Reflections on the 6-month podcast anniversary & a competition!

(: 00:28

Hi, welcome along to this aspiring psychologist podcast. Thank you for listening. And thank you as ever for being part of my world. I just wanted to use today's episode to really think about, well, the podcast really, we just turned six months old, um, on the 24th of June, I'm speaking to you at the start of July as I record this. And so I thought it'd be a really nice chance to reflect and consider the episodes that have gone before. What it's been like for me to record those episodes and some of the feedback that I've received and you might be thinking, how many people listen to these episodes Maryanne? And I'm gonna tell you, I'm gonna give you an up to the minute as of 10 minutes ago, overview of how many people are listening to each episode.

(: 01:36

Hopefully if you've missed any episodes, this might encourage you to listen back to them as well. That would be wonderful. Right, so as you may know, the podcast recently exceeded 9,000 downloads in the six month period. As of this very minute, we are at 9,453. So I really think and hope by the time you listen to this in a few weeks time that we will have surpassed the 10,000 download mark, which is no mean feat. I host my podcast on a platform that I pay for. They contacted me to let me know that most podcasts don't get beyond 20 episodes. So to be able to be celebrating today, the release of episode 30, it feels really lovely and it feels really good that people are really enjoying the content. So, to be celebrating almost 10,000 downloads in six months for an idea that I just came up with one evening when I was cooking dinner, I just literally thought, right.

(: 02:59

I could totally do a podcast for aspiring psychologists. I'm just gonna get started. I'm gonna record some episodes and I'm gonna just keep going. I'm gonna motivate myself. I'm gonna edit them. I'm gonna think of some stuff that I would've liked to listen to when I was an aspiring psychologist, and then I'm gonna see what people think. So that's what I did. Yeah, it's been really lovely hearing from you how you are slotting this into your lives and into your weekly schedules. I know that one of you likes to listen while she's at the gym in between reps. I say, I can't believe you do that. You know, in between reps, I sit and pant like so well done to you. I'm sure you know who you are. Others of you like to go running and listen.

(: 03:59

Um, others of you like to listen to me before you go to bed, you're slotting this into your practice and really enjoying it. I know someone else who listens whilst they're on the treadmill as well. So this is good stuff, you know, and it feels like a real honor and a real privilege. If you are an avid listener, you will have noticed, sounds and changes in my audio over time. And I'm hoping that this current one is gonna be a good fit. Cuz I rigged up my boom arm and everything and I'm sitting in a very boring room as I speak to you. My laptop seems to be a little bit noisier than ideal today, but I'm hoping this sounds alright for you. So with no further ado, let's have a look at the stats for the episodes and what each episode has been.

(: 05:01

So the trailer was launched a couple of weeks I think before the main launch in December because I wanted to get the podcast all approved which can take a few days. It actually took a few weeks for apple so that I would be ready to share it more widely so that as soon it was launched, people would be able to get their hands on it. So the trailer was launched something mid-December and it's just a couple of minutes I think I probably could do with re-recording it really to make it a little bit puncture. So that might add that to my to-do list, but so far the trailers had 486 downloads. So thank you to each one of you who's listened to that. Um, the first ever episode, which was released along with episode two and three on Christmas Eve 2021, was called “making the most of not that relevant psychology experience”.

(: 06:07

And that is the one where I talk to you about office chair, Olympics, and soup But you felt like a really nice episode and people have said they found it really useful and gave them some lot lots of ideas. That has had a whopping 719 downloads, which is really, really good. I believe that might be our most popular episode so far. So, you know, to those 719 people, if you've not been back to listen to other episodes, why not? What did I do wrong? What were you expecting? What were you hoping for perhaps you didn't like the jingles in which case maybe we are not meant to be friends. But you know, what made you stop listening? You know, I know we've all got busy lives, but what made you not click on and listen to episode two, cuz you could have done as it was available that day.

(: 07:03

So, if you have only listened to one, or you never even got around to, to listening, perhaps you subscribed and started episode one, but never came back to it. And now you're listening to this episode, which I think is 32 or 33 I got bit lost. How could I encourage you to go back through to listen to them? So thank you for those of you who did listen and who went on to listen to episode two, which is making the most making the most I'm totally gonna leave that in. So that you know I'm not a complete control freak. Making the most of supervision and the supervisory relationship was episode two and that's had as of now 586 downloads, which is great. Supervision is so key to so much of what we do and it's really part of our formative experiences.

