What is the most challenging part of your job?

Question: What is the most challenging part of your job?
- Keywords:
  challenge,
  experience,
  job
Asked by anon-295767 on 16 Jun 2021.
- Lisa Newson answered on 16 Jun 2021:
  
  The most challenging part of my job is making sure my patients and students feel heard. Sometimes in healthcare other health professionals thinking they have told the patient the right info. But the patient my interpret that differently, so I can help them understand it better, and also help the health professional communicate it better!
  Also most challenging managing workload, I probably say yes too often and I need to be better at saying thanks for the offer, but unfortunately right now I jave my hands full I will try to help out next time.
- Gabriela Morris answered on 16 Jun 2021:
  
  Re-establishing work momentum after it has slowed down a bit.
  
  So, if I’m in the middle of a research study, there’s a lot going on. I’m gathering data, analysing it, writing up on it, discussing it with peers and colleagues. It’s at the forefront of my mind and I power through the work I need to do. However, once the study is over and I need to gear up to do the next one, there’s a lot of slow planning work. This kills the momentum I’m on and it is a challenge picking that up again.
  
  Another aspect that is probably tied, in terms of how challenging it can be, is the actual analysis part of the data. Understanding what the data is trying to tell me, and working out how best to analyse it so it’s the most accurate representation of the phenomenon I’m studying. It’s part of the fun, though, and is like solving a puzzle. It’s a good challenge – not a stressful one. It’s also very rewarding once I work out the tough bits and get into the flow of it.
- Naomi Heffer answered on 16 Jun 2021:
  
  Getting the technology to work the way I want it to! I didn’t realise going into psychology research would require so much technical and digital expertise, but designing research studies often requires computer programming new tasks and getting new bits of equipment, sometimes which very few people have ever used before, to talk to each other. I’ve learnt just how important it is to keep reaching out to others for help while you are still learning these skills, and also have valuable online discussion forums can be!
- Natalie Neal answered on 16 Jun 2021:
  
  Making sure the children and young people I work with feel listened to.
  I work with lots of different students, some who don’t use language to communicate, some with learning difficulties and some with mental health difficulties so it is important for me to make sure the way I work with them is personalised and they feel able to make their views known.
  I then have to make sure adults listen and act on these views and they don’t get ignored which can be tricky sometimes.
- Samantha Harrison answered on 16 Jun 2021:
  
  In normal situations, the most challenging part of my job is making sure I plan my time well. In research there are lots of little jobs that all need doing, so I have to prioritise my workload and make sure I get everything done by the right time.
  
  More recently, the most challenging part of my job has been dealing with covid. Just like your schools shut, our laboratories and offices were closed. As my research has to be done in person, I couldn’t run my studies. I’ve only been able to get back in the lab properly the past month or so, so it has been a long time of adapting my research and workload so that it can be completed online to a high level. From a personal point of view, I was also scared. It was a very uncertain time for everyone. I had to learn to take a step back from my work when I needed to, so that I could process the things that were going on all around the world. As someone who normally throws herself fully into work, this was a very challenging thing for me to do.
- John J Shaw answered on 16 Jun 2021:
  
  I’d say balancing workloads. At present I’m balancing teaching/marking with research and various admin duties but when I’m research active doing sleep research as well means I can’t really do a typical 9-5 day so instead I’m doing 7pm > maybe 11am? It means I have to plan ahead so my teaching doesn’t fall straight after research nights.
- Jennifer Deane answered on 16 Jun 2021:
  
  I think probably the admin side of things – in research you are always having to look for funding for your next project and this is a long process that requires a lot of work and forms, and many times you don’t get the finding! So you are always having to plan ahead to make sure you have funding for the next stage. It can sometimes take a year so you need to be planning quite far in advance. Whilst some parts of my job can be tricky, finding people happy to take part in the research (especially clinicians) I enjoy those challenges so I don’t get annoyed by that.
- Megan Whitehorn answered on 16 Jun 2021:
  
  The most challenging (but also sometimes the most fun) part of my job is finding solutions to problems which arise organically from the experiments we are running. So, for example; we are currently running a study where infants must play with toys while “separated” from their parents by a low, wooden barrier. We did not realise just how quickly infants can become bored and frustrated when their parents are not immediately available; we were spending more times picking up toys than recording data! So we first built a barrier around the table (did not work, babies started playing with the barrier) and then experimented with stick-down pram toys, which worked. This was challenging, sure; but it was also satisfying to find a solution!
- Sophie Bettles answered on 16 Jun 2021:
  
  Most people think that the most challenging part of being a Forensic Psychologist would be working with people who have committed offences and/or have ongoing problems with being violent (either to themselves or others). However, I have never found this to be the case as the people I work with are just that – people. They behave in unhelpful ways at certain times, but that is very rarely in a psychology session! In fact, most people I work with tend to be polite, calm and in many ways grateful for the therapy that they are getting.
  I think the most challenging part is often trying to help people overcome their struggles in environments where this is made really difficult. This can be where they are living at the time (e.g. secure hospital or a prison), or can be wider issues like how the Government invests (or not) in mental health and prisons.
  Often there is a view that people who have committed a crime should be punished for the rest of their lives; however we know that punishing people doesn’t usually work in changing their behaviour! There is always a reason why people have ended up in prison or secure hospital and if we can ask “what happened to you?” rather than “what’s wrong with you?” and take steps to help them then they are much more likely to change and lead safe and happy lives.

Question: What is the most challenging part of your job?

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