TONI TALKS PSYCHOLOGY

Well. Here I am. A forty-something BSc Psychology graduate from the University of Northumbria in Newcastle, embarking upon a Master of Research Psychology. 

Having lived a somewhat varied life, having found employment in a range of highly fulfilling roles such as Koko the Clown in a children's soft-play area, chief button girl of a fabric department at a large well-known soft furnishing store, Building Society counter clerk, and self-employed general creative, I found my way to becoming a mature student as a mean's of paying the mortgage and keeping the roof over my head after some particularly icky life experiences lead me to develop PTSD and finding it difficult to work.

I did the sums and found that a student loan would keep me ticking over whilst I got myself well again and decided upon psychology under the misguided assumption that it would double up as therapy. 

My understanding of psychology as a discipline could not have been more wrong. However, as I progressed through my foundation year, I discovered that I had a bit of a flair for stats and analysis and as my understanding of psychology grew, so did my love for it, and after four years of healing, loss, a diagnosis of autism,  and a global pandemic I found myself graduating with 1st class honours and not anywhere near ready to finish my psychology journey. 

So, here I am on my MRes Psychology, with hopes and aspirations that I could not have fathomed four years ago, and the wish to pursue a career as a researcher in psychology, in the hope that I can gain insight into the factors that lead to my difficulties in the hope that those that follow may have an easier time.