As a psychologist, my focus lies on strengthening mental well-being and putting clients back in control."
"During my Bachelor's, I was broadly educated in the field of psychology. I was looking for more depth in positive clinical psychology, and, as I wanted to work as a psychologist within mental healthcare, I had to take a clinical master's. I ended up choosing the specialisation in Positive Clinical Psychology & Technology at the University of Twente. What made this specialisation unique was the progressive view of the power of positive psychology combined with traditional clinical training. This interested me and it fitted with who I am as a person.
Working at DOPPA Zorg
I like my current job as a psychologist at DOPPA Zorg. I can use much of what I learnt during my Master's, such as a strong basis in positive cognitive therapy. I treat clients mainly through cognitive behavioural therapy. Depending on the request, I choose - together with the client - a positive psychological approach. This means that we make use of the specific strengths and qualities of a client. This strengthens mental well-being and puts clients back in control. I integrate components from Acceptance and Commitment Therapy and mindfulness into the treatment. Many clients benefit from an approach in which there is room for both their psychological issues and their personal strengths, something that I can support well because of what I learnt in this specialisation.
As a psychologist, you keep learning throughout your career by gaining experience, but also by following courses and post-master's such as the GZ education (GZ-opleiding in Dutch), in order to become a licensed psychologist in mental healthcare. It can be scary to start as a psychologist when you don't know everything yet. That's why you are linked to a supervisor so that you can make treatment choices together. Looking back on the master's, I think many subjects were covered, but I would have liked to learn even more about diagnostics and practice having conversations about difficult subjects. But all in all, the basis is good and you can rely on the experience you gain later in your career.
I find the cooperation with psychologists, remedial educationalists and other therapists very instructive, valuable and fun. Every other week, we have a multidisciplinary meeting to discuss cases. It is useful to hear and understand the perspectives of the problem from different disciplines. My team is involved and enthusiastic. We act in the best interest of a client or family and together we work towards appropriate treatment.
Future prospects
In five years, I hope to still be working for the same employer, but as a licensed (GZ-)psychologist. But who knows, maybe something completely different will come my way, which is also very nice. I was trained to treat adults but now I also treat a lot of children, something I didn't expect before."