(: 08:07

It can feel really good. It can feel really bad. It can make us think we're good enough psychologist. It can make us think we are great. It can make us think we're not very good and we should quit the profession. So getting it right and being able to work through any difficulties is so important. And within that episode, there was an option for being able to download my free supervision shaping tool. Do look out for that as well. Episode 3, it was navigating life events as an aspiring psychologist and that was all sorts of things, really grief, parenting, trauma. I think we touched on…what else was there splitting up of a relationship? All those kinds of things. And that has had 359 downloads so far. There's a bit of a theme coming on here, which I will highlight imminently, keep listening wont you.

(: 09:13

Episode four was self-compassion as an aspiring psychologist and honestly it is so key. You absolutely need it. I know it doesn't sound very exciting. Doesn't sound very sexy, but you need it. And in order to get through and I dunno, survive endure, what's going ahead. You need to welcome it into your life. So under 324 people who've listened to that episode, but I think that one needs to be the most popular episode really because it's so key. Episode five, creating opportunities for teaching training and consultation is one of our most poorly listened, two episodes, of the original kind of set and that's 270. But it's a really key part of the strands of being near clinical psychologist. So do listen to that one, which is episode five. Episode six, developing skills in noninvasive history taking, that was a special request.

(: 10:29

That was one that someone had asked me to record and that has had 299 listens so far. So that's really good. Let's keep that going because it's a really key skill in your developing career as a psychologist, regardless of what branch of psychology you'd like to specialize in, it's a really important skill. So do take a listen to that. Episode six, outcome measures is episode seven and that will run through everything you do, probably in whatever sphere of psychology you get involved with as well. So do take a listen to that. 319 of you have done so far episode eight, so eight is boundary setting for yourself and your clients. And that's really important stuff such as turning up on time and making the most of the sessions and the time and being honest about any difficulties and setting guidelines for what's acceptable to wear during a zoom session, you know. Being naked from the waist up…

(: 11:47

not cool for me. I need you to be wearing some clothes if we're doing a zoom session, stuff like that. And 333 of you have listened to that. So far episode nine, was the first of the ones I didn't record all in one go. So I did all of the first eight, I did over a course of a few days and then got them edited and scheduled, done all the snippets and done all the show notes. It was like a super slick operation when I first started. 9 was the first one that I'd done, when I knew that people were listening. So that felt kind of cool and I did the first eight, it was just me chatting to myself, not knowing if anyone would ever listen.

(: 12:34

Episode nine is “Yay, You've got the job”. So now what, and that kind of touches on imposter syndrome really. And whether we feel like we are enough and 325 of you have benefited from the wisdom within that. Episode 10 is how to optimally prepare for a psychology interview. And it won't surprise you, but I think that is the most downloaded other than the trailer so far. That is at 640 downloads. So yeah, it's a good one. People have found it useful. They said that it was really useful. So, if you've got any kind of interview coming up within your psychology career, it'd be that for relevant psychology experience or voluntary honorary experience, doctoral experience, a masters… I dunno, anything you like give that a listen episode 11 is about understanding trauma and why it matters really and why it's so prevalent in psychology to understand that and to truly have trauma informed service, you might listen to that episode and you'll be like, wow.

(: 14:00

She says a lot I thought we could have an UM challenge where people listen to it and try and count the ums. And if you wanna do that, you know, maybe we'll fling a prize in there as well. Let me know how many ums you can count in episode 11 of the aspiring psychologist podcast, which is all about trauma 368 of you have done so far. But yeah, if you wanna take part in the UM challenge, listen to that one. And the reason as I reflected when I listened to it back in my kitchen, I just hadn't noticed it when I edited it. When I listened back to it, I think it was just the really wanting to get it right. And when I spoke more recently to Kal who you will meet, or already have met, I think his episode 31, he gave me some really interesting insights into the word “um” and why we say it.

(: 15:00

So, yeah, as you're listening to this, which I think's like episode 33, I'm gonna say 32. I don't know. I'm not sure. Have a listen to the episode from Kal as well, as well as the episode about trauma episode eight. Did I say how many people have downloaded that? I think so, 368. Yes I did. Didn't I, okay. Episode 12 is all about resilience and whether it's always what it's cracked up to be in the world of psychology 224 of you've listened to that, but it's an incredibly useful episode. And so I would urge the rest of you to also listen to that as well. And because, you know, it's something that's spoken about a lot in psychology, but in a way of kind of, you just need to grid and bear it. You just need to get through and not be broken and dented by the process.

