Programme Overview | Programme Structure | Assessment | Tutors | Contact and Admissions | Programme Information
The overall purpose of the programme is to educate and train Clinical Psychologists for work in NHS and related settings, in accordance with the requirements and goals of the British Psychological Society’s Committee on Training in Clinical Psychology and the requirements for registration as Chartered Psychologists. The programme aims to develop to a high level the skills of assessing, conceptualising, acting, evaluating and communicating within different levels of work activity: direct work with clients, indirect work through other health professionals or carers, and work within the organisation. Our view of clinical psychology and training is expounded in chapter one of Bayne’s and Horton’s 2003 book, “Applied Psychology”, Sage Books.
The Programme’s key orienting principles are:
These imply values and assumptions which characterise the programme and which we seek to develop in staff, supervisors and trainees, including:
These principles are embodied in the Programme in the following ways:
In curriculum content, including:
In research teaching and practice, including:
In placements and collaboration with supervisors, including:
In support systems, including:
The Programme judges its success by:
Adherence to standards set out by the Quality Assurance Agency and the BPS and evaluated through Subject Reviews and accreditation visits, but with particular attention paid to:
The major teaching areas which compose the academic programme are divided into Core Courses and Specialist Units (which deal mainly with particular client groups). The overall aim of the Core Courses is to equip students with basic, or underlying, knowledge and skills which apply across client groups or type of problem. There are seven core courses, as follows.
The development and present structure of the profession of clinical psychology, including professional organisations, human resource planning, registration, legal issues, ethics, codes of conduct; critical examination of the foregoing to lead to a consideration of future developments.
Construction of theory in scientific activity; comparison of concept formation and classification in psychology, psychiatry, and the empirical sciences; concepts of critique and deconstruction as applied to the evaluation of DSM.
Description of methods psychologists use to collect information about problems and a critical analysis of theoretical assumptions underlying them; issues in the use of assessment methods in clinical practice.
The range of research methodologies and statistical techniques appropriate to applied psychology, with the acquisition of user skills for necessary accessing of computer facilities. This course includes discussion of both qualitative and quantitative research, their underlying epistemologies, and their relationship with the sociology of knowledge.
Introduction to the theories from which various ‘approaches’ to intervention are said to be derived; examination of the activities of adherents of these separate ‘approaches’, and attempts to integrate them; analysis of some new approaches to intervention, including those based on social constructionist theory; discussion of evaluation of outcome of intervention. Developmentally organised introduction to a range of core skills (linked to academic teaching), e.g., therapy/counselling skills, problem formulation, stress management, group work and consultation skills.
This is designed to enable trainees to develop their skills as reflective practitioners and, additionally in the third year, to make the transition to post-qualification employment.
Thinking skills and clinical tools to encourage consideration that is both scholarly and critical of the range of social inequalities experienced by clients, practitioners and researchers.
The Specialist Units are mostly organised in terms of client groups and the problems they typically present. The emphasis is at the social and psychological, rather than the diagnostic assessment of problems, and on their relationship to the client’s social context.
The division of teaching material into ‘Core’ and ‘Specialist’ was chosen to facilitate in-depth teaching of general principles and issues which apply across areas of practice, and also to allow, as far as possible, a matching of teaching content and placement experience.
In addition, the teaching programme includes an induction period. This is designed for the first year only, and takes place in the first four weeks of the programme. Its aims are to introduce the students to each other and to tutors, to familiarise them with the structure of the programme and of psychological services in the region, to discuss issues that will arise early in placement, and to teach some basic knowledge and skills in assessment and intervention. The contents of the Induction include: Introduction to the Programme and to the North Thames region; drawing up placement contracts; planning interviews; listening skills: teaching basic anxiety-management; use of library and electronic information equipment; writing letters and reports; working with people from different cultures; and research skills for Service-related Research project. The Induction also includes parts of the Adult Specialist Unit, in recognition of the fact that most trainees commence clinical placement experience in an adult mental health setting.
