My focus is on applying psychology to support professional development and leadership. As a result, I’m often listening to other people’s goals and working with teams to achieve personal and company success. However, in reflecting on the past year, I realise how much I’ve invested in my growth. The more I learn, the more I can see the impact it can make and that fuels my desire to discover more!

 

Investing in Continuous Professional Development

In business psychology, there are always new theories and practices to learn about. Therefore, I believe it is vital to keep pace with these to ensure my services remain current, well informed and relevant.

Understanding Neurodiversity

I’ve spent much of this year specialising in Neurodiversity. A growing number of businesses are recognising the distinct benefits of a neurodivergent workforce. This is an area of personal interest and I wanted to know more.

I started by undertaking a series of British Psychology Society (BPS) accredited courses:

• Intro to Specific Learning Difficulties
• Building awareness of adult autism
• Psychological work and autism
• Trauma-informed practice to support people who have experienced psychological trauma
• The benefits of being trauma-informed for organisations, services and employees

It’s clear that, with a greater understanding of neurodiversity, organisations can make reasonable adjustments. As a result, the recruitment process and work environment become more accessible to neurodivergent individuals. This increases employment opportunities, whilst employers reap the rewards of hyper-focus, fresh perspectives, acute attention to detail and much more.

Building on this, I completed the Thrive Neurodiversity instructor course suite. This consisted of Neurodiversity Awareness, Neurodiversity Champion and Neurodiversity for Managers.

Next, I completed a Certificate in Educational Testing (CCET) with Psychometrix. As a result, I am now qualified to assess people of any age for neurodiverse conditions. What’s more, Psychometrix offered me an associate position!

Find out more about Neurodiversity Screening

Research & Data 

We know that the best business decisions are based on research and data. Well, I’ve been compiling my own! I’m now in the third year of my doctorate – eek!

The coming months will see me engaged in data collection, which is both an exciting and terrifying prospect. In addition, I’ve been invited to present my research plan to Smarten. Smarten is a national research network focused on student mental health in Higher Education.

Sharing Psychological Insights to Support Professional Development

This year has presented some amazing opportunities to share psychological insights with people from around the globe. One standout experience was attending the European Congress of Psychology Conference. At this event, the theme was ‘Uniting Communities for a Sustainable World’ and I thoroughly enjoyed immersing myself in many different fields of psychology for a week. I hope to get the opportunity to go again!

Another memorable event was co-hosting an event with Asahi and Brentford FC for World Mental Health Day. The team recognise that player mindset is key to optimising their potential on the pitch. The day included a powerful talk about trauma and resilience by former player Marcus Gayle.

Other opportunities to share my thoughts include having an article on business psychology published in the Winter edition of James Caan’s business magazine. What an honour! Fortunately, I’ve received fantastic feedback on this piece.

Taming the Tiger

Then there is Taming the Tiger, the Green Cross Global podcasts. These have attracted amazing guest speakers throughout the year. Their input has been insightful and has evolved listeners’ understanding of the advantages of protecting employee well-being, as well as physical health. This is one of the many successes from another strong year as part of the Green Cross Global team!

A Growing Team Let’s Me Practice What I Preach

At the end of last year, I realised that I couldn’t achieve all my plans without support. Therefore, I bit the bullet and employed two Mindset team members.

Amelia and Claudia were outstanding candidates. They both bring fantastic skills to the table and I appreciate all the work they put into assisting my personal and professional development. Without them, I would have no work-life balance, so they enable me to practice what I preach!

Looking Ahead

Having reflected on the main achievements of the year, I can’t help but get excited about the year ahead. I already have bookings for training and assessments to support business development and help individuals to thrive.

If you feel that your team or leaders are being held back, contact us to discover how Mindset’s business psychology services can unlock their potential.