Beyond a Philosophy Degree

Here’s a quick profile of one of the department’s graduates who go in touch to let us know how studying philosophy with us has influenced her subsequent career.

I am a Chartered Counselling Psychologist and studied my Masters at the School of Psychotherapy and Psychology at Regents College, and Supervision training at the New School of Psychotherapy and Counselling in London.   Here is my website.

The psychological approach of both colleges is based on Existential philosophy so we considered many philosophers including the works of Sartre, Heidegger, and Nietzsche. Having already studied philosophy I was familiar with some of their works, but more importantly I felt comfortable with how to approach, discuss and digest philosophy.  I also utilised the skills, developed at Reading, of considering how philosophy can be applied to everyday life, how it is important to take the time out of our busy schedules to consider the bigger picture – that life is finite, we make our own choices in life and have to take responsibility for that.   The issue of Sartre’s ‘bad faith’, which I first learnt about at Reading, is something that has been particularly pertinent to me in my life and I still think of this often in my work with clients.

To have a philosophical approach to life is a very valuable thing. It is easy in our lives to get caught up in trivia, superficiality and short term issues. The ability to take a step back, analyse and reflect is something that I endeavour to do on a regular basis (and have to remind myself to do), even whilst doing something as simple as reading a newspaper.  I hope this is something the students can keep hold of in whatever line of work they end up in.

Are you an alumnus of the department and would like to share your story?  Do get in touch with our current alumni officer, j.andow@reading.ac.uk.