# Why Leanne calls herself a certified business psychologist

- **Episode:** [110](https://agents.truthliesandwork.com/episodes/110.md) (2024-06-27)
- **Type:** panel-interview
- **Tags:** certification, business-psychology
- **Time:** 19:00–21:59 (start 1140s)
- **Listen:** [https://truthliesandwork.com/110?t=1140](https://truthliesandwork.com/110?t=1140)

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[19:00] Al Elliott: Okay, Leah, at this point I think we should ask the important question. You call yourself a certified business psychologist. Why?
[19:08] Leanne Elliott: Well, a few reasons. One, people know what it means. Or they think they know what it means. And it's also kind of just a nice little intro to the podcast, isn't it? Business psychologist, business owner, and people get it. Second, when, when I graduated, I was working in industry in coaching and management roles, um, so chartership wasn't required, um, or even necessary in terms of qualification. When I went self-employed, I thought it was a good opportunity to consolidate my experience, um, and prove to the world and myself, if I'm being honest, Um, that I was operating at a doctorate level, at the level of an occupational psychologist. Um, and I am. Charter takes a long time. Um, typically case study projects are 6 to 12 months in length, and you need to undertake research as part of that. Um, I started in 2020 and I've just completed this month. Um, I was hoping actually to introduce myself in the episode as an occupational psychologist, um, but the paperwork is taking a little while, and as we've heard, for legal reasons I'm not able to do that. And we have a content calendar to adhere to, Al. Um, so there you go. Very soon I will be introducing myself yourself as an occupational psychologist or a chartered psychologist or a registered psychologist or none of them. I'm thinking that Marketing Al might prefer simply business psychologist
[20:17] Al Elliott: Maybe
[20:18] Leanne Elliott: There is another important reason, of course. Um, it means that my clients can be reassured that I'm operating at the highest level and I'm regulated, which means they're protected. If I mess up, there are professional and potentially legal consequences. And as an individual, it means that my career may also be future-proofed. Here's Hayley to explain a bit more
[20:40] Hayley Lewis: We know the regulatory landscape is ever-evolving, and I think that— I think we're going to see some big changes in the next 10 years, particularly in coaching, because this is something I get asked a lot. So, so I run my business, but also I have a part-time academic role, uh, running the first part of the professional doctorate at Birkbeck. And whenever, whenever people reach out To talk about coming onto the doctorate and the investment, the time, the money, the energy, they kind of ask me what the benefits are. And I always talk about you're protecting yourself and your professional identity in the long term in the light of potential regulatory changes. So I think it's going to become increasingly difficult to tout your services as a coach if you don't have certain regulation, you don't have certain qualifications behind you. I think it's going to become increasingly difficult to tout your services in the field of occupational, organisational, work, business, whatever you want to call it, psychology, if you don't— HCPC registration, for example— if you're not a chartered member of the BPS
[21:52] Al Elliott: Now we know what an occupational psychologist is and how to pick a credible expert. Let's explore for a second what it's like to work with them