Reflections on the Careers E-Mentoring Scheme, LEAP 2020/21

Hannah (English and Sociology) 

In my final year of university, I chose to apply for the university’s e-mentoring scheme. For a long time, I was clueless when it came to thinking about what I wanted to be and what kind of career path I wanted to go down. I was often frustrated that my degree didn’t fit neatly into a specific future career path, like law or medicine. I had flitted about between different ideas; art, teaching, journalism. But in the summer, I realised that the thing I enjoyed most and got the most satisfaction out of was helping others. I also knew that I massively cared about mental health and encouraging people to talk about their problems. My personal experiences with therapy had taught me a lot about myself, and my therapists had really made a difference in my life. I want to be able to do that for others. Making a career out of this seemed perfect to me, and I decided that I wanted to pursue the path of psychotherapy and counselling.  

Coming into my third year, I had a pretty good idea as to what I wanted to do in my future career. When the opportunity to discuss these ambitions with a University of Leeds graduate came up, I was really eager to apply. Fortunately, I got onto the scheme, and I began my mentoring relationship with Jamie, a school counsellor who had graduated from Leeds with a Masters in psychotherapy and counselling.  

I was hugely excited to be able to see what kind of advice and guidance Jamie could offer me at the beginning of my journey into becoming a counsellor. I had already obtained a Level 2 qualification in counselling skills by this time, and I was keen to see how the skills I had already learnt could be put into practice. For one afternoon every week, Jamie and I would discuss how he got to where he was, and how I could get there too.   

In each session, we would talk through the different aspects of going into counselling and therapy as a career. Like me, Jamie had done an undergraduate degree that didn’t necessarily relate to his current job. This reassured me and made me feel as if I wouldn’t feel behind if I did the MA course. We also talked through the counselling and psychotherapy masters that he undertook at Leeds. We discussed what it took to get onto the course, what the modules were like, what kinds of assessments he had to do, and the placement he went on as a part of his course. This gave me a really useful insight into what I could expect from the masters, and also how the masters could lead on to a counselling job in the future.  

My sessions with Jamie were incredibly valuable. They reaffirmed my plans to go into counselling and psychotherapy, and gave me the kind of knowledge and insight that wouldn’t have been available to me if I hadn’t applied to the scheme. Since the scheme ended, I have become a volunteer mentor with IntoUniversity and am now giving advice and guidance to a young, disadvantaged student. Jamie really inspired me to realise how much I enjoy working with young people and I’ve hugely enjoyed working with IntoUniversity. I’m currently in the process of applying to a graduate job with this same organisation, and hope to continue building my skills in counselling and apply to the university’s psychotherapy and counselling masters in the future.