8 - Alumni Spotlight: Alisha Mehta
We caught up with Alisha Mehta (Class of 2016), who left Trinity to study psychology at the University of Bristol. She did a Masters’ degree at UCL and worked as an assistant psychologist in an NHS team that supports the mental health of sixth formers in schools across south London. She is now doing her doctorate in Clinical Psychology at UCL and will qualify as a psychologist in 2025.
Did you always want to become a psychologist? I always wanted to work with people and in healthcare, but not as a psychologist specifically. I liked sciences but was also quite creative at school, so I wanted a job that would combine all my interests. During medical work experience, I was drawn to patients’ life stories and was more interested in learning about how to support them with their emotional difficulties, rather than their physical symptoms. These reasons (combined with a couple of fainting spells on ward rounds!) steered me towards studying psychology at university and I haven’t looked back since.
What has been your biggest challenge so far?
U6 CXM form class at their Sixth Form Prom (2016)
The journey to clinical training is not straight forward, and
I had to get a lot of relevant experience before attempting to apply. I did some volunteering with charities and completed unpaid placements before finally getting my first paid job as an assistant psychologist last year. At the time, I felt frustrated by the uncertainty of the career path but in hindsight, the learning opportunities and the reward from these experiences made me more determined, committed and prepared for training. I would advise aspiring psychologists to not be put off by these challenges, but to be aware of the organisation and tenacity required to get a place on training.
Have you been able to see the impact of your work with sixth form students you’ve worked with? It’s been really rewarding to see the positive changes in sixth formers that I have worked with. In a nutshell, the service works individually and with groups of sixth formers, to help them understand the impact of stress and share evidence-based techniques that can help them to cope better. Each student sets a personal goal to improve their mental health that the team supports them to achieve. Overall, the students this year