Hello, all!
I am a psyhology graduate (4-year bachelors programme) and currently working on my MSc thesis. Up until April, my heart was set on working in the field of Health Psychology, so I pursued an MSc on Stress and Health Promotion. My thesis should be finished by October, and the Head of my MSc has approached me with an offer to hire me in one of the EU-funded programmes he is in charge of, once I graduate. Ironically, a little before receiving this offer, I had a complete change of heart regarding my career. I realised that I have always had a strong interest in sexuality (sexual orientation, gender, paraphilias) but I had never before considered it in terms of career options. Perhaps my perception was limited by the way sexuality is approached in my side of Europe -there is a distinct lack of classes, research programmes, or conferences, on the subject over here. So this is the data I am working with at the moment:
-Location is not a problem -I'm willing to relocate to another country or continent once I find a programme that fits my needs, though I have a strong preference for the UK (I just happen to love England).
-I have figured out that my interests are:
On a clinical level, offering counseling and/ or therapy services to people across the LGBTQI spectrum, regarding issues that touch upon sexual orientation and gender identity, offering support to Trans people pre- and post- transition, and offering support to people suffering from pedophilia, and other paraphilias.
In terms of research, I would like to work on developing behavioral interventions for people at risk of commiting violent sexual crimes against adults or minors, with a focus on pedophilia.
I am at a loss regarding my next step. Should I go for a PhD on the subject of pedophilia and look into developing interventions to prevent offending? Would I approach such a subject in a Forensic Psychology or Clinical Psychology PhD? And what possible career paths are there after I have completed such a PhD?
Or should I first pursue a (more generic) degree in counseling/ psychotherapy, with a focus on LGBTQI, and postpone working with paraphilias in research? (Keeping in mind that I have been told by members of the staff at my University that I am too young to apply for a PhD at the age of 25, and that I have no relevant work experience for the PhD I'm interested in).
At any case, I know that I am coming from a very different field, and I am thinking of taking a gap year before my next round in Academia, to read up on the subjects that I want to focus on. Any advice you have to offer would be apprecciated, because, as you can see, my thoughts are a bit tangled at the moment.
I am a psyhology graduate (4-year bachelors programme) and currently working on my MSc thesis. Up until April, my heart was set on working in the field of Health Psychology, so I pursued an MSc on Stress and Health Promotion. My thesis should be finished by October, and the Head of my MSc has approached me with an offer to hire me in one of the EU-funded programmes he is in charge of, once I graduate. Ironically, a little before receiving this offer, I had a complete change of heart regarding my career. I realised that I have always had a strong interest in sexuality (sexual orientation, gender, paraphilias) but I had never before considered it in terms of career options. Perhaps my perception was limited by the way sexuality is approached in my side of Europe -there is a distinct lack of classes, research programmes, or conferences, on the subject over here. So this is the data I am working with at the moment:
-Location is not a problem -I'm willing to relocate to another country or continent once I find a programme that fits my needs, though I have a strong preference for the UK (I just happen to love England).
-I have figured out that my interests are:
On a clinical level, offering counseling and/ or therapy services to people across the LGBTQI spectrum, regarding issues that touch upon sexual orientation and gender identity, offering support to Trans people pre- and post- transition, and offering support to people suffering from pedophilia, and other paraphilias.
In terms of research, I would like to work on developing behavioral interventions for people at risk of commiting violent sexual crimes against adults or minors, with a focus on pedophilia.
I am at a loss regarding my next step. Should I go for a PhD on the subject of pedophilia and look into developing interventions to prevent offending? Would I approach such a subject in a Forensic Psychology or Clinical Psychology PhD? And what possible career paths are there after I have completed such a PhD?
Or should I first pursue a (more generic) degree in counseling/ psychotherapy, with a focus on LGBTQI, and postpone working with paraphilias in research? (Keeping in mind that I have been told by members of the staff at my University that I am too young to apply for a PhD at the age of 25, and that I have no relevant work experience for the PhD I'm interested in).
At any case, I know that I am coming from a very different field, and I am thinking of taking a gap year before my next round in Academia, to read up on the subjects that I want to focus on. Any advice you have to offer would be apprecciated, because, as you can see, my thoughts are a bit tangled at the moment.