Charlotte Harduin, Caroline Humeau & Clément Séjourné
Retraining as a psychologist !
For a long time, after graduation, we practised our profession all our lives, sometimes in the same company.
Generations have changed and “work medals” are no longer trophies hanging over the fireplace! Retraining is becoming more and more common these days. Sometimes in a completely different sector from the original training. These changes lead to psychological changes and generate a lot of emotions.
- What socio-economic context for professional reconversions today?
In our economic context, the demands for flexibility and mobility made on employees are increasing, while reorganisations in companies are deteriorating working conditions. These socio-economic developments and the transformations of the labour market lead to an insecurity of career paths (Berton, 2013)
Thus, lifelong learning is developing and making employees more active in their career paths.This easier access to training is likely to increase the desire to retrain. Professional reconversion is a form of transition characterised by a radical change of profession. Career changes are considered to be ‘bifurcations’ or ‘professional ruptures’ and are perceived as ‘turning points’, i.e. ‘a process that disrupts the life line and intervenes as a corrective element in the life course’ (Négroni, 2005, p. 333). However, retraining can also be a way of asserting oneself, rebelling or fulfilling one’s wishes.
2. From reconversion to emotions
These elements, which make up a process of profound change, are probably emotionally charged.
The individual undergoing retraining is likely to experience more or less intense and positive emotions which may, in turn, influence success or failure. What is the place of one’s emotions during this period of professional reconversion?
It is interesting to explore three processes underlying the career change process that are potentially emotion-generating: the triggering event, the mourning process and the introspection process.
- Triggering event
“The triggering event is only the observable part of the beginning of the reconversion: the reflection and the psychic process may have started long before. the reconversion may be triggered by a decline or a loss of interest in the practised profession, an impossibility to evolve, a feeling of dissatisfaction, a professional disengagement or a situation of suffering at work The accumulation of negative emotions could be considered as a predictor of career change.
- The mourning process
Research in this field has shown that a transition or reconversion indeed requires professional mourning (Alaphilippe, Gana, & Bailly, 2001; Boutinet, 1995; Négroni, 2013). By inducing a process of mourning, retraining implies a psychological work of distancing oneself from one’s former profession, which is essential in order to invest in other possibilities, and which is inevitably accompanied by intense emotional movements
- The introspection process
During retraining, the individual questions and reflects on him/herself, his/her skills and goals. This introspective time is necessary for the individual to reposition themselves and explore new career paths before committing to a new path. A period of training may be required. During this time, as an actor in his or her reconversion, the individual integrates new knowledge and socialises with his or her future profession: his or her identity is reshaped. A surpassing of oneself takes shape when negative emotions are reduced in favour of positive emotional manifestations. Suffering from professional transition is decreasing.
In short, professional reconversion should be considered as a genuine life experience whose emotional tone and intensity vary according to its characteristics (undergone, chosen, unpredictable, desired, etc.) and the way in which it is experienced, which is up to each individual. Thus, in order to be able to consider the extent of the emotional phenomenon that it involves and to identify the issues at stake for the world of work, support and guidance, it is fundamental to give emotions greater weight in the research conducted in this field
3. Our path
As a student in professional reconversion in the field of psychology, it is important to us to be able to testify on the various stages lived.
- Story of Caroline’s professional reconversion
“I have decided in 2019 to retrain professionally. After 11 years in the financial sector, I have taken a big turn in my life to go into psychology”.
My triggering event :
“My reconversion was triggered by a loss of interest in my job, which also generated suffering. Indeed, as a manager in the field of finance, I was feeling a lot of stress and anxiety. I had accumulated a lot of negative emotions over the years: always reaching more targets, commercial pressure, supporting teams in their professional development, with little recognition from my hierarchy.”
My mourning process :
It took me some time to decide to reorient myself in the field of psychology. Indeed, the birth of my third child and my one-year parental leave allowed me to prepare myself. I was then able to mourn my job, realising that no development in this field would be fulfilling. The support of my husband and my children also enabled me to envisage a second professional life, but I needed this time of personal development to be able to envisage professional reconversion with peace of mind. During this period, I had feelings of doubt, but also of hope and serenity.
My introspection process :
“An important time for me was devoted to the training I was going to choose: its content, its duration, and for what new professional opening? I knew that this reconversion would not be easy with three young children, a husband who is very busy professionally as a company director, and a home located an hour away from the university. But these components did not discourage me, I managed to organise myself to remain a mother and a woman present for her family. However, it was imperative that my whole family approve of this project so that I felt encouraged and supported.
