The Doctorate in Clinical Psychology academic and teaching programme at the University of East Anglia  is organised around the HPC Standards of Proficiency and the BPS accreditation criteria.  We pride ourselves on being able to deliver high quality teaching within an active and stimulating research environment.

There are four teaching units:

  1. Unit 1: Fundementals of Clinical Psychology: Theoretical approaches in clinical psychology; core competencies; professional issues.
  2. Unit 2: Problems, Populations and Disorders: Children and young people; adult mental health; older adults; intellectual disabilities; forensic psychology; neuropsychology; health psychology and disadvantaged groups.
  3. Unit 3: Therapeutic Approaches: Cognitive behaviour therapy; cognitive analytical therapy; systemic practice; other therapeutic models.
  4. Unit 4: Research: Research methods; ethics in research; statistics.

These units provide an integrated approach to psychological problems across the life-span and approaches to working with groups having special needs. During the third year, trainees have part of the teaching in smaller parallel groups, each focusing on a specificl model of psychological therapy (CBT, CAT or Systemic) chosen by the trainees.

The teaching programme draws heavily on trainees' previous experience and makes extensive use of teaching in small groups.  Clinical case conceptualisation and formulation skills are primarily taught in small groups that meet together on a regular basis. These also cover organisational, contextual and ethical issues.

There are two teaching blocks of four weeks, one at the beginning of the course, and one half way through the first year.  There are also two two-week blocks later in the course.  In addition, there is teaching on one day a week during term time.  Most teaching occurs within year groups, but there are two teaching days a year with all three groups present.

We are in the process of seeking British Association for Behavioural and Cognitive Psychotherapies (BABCP) Level 1 Accreditation (i.e. confirming that all trainees on our course will be able to count teaching in CBT and related topics towards an application for accreditation with the BABCP).