About a course advise

Good day, so I have a bachelors in biochemistry, but I also have a big passion for psychology. I have already had internships as a biochemistry graduate in the field of occupational health and safety and technical innovation. I would like to further my course of study to probably psychology but wouldn't mind going to medical school so that I can have access to studying psychology as a graduate degree masters that is then further specialising in the field. any advice would be helpful if I would have a direct access to studying a master's in psychology with my degree in biochemistry.

Reply 1

MindMax2000

Universities Forum Helper

Original post by darkhartogbuall

This is confusing. Do you intend to become an occupational therapist or do you want to go into clinical psychology?

I wouldn't say you should do med school unless you are thinking of going into medicine or become a psychiatrist. This is a full on 13+ years endeavour and involves more to do with medicine than psychology.

If you want to go into occupational therapy, see the following job profiles:
https://nationalcareers.service.gov.uk/job-profiles/occupational-therapist
https://www.healthcareers.nhs.uk/explore-roles/allied-health-professionals/roles-allied-health-professions/occupational-therapist
https://www.prospects.ac.uk/job-profiles/occupational-therapist
https://www.careerpilot.org.uk/job-sectors/admin-hr-legal/job-profile/occupational-therapist
The general consensus is that you should do an approved degree in occupational therapy approved by the HCPC and RCOT. These are specific degrees, so you can't just do a degree with occupational therapy in its title.
The good news is that you can generally do an MSc in Occupational Therapy with an undergrad in any subject (so long you have the grades) and this should qualify you to become one.
Note, this is also an allied health profession, so you usually get NHS funding for your degree as well.

If you want to go into clinical psychology, then you're looking at least completing an approved doctorate in clincal psychology. To do this, you would need at least a BPS accredited conversion degree in psychology (due to your undergrad) and possibly a specialist master's (but not always necessary) before applying for your doctorate. Getting the doctorate is ridiculously competitive, and some people spend one or 2 years working as a mental health practitioner before applying for the doctorate. It's tough.
For BPS accredited degrees, see: https://portal.bps.org.uk/Accredited-Courses
https://www.prospects.ac.uk/job-profiles/clinical-psychologist
https://www.bps.org.uk/clinical-psychologist-job-profile
https://nationalcareers.service.gov.uk/job-profiles/clinical-psychologist
https://www.healthcareers.nhs.uk/explore-roles/psychological-therapies/roles/clinical-psychologist
https://www.careerpilot.org.uk/job-sectors/medical/job-profile/clinical-psychologist
Again, these are specialist degrees that are approved by a professional body. You need to be specific and check that the degree or course is what you need. If it isn't, then you would need to do another degree on top to meet the requirements.

If on the other hand, you just want to go into research in psychology, then you do a psychology conversion course, then do a PhD in psychology, which are difficult to get but not as bad as those for clinical psychology.

Do also note, a therapist/counsellor is not the same thing as a clinical psychologist and not regulated as occupational therapy. You would need to be specific about what you are looking for. The healthcare sector can be a very confusing field to navigate, and probably have a lot of hoops to jump through for even a specific career.