The psychology course offered by the University of Nantes met my expectations. However, it was a long way to go before I became a psychologist. But I don’t regret these 4 years of university. Indeed, during this period I acquired a lot of knowledge and my identity was gradually reshaped. I no longer felt negative emotions related to my change of job and the loss of my past professional identity. On the contrary, I felt more positive emotions that carried me through these 4 years of training: pride, motivation, calmness, serenity, new projects, no more weariness…”
“I am now more fulfilled and proud of what I have achieved. Moreover, I think that maturity and experience have allowed me to see the professional reconversion more serenely.”
- Story of Clement‘s professional reconversion
I was at the conservatories of Angoulême and Bordeaux, then I was a music teacher. I have composed songs and recorded albums for other artists.
Clement’s triggering event :
One day I was practicing with my band in a concert hall and a group from an EMI class of children with Autism Spectrum Disorder came to visit the venue. They seemed to love listening to us play, and it created such a bond that one of the girls leaving gave me a kiss when she didn’t even let herself be touched by her educators. I understood that despite being non-verbal, a link had been created thanks to the notes and the rhythms.
Several anecdotes of this type led me to understand the links between music and well-being. This is one of the reasons that pushed me to study psychology.
Clement’s grieving process :
I don’t have a grieving process to go through, as I continue to be a musician. I compose less often and I rarely find myself in the recording studio, but I continue to play around sixty concerts a year.
Some of my teachers might also be unhappy because I sometimes have to miss classes to work.
They might say, “Clément is still absent today?”
Clement’s introspective process :
During my Master 1 internship, I really liked sharing my time between psychology and concerts. I have found a pleasant balance in these two areas of life that I enjoy. I want to continue to find my balance between psychology and music. My plan would be to do a thesis next year and to work as a psychologist one or two days a week. Besides that, I would like to compose and arrange to go back to the recording studio, even if it means doing fewer concerts.
- Story of Charlotte‘s professional reconversion
In 2009, after obtaining my nursing degree, I immediately started working in psychiatry. It is a field that fascinated me from the beginning and for which I feel a lot of gratitude today despite my wish to reconvert. I thus entered the University of Nantes in September 2019, after having practiced my profession of psychiatric nurse for 10 years.
Charlotte’s triggering event :
The trigger was a phone conversation with the mother of a patient I was caring for in psychiatry. This woman touched me a lot, she told me about the difficulties she had experienced with her alcoholic son. I felt a lot of love through the suffering and exhaustion. I found this woman to be particularly gentle and extremely maternal towards this son (who was, for me, a patient). She was very worried about her son’s hospitalization and my role was to reassure her and give her all the necessary information, following her son’s admission to the department where I was working. After having spent thirty minutes with her on the phone, on a busy morning, I realized that what I wanted above all was to be able to follow people in a psychological interview, to give them my listening skills, my availability and to try to find with them their resources to access wellness. On the other hand, I was frustrated by the new regulations of the public hospital (consequences linked to budgetary restrictions and lack of human resources) and I aspired to a schedule more compatible with a family life, so as to be present on weekends and at the end of the year, in particular.
Charlotte’s grieving process:
Several setbacks in my nursing career, and a real appetite for psychology since my student years, allowed me to take the step of enrolling in psychology faculty without much apprehension. I had previously suffered from my working conditions (difficulty in obtaining my transfer when I moved to another region, recurrent changes of services and schedules, obligation to work nights, for example), I am convinced that this helped me to distance myself from my former job and to mourn. Also, I think that I did not suffer from leaving the nursing world because it was not my initial professional project, although I flourished in some psychiatric services. I am quite proactive, so after a serious discussion with my partner, I decided to go for it.
Charlotte’s introspective process:
Although grieving the loss of my old job was not painful, I had many questions about my new professional identity; would I be able to find a job easily again? Would I be fulfilled in this new field? Would I be a good psychologist? The year that was the most difficult was probably the year I started again, because it was more difficult than today to project myself as a psychologist. I was afraid of repeating the year and of the financial difficulties caused by the cessation of my former activity. I had a lot of doubts about my skills and today, I admit that I found it necessary to do 4 years of training to feel better armed and ready to exercise my new professional function. I often thought that it was more difficult to retrain than to follow an initial training because of the “constraints” (budget, family, housing) compared to a standard young student for whom the parents provide the logistics. However, I always thought that my previous work experience would be a major asset in my work as a psychologist. Today, I feel more serene compared to the beginning of my reconversion even if some doubts persist. However, I feel like I belong and I am deeply proud of the path I am about to take professionally.