Norwich Medical School

DOCTORATE IN CLINICAL PSYCHOLOGY-CLINPSYD

Our Vision and Goals

At the end of training, UEA clinical psychology trainees should be able to draw on a broad range of psychological models, theories and research to inform their clinical work and be confident in using a variety of research methods appropriate to clinical research questions.

We train clinical psychologists to be fit for purpose in the changing landscape of the NHS. This means we guide our trainees (and qualified staff) to appreciate what clinical psychology can offer in the context of multi-disciplinary work, to understand the need for leadership either directly or through influencing others and to accept that as psychologists we will frequently be called upon to make difficult decisions about the use of limited resources. To do this we encourage our trainees to use the evidence-base and to draw upon scientist-practitioner competences when the evidence-base is lacking.

Our Philosophy

The UEA Clinical Psychology Programme, which started in 1995, will support you to become one of the next generation of leaders for our profession, equipping you to thrive at a time of great change within the NHS.  We will enable you to become conversant, knowledgeable and confident in applying evidence-based practice through the integration of clinical, academic and research skills, recognising the wide ranging role of the clinical psychologist in the modern NHS. 

Our clinical psychology Programme, which is approved by the Health & Care Professions Council (HCPC) and accredited by the British Psychology Society (BPS), is informed by partnerships in training to deliver highly competent, robust and resilient trainees. Embodying and upholding the values of the NHS Constitution, our trainees are enabled to deliver better care at the level of individual, service and population need.  The Programme works jointly with clinicians in the region to support research activity linked with the mental health research strategies of local Trusts and is in tune with clinical priorities of local services.  The Programme understands clinical psychology to be a reflective, caring and compassionate profession where we act with integrity to make a difference to people at times of vulnerability and distress, reflecting the NHS values and constitution.  At the heart of the Programme, underpinning and informing it, are the NHS values of working together for patients, respect and dignity, commitment to quality of care, compassion, improving lives and a recognition that everyone counts.

CLINICAL PLACEMENTS

The programme aims to support trainees in the development of core competencies across the three years of training. All trainees gain experience of working across the life-span, of working in residential and community settings, and with people who have severe and/or enduring problems.

How Are Placements Monitored?

Trainees will be visited at least once per placement by a member of the programme team.

Clinical supervisors offering placements are expected to provide supervision in line with BPS guidelines. We provide training events to support them with this. We also gather feedback on supervision from trainees to monitor this.

Initial Placement Meeting

The advisor meets with the supervisor and trainee at the beginning of the first placement to agree a placement contract. This discussion will cover arrangements for work particularly related to the specialty, identifying particular aspects of work that the trainee needs to develop and supervision arrangements.

In subsequent placements, the responsibility for agreeing the placement plan rests with the trainee and supervisor (unless this is the first time that a supervisor has provided a placement on the Course, in which case the advisor will join the initial placement meeting). The trainee will be expected to contact the supervisor before the placement starts, to discuss the practical arrangements and initial ideas for the placement plan. The trainee will be expected to complete the standard Placement Contract form with the supervisor, within a fortnight of commencement of the placement. The contract should be copied to the programme by the trainee within two weeks of the start of the placement so that the content can be monitored.

Mid-Placement Review

Half way through each placement the trainee's advisor meets with the supervisor and trainee for a mid-placement review. The advisor meets with both the supervisor and the trainee alone, and then all three meet together. These discussions provide opportunities to discuss general progress, identify areas of strength, areas for development, further targets, and any additional work that needs to be carried out. Within this, both supervisor and trainee feedback are sought and considered. A record of the mid-placement review is made and sent to the supervisor and trainee.

End of Placement Arrangements

At the end of the placement, the supervisor completes the Supervisor's Assessment of Trainee Form and discusses this with the trainee. Trainees are also asked to provide feedback about the placement and supervision on the forms provided. This should be done after the Supervisor's assessment is completed. Trainees also need to keep a log of their clinical work. All the forms need to be returned promptly to the programme.

If at any stage during the placement either the trainee or the supervisor is concerned about any aspect then contact is made, as soon as possible, with the trainee's advisor or the year tutor to discuss the matter. Potential difficulties can then be tackled at an early stage

International Training Opportunity

In July 2016 the Department of Clinical Psychology at UEA undertook its first International Training Opportunity (ITO). Two ClinPsyD trainees successfully applied to complete this, as part of their final clinical placements. Download their presentation (4Mb)

This was supported by a small bursary designed to cover travel and basic accommodation costs. The ITO is open to all of our students in their final year of training as long as they have successfully completed all assignments to that point.

Placements

Trainees undertake two placements per year. In Year 1, they complete adult and older adult placements. In Year 2 they complete learning disabilities and child placements. This enables trainees to choose specialist placements in their final year. These may be completed concurrently or consecutively across the year depending on the specialism chosen. There is rich variety of specialist placements available, for example forensic, neuropsychology, specialist centres for brain injury, clinical health psychology, social services, leadership skills and specific therapeutic modalities including CAT and CBT.

The number of days trainees are required to spend on placement varies across the three years. Trainees can be on placement for up to 4 days per week. They are also allocated research and study days to help them manage the varying demands of the programme, for example, thesis research.

Placements are typically allocated within a trainee’s base location or a location geographically close to this base.

In the third year, trainees are able to indicate their preferences for specialist placements from our database of specialist placements available. Trainees can opt for specialist placement preferences outside of their base location.

OVERVIEW OF OUR TEACHING AND CURRICULUM

Teaching is a key part of the Programme and is organised into modules to provide a coherent framework and developmental progression, whilst also supporting the development of the HCPC Standards of Proficiency and BPS Standards for Accreditation. Teaching is organised in order to prepare trainees for clinical placements and research assignments.

