Hi everyone,

My name's Lachlan and I'm halfway through my PhD. I am currently on track to finish it a fair bit ahead of schedule (I have 3.5 years of funding and will finish it in about 2.8 years). As such, I have started to think about jobs. The problem (or unique oppurtunity depending on how you look at it!!) is that my PhD and my undergraduate has been a bit of a mish-mash and left me not assigned to any one discipline. I majored in History and Criminology and am doing a PhD that looks at how exhibitions depicting mental health are received by museum visitors. I want to work in the field of mental health after graduating but I don't have a Psychology degree- almost everyone that works in this field has one. I'm just having trouble thinking of ideas as to where I could work in relation to mental health with a PhD like mine. I don't even really know what jobs exist in this field for someone without a psychology degree. I thought public policy could be good, but you probably need a background in public policy, etc, etc. I don't really want to work in museums and would love to work in mental health.

So, to recap, my expertise is analysing the impact certain mental health interventions have on peoples' attitudes towards mental health (in the case of my PhD- mental health within a museum setting and the general museum visitors that go to view it). Any suggestions on what sort of jobs I might qualify for, etc?

Thanks heaps, much love xoxoxo

I think if you have a certain research background, then this is helpful even if your PhD isn't exactly in psychology. I would say apply to jobs you want anyway - you never know, you might get lucky.

Maybe others can offer more specific advice for this area?

I agree with TreeofLife about trying and you might get lucky. Also, do you have a careers service at your institution who might be able to advise you or put you in contact with people who will be able to offer more specific advice (e.g., a mentor in the psychology department)?

By the way, being on track to finish before planning is rather inspiring! So it is possible? Cool!

All good suggestions. Thanks very much. Anyone else have any ideas ??

I think it depends on the kind of role you want in regards to mental health. I would think that your research experience would be fine for doing mental health-related research (and possibly policy/developmental roles) but for traditional psychologist jobs (clinical, educational psychologist and so on) there are specific qualifications and defined career paths. It is possible to get in to more 'hands on' roles through, for example, doing qualifications in things like counselling or coaching, if you wanted to work directly in helping people, and if you didn't mind doing some post-PhD training. I would advise having a chat with a careers advisor and you might also find the British Psychological Society website interesting.