Explore: Digital and tech

Psychotherapist & Learning Tech Consultant
Interactive Consultancies

print
info Issues viewing the video?

Adrian L

00:00:02 Currently I work as a psychotherapist,  I work as a counsellor, I work as a workshop leader for personal development workshops and I also have a parallel career as a consultant in learning technology, especially in the field of medical education and veterinary education.

00:00:23 School, in my prep school was awful.  I was bad at sports, I could see no point in ball games and so I was always bottom of the heap.  But once I got to public school, really started to develop some real enthusiasms for science and biology and that was just great.  I was a horse-mad teenager, I rode horses whenever I possibly could and I thought, “Right, well, I’m going to be a horse vet, that’s what I’m going to be.”  But once you get to be a vet and instead of riding them and grooming them and cleaning them, you’re sticking needles in them, then horses are pretty dangerous and violent animals and I found that, no, it wasn’t my thing but I wasted a lot of time pretending that I was a good clinical vet.

00:01:18 Looking back on my career I can see that I have had consistently two parallel tracks running and they are a head based, thinking based work and heart based feeling type work.  I qualified as a vet and then I became a run of the mill veterinary pathologist doing post mortems, doing biopsies and teaching vet students.  Then I got seduced by computers and I realised that the computer was beginning to be useful as an amazing teaching tool and so ultimately I wound up helping university teachers to use computers in their own teaching which I still do.

00:02:01 On the heart based I love to dance.  Ultimately I did something like 55 productions on the amateur stage either as a singer or as a dancer.  Then I went back to class, as it were, to extend my career as an amateur dancer.  What actually happened was that I got spotted by a couple of my teachers who said, “Look, Adrian, you’re a natural teacher, we think you should be teaching in the theatre as well.”  So, I took the most enormous risk and started teaching actors how to move and ultimately that got me choreographic work.  I’ve done three shows as a professional choreographer and then getting interested in performance psychology, eventually I journeyed through into personal development psychology and ultimately trained as a psychotherapist because that seemed to be the next thing.

00:02:50 Did I think that I was going to be doing what I do when I was younger?  Absolutely not.  If you’d have told me that I would be on stage with a girl on my shoulder, with applause coming up from the audience, no way.  If you would have told me that I would have been, have a global reputation advising the University of Sydney as to how to develop its policy around learning technology, no, I’d have laughed in your face.

00:03:16 Work life balance is complete pants.  I was a dangerously workaholic for a good section of my career but…over my multiple careers.  I’m doing better now.  I do take breaks, I do take vacations but I tend to be a bit of a compulsive worker.  I’m too passionate.

00:03:42 What’s next?  Do you know, I don’t know.  There is something else.  I do know I’ve got more choreography in me if I get the chance but what else I don’t know.  I also feel that I maybe need to slow down before that whatever it is will reveal itself.

ENDS

Adrian L currently works in Bristol as a Psychotherapist and Consultant in Learning Technology. He began working life as a qualified vet, inspired by his love for horses. In addition to this, he has followed his passion for dance through his work as a professional choreographer.

More information about Dancers and choreographers

?
ÂŁ39,520
average salary

The UK average salary is ÂŁ29,813

?
29
average weekly hours

There are 37.5 hours in the average working week

?
12%  male 
88%  female 

The UK workforce is 47% female and 53% male

Future employment

Future employment?

Description
? Dancers and choreographers devise, direct, rehearse and perform classical and contemporary dance routines.
Qualifications
There are no formal academic requirements, although some dance schools may require candidates to have passed relevant dance Graded Examinations. Entry to courses is often via audition. Medical and physical assessments are required. Performers’ courses typically last three years and lead to a diploma or certificate awarded by the school. Some degree courses are also available.
Tasks
  • Builds and maintains stamina, physical strength, agility and general health through fitness exercises and healthy eating;
  • Attends rehearsals to develop and practice dance routines for performance;
  • Participates in dance performance;
  • Demonstrates and directs dance moves, monitors and analyses technique and performance, and determines how improvements can be made.
Employment by region
?
Top 10 industries for this job
?
Education 9208
Arts & entertainment 3350
Membership organisations 1832
Libraries, etc 1050
Employment activities 1021
Employment status
?

From personal careers advice to finding work, see our round-up of
useful websites to help you on your way

Explore more videos by: