My First International Conference With PsychReg – Philippines, 2018

I started my YouTube channel GetPsyched just over a year ago. The object was for me to engage with a wider audience, to take on the role as a voice for psychology students and people just generally interested in psychology.

As I developed my YouTube channel, I also invested in developing my social media accounts.

I put more time into sharing content on Twitter, I started a GetPsyched Facebook page and an Instagram account under my own name.

This was all in an effort to network, to reach more people and to potentially create new opportunities and share ideas and content.

It was tricky at first, being in front of a camera felt very unnatural.

I had no idea about recording or video editing and so learned as much as I could from YouTube videos and articles.

Initially, the engagement was slow. I struggled to gain much traction and saw little development.

However, I had made a commitment and really did not want to fall at the first hurdle. As the months went on I developed my website frasersmithcounsellingpsy.com.

This brought more traffic and engagement to both my written blog and my YouTube channel.

As time progressed I was getting contacted by different organisations that liked my work and wanted me to write some guest blog articles.

PsychReg contacted me a few months into the development of my online content. They were a developing psychology organisation that published research and online material.

I wrote an article on men’s mental health and one on top tips for psychology undergraduates.

A few weeks later, I was invited to be interviewed about men’s mental health on the PsychReg podcast, The Mental Breakdown.

You can check out the video here.

From there, things really took off for me. I was seeing weekly growth and deeper engagement with a larger audience of psychology students and professionals and people just generally interested in psychology.

However, about six months into the development of GetPsyched. PsychReg invited me to speak at their upcoming international conference in the Philippines.

I was blown away. After an incredible amount of work and extra effort, I was gaining enough recognition to be asked as a speaker at a huge conference.

The conference itself with incredible. There were speakers and delegates from all over the world that sought to communicate revolutionary findings in psychology and education, as well as network and experience a new and diverse culture.

The Philippines and New Era University in Quezon City, Manila welcomed us with unapparelled hospitality.

The students and delegates that attended the conference had such an interesting background of experiences and a strong desire to learn more.

Throughout the conference, each speaker had the opportunity to engage with attendees that wanted to learn more about their topics. Seeing such an enthusiasm for psychology and education was amazing to witness.

It made me think more about the responsibility we hold as people that work and study in psychology and education. Our research and our learning outcomes are not only applicable to the country where we work but all over the world too.

We live in an age where we can share ideas, thoughts and findings to massive audiences across the world. As a result, new collaborative approaches to things such as mental health, schooling of young children and human rights can be shared and developed. This conference was an illustration of all of this. It was an opportunity to share amongst new colleagues and witness new ideas unfold.

My presentation was on my recent findings on a widespread literature review of men’s mental health.

I covered concepts such as toxic masculinity, male identity and issues with therapeutic uptake in men.

The opportunity itself was genuinely life-changing. I found myself on the other side of the world with some of the most prominent and inspiring figures in the field of psychology and education.

After being unsure as to whether developing online content in psychology was a good idea, I cannot describe how grateful I am to PsychReg and all others that have supported me in developing GetPsyched.

I suppose this post is not one of new information or insight, or perhaps for some, it is. I hope that this article can be utilised as motivation for anyone considering stepping out into a new domain, or those willing to think outside the box a little.

Taking a step of faith and being consistent with what you develop and the passion you show for what you do will always work! It will always provide you with what you hope for and so much more! There is no downside to working hard, showing extra effort and developing your passion for something you care about. There will only always be positivity, and at times opportunities that you cannot believe have presented themselves.

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