for a data analyst job all over again, and still no response. It feels like all my previous efforts were wasted.

[therising]

Hi Null79

To say all this is incredibly frustrating would be a massive understatement. I feel for you so much, given all your efforts and your initial passion when it comes to making a positive difference in the life of others.

I'm wondering whether instead of seeing it as a waste of time it could be considered a gateway experience into a specific area of psychology. Through a process of elimination, what area of psychology would you be most passionate about? Btw, I'm wondering what gained you the label of 'public safety risk'. Did anyone elaborate on that? While Freud did not specifically say that Jung was a public safety risk, he did point to some of Jung's practices as being somewhat dangerous in some ways. A matter of opinion. The question remains 'Are you really a public safety risk or are you perhaps a little on the fringe, like Jung?'.  

[Null79]

Thanks so much for your thoughtful message. I really appreciate the empathy and the time you took to respond.

Just to clarify the “public safety risk” label: it came from a disagreement during my first placement, with my very first client. I was inexperienced at the time and assessed the client’s suicide risk as low, while the supervisor assessed it as high. That difference in risk formulation became the basis for describing me as a “public safety risk”.

What I found hardest to accept is not that I made a learning error as a trainee, but that a single early-stage judgement call was escalated into such an extreme label. To me, that wording carries a heavy moral implication, and it has been profoundly distressing.

I am still reflecting on what area of psychology I want to commit to long term, but right now I am trying to recover from the impact of that experience and rebuild my professional confidence (probably not in psychology anymore).

Thanks again!

[therising]

Hi Null79

I think that some professional calls can come with experience. Kind of like 'Based on years of past experience, this feels like a case of...'. Even some long term professionals get it wrong, in a sense that it feels or seems like one thing but it's actually something altogether different. It may actually be something they've never come across before. In some cases with early stage professionals, the learning curves can come with significant consequences. Such is the case with a nurse giving out the wrong med, a psychologist making the wrong call or a surgeon making the wrong incision. This can partly explain why some people don't go for jobs or careers where the consequences can be great. I suppose you could say they're not brave enough to face making the wrong calls. 

Definitely questionable, the professional conduct risk assessment (especially being your first client). It would make sense to question 'How could this be a teaching moment in a professional's early career?' or 'What can be taught here, beyond textbook learning or textbook cases of what qualifies a client as being high risk?'. It can be more than fair to question whether the label of 'public safety risk' is a little premature and off the mark. It's kind of insane to think that part of an assessment is based on the nature of the assessor. Get someone different and they may see it as being a wake up call to a necessary teaching moment and that's it. Some can be harsh and closed minded, whereas others can be more thoughtful and open minded. 

While a professional mantra can be 'Do no harm', this should be expanded to 'Consciously do no harm'. No matter our age or level of experience, there are always going to be things in our life we're not entirely conscious of until we're made conscious of them. I believe it's all a part of the human experience, to become fully conscious.