“My journey began in 2016 when I first stepped inside the doors at ACPE, I had no clear career pathway, I just knew that my passion is in rehabilitation and health science. Being 22 years old and moving from Sweden to Australia is a big step or moving overseas in general is a big step, and it is terrifying, but always remember the purpose of your journey and things will eventually become easier.
During my first semester of the first year, I struggled a lot and I put it down to language barrier, but I persevered through the hard challenges that I faced that time and things became easier during the second semester as I found the language to be easier for me to understand and communicate.
During the second year, I discovered a keen interest in exercise physiology and how exercise can be used as medicine for chronic conditions, I invested time and effort in gaining as much knowledge as possible in this area, and I carried this keen interest with me for the rest of my time at ACPE.
After my graduation I needed to find a university to do a master in exercise physiology, and due to a couple of reasons, I knew this was not feasible to accomplish in Australia and the field of exercise physiology is not an establish occupation in Sweden, but I discovered that United Kingdom offered master’s degrees in exercise physiology.
Thanks to my academic advisor Stephen Savitsky at ACPE and his reference letter, I was accepted at Leeds Beckett University in England to study a master in exercise physiology. I thoroughly enjoyed my adventure in England and study a master in the field where my passion is so strong, but I sadly had to move home to Sweden to complete my master online due to COVID-19.
I successfully accomplished my master’s degree, and it was now time to find a job, and as I mentioned earlier, the field of exercise physiology is not very established in Sweden and finding a job was very hard, to a point where I almost gave up.
Out of interest, I one day wanted to see how the job market for exercise physiologists looked like in The United Kingdom, on my initial search over 100 posts came up and my motivation to keep going ignited again, and it was time to find the field of interest, which became respiratory during my master.
I one day saw a post within The National Health Service (NHS) in England who was looking for an exercise physiologist to run and lead pulmonary rehabilitation for people with chronic lung conditions. I applied for the role, was called for an interview and on the same day I found out that I was offered the role.
I got so happy, and I was almost speechless when my now manager called me to inform me the great news. All the hard work had finally paid off, I got a job in the field I love and in the area that I love so much. After 7 months into this role, I became the lead clinician for the pulmonary rehabilitation program in Brighton in the south of England, and I am exactly where I want to be.
To students that are studying at ACPE, I want to give a few tips: it is good to have a career pathway, but also keep your mind open if things change along the way. Make sure to put in effort into your studying, because if you decide to do a master’s degree, you need to be prepared to work even harder than you have before. I can proudly confirm that a degree from ACPE can take you overseas, if your field of study is recognised in the country you are thinking of. Continue to be curious and knowledge seekers. Lastly, the hard work will pay off, you will eventually reach your destination, the road there just might not be as straight forward as you thought, but do not give up.”
– Viktor Molin, Class of 2018.
