Psychologist
What the work is
Provides individuals and groups with evidence-based assessment, prevention, intervention and treatment to foster personal, social, educational and occupational wellbeing and development.
Would you enjoy the work?
These are the main tasks in the official description. Mark how each one sounds to you.
- Conducts psychological assessments to inform diagnosis, treatment, intervention, report writing or research, and to address clients' mental health and wellbeing needs
- Develops and implements prevention, intervention and treatment strategies to address psychological, social, emotional, health, educational, developmental and behavioural issues and disorders
- Develops and implements assessments, interventions and recommendations for organisations and decision-makers to address psychological, social, cultural, occupational and forensic needs
- Provides crisis intervention and support to individuals and communities in distress
- Monitors and evaluates the progress of clients, groups, communities and programs during prevention, intervention and treatment
- Maintains accurate and confidential client records, and provides reports for third parties when required
- Collaborates with other Professionals to deliver multidisciplinary assessment, intervention, and treatment
- Provides supervision for psychology students, peers and other Professionals
- May conduct research and collect data to contribute to the evidence base and the field of psychology
Try it
A simulation and a case study from this kind of work, set in a psychology practice shared with other health professionals, and visits to local schools. They are fictional.
The kind of days you could have
Good days
- A child finally understands why school has been hard and starts to feel proud
- A client names a pattern in their life for the first time and looks lighter
- A report you wrote changes how a whole school supports a student
Hard days
- Writing long reports late into the evening with more waiting on the desk
- Holding firm on confidentiality when people close to the client want answers
- Knowing a person needs more help than the waiting list allows
Written by Career Calling as a general guide. Real roles vary by employer and place.
Work a mission
Step into a simulated workplace in this field, with a brief from your manager.
Description and tasks: Australian Bureau of Statistics, Occupation Standard Classification for Australia, 2024, Version 1.0 (opens another site), occupation 261231, used under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 licence. The skill guide above is our plain English summary.