What’s a day in the life of a psychologist like?

If you’re anything like me, you may get very curious about what a day in the life of another profession is like. I love being a clinical psychologist, and I love working in private practice doing one on one individual work. I have worked in hospitals before, but don’t find it as enjoyable as you’re not spending very long with clients and don’t get to work along side them over a longer period of time to support them.

So, what’s a day in the life look like for a psychologist?

I typically see between four to seven clients in a day. I want you to imagine the following scenario:

Imagine you are told you will be attending seven one hour meetings today. Not only that, but you will be facilitating all the meetings. During these meetings you can’t go to the bathroom, eat, talk about yourself (unless it’s very relevant) or check your phone. You have be the time keeper of those meetings, and the record keeper. You have to be fully present, whilst also thinking about where you’re going for the future with this person.

Once the meetings are over, the work is not done. You will need to write up notes, prep for the following meetings, have supervision and do professional development. If you work for yourself there may also be tasks around running a business (accounts, following up on payments, answering queries, responding to emails).

As you can see, being a psychologist can be an intense job! However, it is very rewarding and throughout your career you develop strong ways of managing and nurturing your own mental health. For me, that includes knowing what presentations I most enjoy working with, having strong boundaries, getting regular supervision, having a network of supportive colleagues, constantly learning (which I love and find energising) and having regular breaks from work.

If you would like to book in with a psychologist based in Sydney, you can click here

Photo by Kateryna Hliznitsova on Unsplash