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Pursuing psychology or mental health nursing

I am certain I want to be a clinical psychologist or therapist, I'm preparing to apply to unis and am unsure whether to pick psychology or mental health nursing. I want to be able to work after uni to fund my post-grad education, mental health nursing will allow me to gain significant experience whilst doing so. I don't mind doing a conversion course in psychology. My one con is dropping my dream of studying psychology but I'm so worried I won't be able to find relevant work experience after my bachelor's due to the competitiveness of the course. There is a huge risk due to the no man's land in psychology between the BSC and MSc! Can someone advise me which route would be best, I just want to be prepared for the Dclinpsy whilst also having an earning potential and steady life to fund my further education! Help would be much appreciated 💗

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Original post
by Munknown20
I am certain I want to be a clinical psychologist or therapist, I'm preparing to apply to unis and am unsure whether to pick psychology or mental health nursing. I want to be able to work after uni to fund my post-grad education, mental health nursing will allow me to gain significant experience whilst doing so. I don't mind doing a conversion course in psychology. My one con is dropping my dream of studying psychology but I'm so worried I won't be able to find relevant work experience after my bachelor's due to the competitiveness of the course. There is a huge risk due to the no man's land in psychology between the BSC and MSc! Can someone advise me which route would be best, I just want to be prepared for the Dclinpsy whilst also having an earning potential and steady life to fund my further education! Help would be much appreciated 💗

I will throw the following up in the air:

Did you know that you can do a MSc in mental health nursing at some unis with an undergrad in any subject, including psychology? See list here: https://www.nmc.org.uk/education/approved-programmes/

Did you know, once you have a degree you can often find jobs that accept graduates with degrees in any subject or jobs that require no degree at all?

Did you know, that for a number of professional jobs you don't need specific academic qualifications as opposed to professional qualifications for the specific field?

Did you know, that it's strongly recommended that you work as a wellbeing health practitioner after a psychology degree before applying for your doctorate? See: https://nationalcareers.service.gov.uk/job-profiles/primary-care-graduate-mental-health-worker

Did you know, you can act as a therapist/counsellor without advanced degrees but it's recommended that you get training and at least NVQ Level 3 qualifications prior to doing so?


I don't exactly know how much funding you would need to supplement your postgrad education, so it's difficult to say.

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