Overcome challenges and achieve your goals like proud OU graduate Jade

Posted on 10 September 2025 • Career planning

Life is full of ups and downs, tests and bumps in the road. Jade achieved a first-class honours degree in Psychology and Counselling while managing to juggle motherhood, work, study and severe long-term health problems.

“I was feeling a little lost after completing my degree and not yet well enough to return to work,” says Jade.

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Find your goals and the confidence to achieve them

“I reached out to the OU’s Careers and Employability Services,” Jade added.

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Get help with your next steps, like Jade

There’s such a wide range of career opportunities for psychology and counselling graduates. After graduating, Jade needed guidance to work out what to do next. She worked out her next steps with the help of the OU’s Careers and Employability Services. Commenting on her experience, she said:

“The adviser I spoke to was so empathetic, he spoke to me about the bits of my course I enjoyed and what I wanted from my career. That conversation made me realise that I want to use my lived experience to help implement change.”

Jade is now studying towards a Master of Research (MRes) degree at Queen Margaret’s University in Edinburgh.

Read more of Jade’s story on the School of Psychology and Counselling blog.