This week I have chosen to write about something I am involved with personally and that I enjoying doing at the university. As I have mentioned in previous blogs I joined a society called LINKS and this evoked my passion for becoming a paramedic. I know what you might be thinking; you study Psychology how could you go on to be a Paramedic? Well you don’t have to go into a medical degree at university to come out of it with a career in a medical field. Of course, if you want to be a doctor or dentist I’m afraid there is no other way around this. However, for something like prehospital care there is many options. Of course it means extra training after university, but my degree has equip me with skills that I can apply to what I want to do. Also they have allowed me to complete training with St John Ambulance, whom I now complete duties with.

However, I won’t bore you with information about my career aspirations. I will tell you about LINKS and the importance of everyone knowing a little bit of first aid. Picture this…

You’re in a restaurant with your family and you hear a loud gasp and someone shouting for help. You turn around and someone is chocking! What would you do? Would you panic? Or could you be the person to help? The teaching of first aid in the LINKS society equips you with this knowledge to be the one to help in these somewhat stressful situations. You also have a really good laugh doing it. With the sometimes hysterical demonstrations and fun ways to introduce some serious subjects it’s a place you can really learn a lot in a short space of time, and it is always memorable.

The basic message I want to get across is don’t think you are limited by the type of degree you are doing, there is always space to do that one other thing you are passionate about!

Blog written by Jessica Temple, Psychology student.