(: 15:59

But you know, it's a little bit of a rethink around that area and it's something that people talk a lot about in these, in the clinical psychologist collective as well. But I think that the resilience and the compassion and the life events and then also episode 13, you know, the health and wellness goals with O Matthews, 205 episodes for that 205 downloads for that one, all. So my theme is the ones that will actually help nourish you, not necessarily just teach you skills are the least downloaded episodes so far. And actually I think those are the ones that you need the most, and that will make the biggest difference to you personally and professionally. So yes, there can be a drive and a desire to, to learn and learn and take, take take, but we also need to be able to sit with ourselves and think about the things that we might be able to, you know, work through, improve or draw upon the skills we've already got going on for us.

(: 17:13

And, um, you know, knowing that we are enough rather than constantly feeling that urge to, you know, to learn more, you know, be more, um, so please do listen to the episodes that I've highlighted, but this case in point would be, do listen to the resilience episode, which is episode 12. So we've covered episode 13, which is health and wellness goals. And also thinking about orthorexia and eating disorders with the lovely O Matthews. Episode 14 was autoethnography what it is and how we can learn more about it and use it to talk about ourselves and our own story within psychology, which is a really key part of narrative therapy, but also helps you to build your skills in reflection. So 216 of you have listened to that. So far episode 15 is how to optimally prepare for presentations. It is incredibly important in psychology that you are able to do that. And it doesn't always mean like a PowerPoint job you know, it could just be presenting in ward round or talking about some of your research or even presenting within supervision. So, we've had 217 downloads of that so far, but we absolutely could do with some more because it's a really key skill now, as we're at episode 30, and we've just covered episode 15, let's pause here for a quick moment.

(: 19:03

*Jingles*

(: 19:43

Hi I'm max and a worker assistant psychologist in a learning disability service in west Yorkshire. Like most people working in psychology I'm slowly but surely working myself up to that seemingly impossible goal of getting onto the clinical doctorate with that goal in mind, I thought I'd have a look at what's out there and see what books might be helpful for this. I came across Maryanne's book, the clinical psychologist collective and decided that this would be a great buy for me to help me on my journey. I found Maryanne's book really informative. Most insightful. I especially liked how the stories reassured me that you don't need to be academically perfect to become a psychologist. And that as long as you have good interpersonal skills, such as compassion and empathy, you will get there. I would highly recommend this book to all aspiring psychologists and also those who want to know a bit more about the world of clinical psychology. It made them want to work in that field one day…

(: 21:30

Welcome back. Thanks for listening. Hope you liked the jingle. The jingles have been such a lovely part of this podcasting experience. I love a jingle. Are they in your head? Let me know, which is your favorite? So episode 16 was with the wonderful, Amy Brown, who works at Swanzi uni as a fairly prolific researcher and book publisher as well. And we were thinking about getting started in research and also kind of parental mental health and infant nutrition. And you absolutely should listen to this if you haven't already, because it's really useful stuff and stuff on parental mental health and kind of infant bonding is so key in the world of psychology. So if you've got kind of working background into that, it's gonna stand you in very good stead, especially if you're not yet a parent or don't plan to become a parent.

(: 22:30

Ugh, this morning walking my kids to school was stressful. I was thinking, I can't wait to, can't wait to get on with my day because you are driving me potty. But it's kind of tricky not to say that to the kids but we have to think about the impact of our words and how it would feel as they're in a math lesson, daydreaming to think my mommy couldn't wait to drop me off today. So I didn't say it, but I definitely thought it. Um, yes. So that was episode 16 with Amy Brown. Episode 17 is understanding working with risk as an aspiring psychologist. And that was just little old me talking about my experiences of working with risk and understanding and, you know, talking it through and planning for safety and, you know, reducing risk as well, 258 people have listened to that one so far.

(: 23:23

And episode 18 was with professor Graham Sten. And we were thinking about practically managing risk, you know, skills to set up a room and also working with the MDT as well to really become a cohesive team and a useful, and relied upon member of the team as well. And we've had 270 downloads of that one so far. Please do take a listen to these episodes if you haven't. Cause I think they're gonna be super useful for you. Episode 19 was with Dr. Steve Jones, and that was all about acceptance and commitment therapy and how that might help you as an aspiring psychologist. And Dr. Steve Jones is the author of act made Yorkshire. So do check that book out as well. If you haven't already episode 20, have I said, how many people downloaded that 371? I can't remember if I did or not.