Within the competency-based model of training, trainees’ clinical experience on placement enables them to develop a continuous accumulation of the competencies they need to gain. This is achieved by flexible use of a series of six-month and one-year placements, working with a wide range of service users across the life span. The programme’s Clinical Tutors organise placements and supervision for trainees, and facilitate their progress. In conjunction with them, with clinical supervisors, and with their designated Personal Tutor, trainees achieve the planning and monitoring of their own developing clinical skills.
The service-related research project is complete in Year One and must have a service oriented focus. The clinical research thesis is submitted in the summer or Year Three, from research devised and conducted between Years Two and Three. Topics for this research may be individually chosen, or the result of interaction with ongoing research interests of programme staff and/or regional clinical psychologists. This stream of research activity is co-ordinated by the Research Director, with supervisory resources drawn from university staff and regional clinical psychologists.
Successful applicants become paid employees of the NHS on a fixed-term three-year contract. Therefore, the programme extends throughout a continuous span of three calendar years, except for statutory holidays and trainees’ annual leave entitlement.
In term time, attendance at the university is two days per week (one day in Year Three). The remainder of the working week is spent within NHS clinical departments, under the supervision of senior psychologists, with a half day per week devoted to private study.
Outside of term time, extra time is allocated to NHS work and to private study. Increasingly, into Year Three, time is also made available for conducting clinical research.
In the first year, placement supervisors supply Ratings of Clinical Work for each trainee; while at the university, one Academic Essay and one Practical Report must be completed. In addition, there is one written Examination in Adult Mental Health. In Year 2, placement supervisors again give Ratings of Clinical Work, and at the University, students sit two Examinations, complete one Practical Report and one Report of a piece of Service Related Research carried out on placement in Year One. In the final year, Clinical Ratings are again made, and trainees submit a Clinical Research Thesis, two Practical Reports and a Journal Article based on the Thesis. The External Examiner and the internal marker of the Thesis conduct a Viva Voce Examination with each finalist trainee.
Open Meetings of all trainees are timetabled each term. These may be held with or without staff, as desired.
Day-to-day running of the Programme is under the direction of the Programme Director, Professor Mark Rapley, with Dr Martyn Baker, Deputy Programme Director, Dr Ken Gannon, Research Director, Dr David Harper, Senior Lecturer, Dr Nimisha Patel, Senior Lecturer and Dr Matthew Jones Chesters, Senior Lecturer.
Dr Neil Rees is the Clinical Director and the trainees’ line manager for the programme. He co-ordinates all placement aspects of the programme, alongside the other members of the Clinical Tutor Team: Dr Sarah Davidson (Deputy Clinical Director), Dr Paula Magee (Year-two Tutor), Ruth Wacholder (Year-one Tutor). A new appointee for the post of Year-three Tutor is currently being sought.
Details and applications are dealt with by the UK Clearing House for Postgraduate Courses in Clinical Psychology, who can be contacted by email: chpccp@leeds.ac.uk.
The clearing house application pack for 2008 entry is available from 1st September 2007 to 1st December 2007. After this period, the clearing house can be contacted for information only. It gives information for all UK Clinical Psychology courses, and a multiple application form.
If further details about the UEL programme are required, the Admissions Convenor, Dr Martyn Baker, may be contacted.
Twenty-five places were available for the 2007 intake. There were almost 500 applications in 2007. Upon receipt of the Application forms of all those who have applied to UEL, each application is initially screened by Programme staff regarding academic qualifications, motivation, realism and experience and letters of reference. All satisfactory application forms are then further rated by pairs of NHS clinical psychologists on similar criteria plus any specialised factors such as special expertise with a priority client group. This is a global rating of desirability to interview and, within each rating category, applications are ranked. About 70 candidates are then short-listed, and with the invitation for interview are sent a message from the Programme Director and the Clinical Director, a copy of the main Programme Handbook, feedback from current Trainees, and general University information. During the interview procedure, two individual interviews take place, approximately 25 minutes each, one slanted towards the academic side of training, the other geared towards personal and clinical experience. Both are conducted by the same panel of three, comprising a representative of lecturing staff, of clinical tutors and of clinical supervisors. Current trainees are available to talk freely and informally from the student point of view, and an invitation is extended to see around the university’s School of Psychology and its excellent academic and technical facilities.
Copies of the criteria for selection are available free of charge from the senior administrator, Claire Wickham.
© 2010
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