Lydia Braham

Civil Service, West Yorkshire

During my time at Leeds Trinity I managed to secure two jobs because of placement opportunities and also participated in two governors meetings​.

My student experience

I can’t thank Leeds Trinity enough for the amount they supported me during my time as a student and for setting me up for future learning opportunities.  

Winning a Psychology Award as a student

I grew in confidence throughout my studies and it was a total shock winning the North East British Psychology Society Award in 2018 for a 1,000-word essay I submitted, but it was amazing to receive.

After working hard on my dissertation, it was great to be able to share my results with a wider range of people and hopefully carry on researching such an important area. Receiving the award will be great to let future employers knows, as well as a great academic achievement to have for any future research or postgraduate opportunities that may arise.

Utilising placement and other opportunities

I really pushed myself in all my placements and I still work with the connections I made at HMP Leeds and with other prisons. Building up my CV in this way really helped with my MA interview. During my time at Leeds Trinity I managed to secure two jobs because of placement opportunities and also participated in two governors meetings.

Continuing my learning journey

After graduating from Leeds Trinity I continued my studies at the University of Nottingham by embarking on an MSc in Forensic and Criminological Psychology.  

An engaged Psychology community

Throughout the psychology cohorts there has always been a strong element of supporting one another. As a student I was able to benefit from the wisdom and experience of a mentor – fellow graduate Alyshia Murgatroyd (pictured first left, bottom row).  During my time as a student, Dr Danielle McDermott organised Alumni Psychology Conferences whereby students weren able to network with alumni and receive mentoring afterwards. It was at one of these conferences I was introduced to Alyshia.

As a graduate I was delighted to keep this support network going by mentoring Leeds Trinity students.