(: 24:25

Episode 20 was with Dr. Ingram Wright and that was such a pleasure speaking with him. I really had fun learning from him. And what I really liked about him is that he's, he really wanted to learn about me as well. It wasn't just a one way street. And I really just, I felt like I was in the presence of greatness with with Ingram. So do listen to that episode 298 of you have so far as well already. Speaking of being in the presence of greatness, I was so nervous when I recorded episode 21, which is the formulation and the power threat meaning framework with Dr. Lucy Johnston. I just had a sense of, I'm not worthy. I'm not worthy, I'm not good enough. Because she'd been such an inspiration and such a help for me in my own career as an aspiring psychologist.

(: 25:24

So yeah, absolute pleasure to meet her via zoom and to get talking to her and produce a really useful podcast episode for you. It's no surprise that 574 of you have downloaded and listened to that so far, but if you haven't listened to it so far, maybe the title puts you off, you know, maybe you're like that sounds a bit boring. That sounds a bit dry. I'm not really not, not really that interested in learning about formulation actually to that. I say, you need to be , it's a really key part of being a psychologist, especially a clinical psychologist and Dr. Lucy's books on this are really, really worth a read as well. And within that episode, we talk about, you know, whether diagnoses are always useful and whether they can actually be harmful as well.

(: 26:19

So please do listen to that one episode 22 was recorded when I realized that I hadn't got one scheduled and I couldn't really be bothered. I didn't really feel like being a psychologist that day. And so I thought that was useful content. So it's how to be a psychologist when you're not in the mood. and it resonated with some of you cuz 254 of you have downloaded that, but you know, could be tricky when you are talking therapist or when you work with people, because sometimes we don't wanna play. Sometimes we just wanna stay in our bed and not play with anyone and not talk to anybody. And that is part of being human. But short of having many, many sick days, there are gonna be days when you are gonna have to go into work when you are not in the mood.

(: 27:16

So do take a listen to that. This next one makes me a bit sad, you know, episode 23 has only had 177 listens so far, and it's about supporting someone you love, if they're an aspiring psychologist or asking for support from people around you, if you are the aspiring psychologist and yeah, the theme continues, you know, the stuff that will nourish you is the least listened to. And I think that's the stuff that you most need to get through this journey. So, you know, please do listen, you know, go back to the beginning, listen again, go through this podcast series, as it builds, you know, grow with it, you know, get those jingles in your head and really what runs through all of my episodes is compassion. I want you to love what you are doing, but to love yourself in the process as well.

(: 28:28

It doesn't always need to be self criticism and meanness, you know, so please do listen to the ones that might not seem so appealing to you because it's all so important and such useful content. So yeah, let's increase the downloads of episode 23 and get you supporting yourself and asking for more optimal support as well. So episode 24 was about power imbalances and the fiduciary relationship between the clients we help when we are healthcare professionals. And that was a special request episode. That's had 176 download so far. I appreciate, it's not a very jazzy signing title, is it, but couldn't really think what to call it. So yeah, if you've got any suggestions for re-editing the titles of these podcast episodes, let me know. Because I know that strong podcast episode titles can be the make or break. It can be whether people want to listen or give them a miss.

(: 29:36

But it's really important stuff. For whatever branch of psychology you're working in and in any helping profession as well. 25 was about being a parent during training. And that was with do not Dr. Rose, but she will be Dr. Rose who is a third year trainee currently. She highlighted so many interesting and useful points about when you are a parent yourself as a psychologist especially during training, but also how you can optimally support any parents in your cohort or future cohort which is really important stuff to consider in terms of, you know, being a really good cohort member, friend, colleague. So have a listen to that, even if you don't want to become a parent yourself, or if you're not a parent yet episode 26 was what I've been asked to record about whether a masters is always needed to progress your career in psychology.

(: 30:39

And that was with Dr. Mel west of Newman university, and that's had 197 downloads so far. Episode 27 was how to approach the next application cycle. If you are feeling disappointed. It's really important and we need to be able to pick ourselves up again after we've had setbacks and knock backs, that's had 217 episodes so far. One of our newest episodes was the NHS working within it pre during and post training. That's had 169 downloads so far in just over a week since it was downloaded. Last week's episode was on educational psychology with the wonderful Dr. Michelle McDowell. And that's had 149 downloads within the last seven days. It's really interesting and useful to listen to, even if you don't want to become an educational psychologist yourself, because it, it gives you useful and interesting information about working within schools and getting to know the different bits and pieces that happen within the education setting.

