Reflections on career transitions within counselling and psychotherapy – Ayan Ali
Reflections on career transitions within counselling and psychotherapy – Ayan Ali
When do you start introducing yourself to people as a ‘counsellor/psychotherapist’ and leave your former professional identity and career behind? How do counsellors navigate the transition from trainee/honorary and start to make a living from their new profession? Ayan will share her experience of working in a university counselling service setting as her role changed. She will discuss returning to Birkbeck years after graduating, this time in the staff directorate on the Group Relations Conference. Ayan will reflect on themes such as group dynamics and her perspective as a black female before inviting an open and interactive discussion on transitioning to a counselling career.
Ayan Ali, following a career in television production and teaching, went on to complete the adult MSc in Psychodynamic Counselling and Psychotherapy at Birkbeck in 2015. She has counselling experience in the NHS and a university setting. She is also a Specialist Mental Health Mentor in higher education and will be the Administrator on the Birkbeck counselling course’s 2019 Group Relations Conference.
