Life after training: Professional experiences of early career clinical and counselling psychologists in South Africa

Abstract

We aimed to gain an in-depth understanding of the lived professional experiences of early career clinical and counselling psychologists in South Africa. Our informants were four early career psychologists (females = 2, males = 2; clinical = 2, counselling = 2; period in service = 1 to 7 years). They completed semi-structured interviews on their critical early career professional experiences, as well as the meanings they attributed to these experiences. Interpretative phenomenological analysis of the data yielded four super-ordinate themes: (i) training as a ‘rite of passage’; (ii) expectations for a professional future; (iii) entering the professional psychology workspace; and (iv) future career directions. Findings suggest employment opportunities in the healthcare system to influence the professional socialisation of early career psychologists in addition to their personal choices. Systemic factors appear to explain why South African psychologists would opt to practice privately, and why debates on the profession’s relevance, accessibility, and credibility may continue unabated.