(: 31:55

And today, I speak to you on a Monday as you know, new podcast episodes drop in on Mondays at 6:00 AM UK time. And that episode with Dr. Deborah Kingston episode 30 has of this very minute, I just refreshed had 41 downloads. So within a couple of hours, we've got 41 downloads and that will absolutely continue to build throughout the day and throughout the week, but episode 30, oh, it's such a pleasure. We discussed so many things. We discussed what it's like being dyslexic within the world of psychology and being diagnosed late with dyslexia, which Deborah was. Retraining from being in the military to then becoming a psychologist, a thesis wobbles when the thesis didn't work out and needed to be reset, such useful, interesting stuff, and with such compassion as well. And there's also stuff around working in forensic services and making a compassion difference is just spine tingling stuff.

(: 33:01

It really was. So that is our little whip through of the 30 episodes so far. You can easily catch up on them by going to my website, good thinking, psychology.co.uk/podcast. And today I actually installed a very wizzy podcast player on that episode. So in the past, I'd been trying to remember to upload each so manually. But today I've managed to work out how to do the podcast player so that all of the episodes will automatically load there. So that you can grab them there or you can access them via Spotify or Amazon music, Google, apple podcasts. And, you know, I'd be remiss if I didn't say, if you are listening on apple podcasts, please, if you do enjoy the content, could you just take a moment to rate and review the podcast series? It will not take you a minute.

(: 34:06

All you do is find the show. I'm gonna do it with you in real time. So if you go to the bottom of your podcast, app click library, and then click shows, scroll down to you, see mine, cuz you should be subscribing. You definitely should click on the green one, the aspiring psychologist podcast. And then in the top right corner, there's like a little menu. And if you, so that should load the show. And if you scroll down, down, down, down, down, down, down to, um, so at the moment, just underneath episode 23, it says trailer, if you scroll down below trailer, it will say ratings and reviews. So if you could just literally click on the five stars would be amazing. That would be great. But yeah, if you have an extra couple of minutes, if you just scroll below click right a review and you can leave a review to let other people know why you think it's a good thing to listen to, it makes such a difference.

(: 35:14

And also talking about subscribing, please do go and subscribe to my YouTube channel, which is where you can also see the videos of the guests on the podcast as well. And that is good thinking psychological services. And as I speak to you right now, we've had 209 subscribers and 212 videos. So yeah, come along and subscribe to the channel. Cuz other good stuff happens on there as well. So thank you for listening to this episode. I thought it'd be a really nice way of helping highlight any content that you might have missed. So hope you find it useful if you've got any special requests for episodes that you'd really like to listen to, or even people that you'd like me to interview, or maybe you'd like to pitch yourself to me to be interviewed on the aspiring psychologist podcast, then let me know, get in contact by going to my website, good thinking psychology dot code UK slash podcast.

(: 36:18

And at the top, there there's an option for how to get in contact or for how to request specific episodes that you might like. So yeah. Do all those good things. You'd be my new best friend. We can book ourselves an afternoon tea somewhere. That'd be marvelous. But yeah, it's been really nice recapping this last six months with you and you know, you being part of my world. I know I speak about that a lot, but I do not take it for granted. I am thrilled that you are here and I'm thrilled that you trust me to help develop guide shape and nurture you. So thank you once again for being part of my world and I will look forward to, I was gonna do a Peter K thing then, but I didn't think I could carry it off yeah.

(: 37:05

Like Charlie FM, I'm not gonna do it. I can't bring myself to say the words, but if, you know, if you've watched that, you'll know what I mean. Thank you for being part of my world. I'll look forward to catching up with you from 6:00 AM next Monday, when you can download the next episode of the aspiring psychologist podcast, which I will level with you. I am just about to record now. and then I'm gonna do lunch with Marianne for my people in the aspiring psychologist membership. And then I'm actually gonna have some lunch myself. I think I'll have some hummus and some rice cakes and some salad and maybe even some port Lou as well, cause port Lou rules maybe a bit of ham, like a nice little Polish kind of coleslaw thing, which I'm slightly addicted to tomatoes bit lettuce. Yeah. That's what I'm gonna do. And so yeah. Hope that's made you hungry. If it's breakfast time, it might not have done. It might be like, oh dear too early for thinking about hummus. But yeah, , that's my slightly oversharing about my lunch. I think I'm hungry. I think I'm hungry on that note. Take care of yourself. I'll catch up with you very soon.

(: 38:26

*Jingles*

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