There are 4 over-arching areas of teaching:

Evidence and Values Based Practice

Trainees will learn the fundamentals of clinical psychology practice in these Modules, developing an understanding of theoretical and evidence bases to inform clinical practice. Core competencies will be taught and a number of models will be introduced. Trainees will gain knowledge of the psychological needs of a range of client groups related to: mental health and physical health presentations, presentations of infancy, childhood, youth, adulthood, older adulthood, those with physical and intellectual disability and specialist clinical presentations, including forensic. As Trainees progress through training, teaching will address how to work with individuals with increasingly complex presentations, applying over-arching competencies and using multi-modal interventions.

Cognitive Behaviour Therapy, Systemic Therapy and Neuropsychology

A wide range of assessment, formulation and therapeutic approaches are taught with substantive teaching focussing on the development of Cognitive Behaviour Therapy (CBT), Systemic and Neuropsychological competencies, with the CBT Modules being led by BABCP accredited therapists.

Leadership and Consultancy

Whilst developing core therapy skills is an important aspect of training, the role of the clinical psychologist involves more than this. To reflect core psychological skills, and to encompass the broad role of the clinical psychologist within the evolving the NHS, the Programme includes teaching on leadership, consultation, supervision and service development skills.

Research

The Research Modules are designed to take trainees through all aspects of the process of conducting doctoral level research from: planning, design of protocols, methodologies, to analysis and writing-up over three years. It provides trainees with an understanding of both qualitative and quantitative applied research methods and how to apply research skills in clinical settings.

Assessment

The degree of ClinPsyD is awarded after three years on the basis of satisfactory completion of the research thesis portfolio, written assignments, clinical presentations and clinical practice reports. These include a case report, an open-book statistics test and the thesis proposal (Year 1); a report of the service related project (Year 2); and a second case report and the Thesis portfolio (Year 3). All work, other than the Thesis, is assessed on a pass / fail basis with marks accorded to each piece of examinable work. Trainees are provided with learning objectives for each assignment

In each year there are two sets of ratings of clinical work on placements and an annual oral presentation of clinical work (one of which is replaced by a recorded process report). During the third year of the Programme each trainee has an oral examination conducted by an external examiner and an internal examiner on their research thesis (viva).

We have also introduced formative assessment as part of the Programme to promote reflective practice and clinical skills development in the form of Objective Structured Clinical Examinations (OSCEs). These occur prior to placements in years one and two to identify individual learning objectives to be addressed on clinical placements. Formative research assessments including research presentations and service related project proposals are designed to facilitate the development of research skills.

All components of the assessment scheme must be passed separately.

Teaching Delivery

The teaching programme includes a mixture of didactic lectures and practice-based workshops which draw on trainees' clinical and research experience. It also makes use of teaching in small groups that meet together for clinical case conceptualisation and formulation skills, organisational, contextual and ethical issues. Teaching is carried out by Programme staff and local experts, primarily clinical psychologists working in the NHS, with contributions from Experts by Experience.

Research Programmes

Research is very highly valued at the University of East Anglia and we aim to provide a research environment which is encouraging and testing.

Our aim amongst the clinical psychology group (staff and trainees) is to conduct research which complements clinical work, which informs and enhances clinical skills, which is theoretically based, and which contributes to the development of health service practice and/or policy. We aim to train clinical psychologists in critical evaluation of research, in summarising and integrating research findings, and in drawing out the clinical implications of research. We particularly welcome applicants with a strong interest in research and those who want to develop a clinical research career. Therefore accepting a place at the University of East Anglia means that you must be willing to commit yourself to undertake research at a high standard and expect to publish the research that you complete.

PROGRAMMES OF RESEARCH WITHIN CLINICAL PSYCHOLOGY

There are four main research programmes within the Department of Clinical Psychology, and the programme staff are members of these programmes, along with other members of the Department of Clinical Psychology:

1. Psychological distress and disorders in adult populations which includes psychosis, anxiety and depression (Sian Coker, Jo Hodgekins)

2. Psychology of childhood and adolescence including PTSD in young people, eating disorders, paediatric diabetes, childhood brain injury and paediatric pain (Sian Coker, Imogen Rushworth, Jo Hodgekins, Kiki Mastroyannopoulou, Richard Meiser-Stedman, Fergus Gracey, Laura Pass and Judith Young)

3. Clinical health psychology across the lifespan which includes psychosocial adaptation to chronic illness (Catherine Ford, Imogen Rushworth, Kiki Mastroyannopoulou and Judith Young)

4. Vulnerable populations including older people, dementia, stroke and acquired brain injury (Catherine Ford, Paul Fisher, Fergus Gracey, Niall Broomfield and Adrian Leddy)

Across these clinical areas there is an interest in the development and evaluation of preventative and psychological interventions, embedded in primary empirical research. There is also an interest in novel interventions and approaches including ‘3rd wave’ interventions, positive psychological processes such as well-being, growth, creativity and wisdom in vulnerable groups, and in critical and qualitative approaches to understanding experience of health conditions. Staff within the department have experience and expertise with a number of methodological approaches including single case series designs, qualitative studies, group comparison studies and clinical trials, survey and experimental designs.

Further details of staff research interests are available on the Norwich Medical School Research pages where you can search research groups and staff members across the school. Staff research interests are also provided for short-listed candidates prior to interview.

RESEARCH TRAINING ON THE DOCTORAL PROGRAMME

Research in Clinical Psychology is an essential part of professional practice. Applied clinical research is a key part of the Programme and constitutes around half of the content of training, teaching and study. Trainee clinical psychologists are postgraduate research (PGR) students at the University. Practicing clinical psychologists are expected to remain appraised of the most recent and relevant clinical research, as well as adding to the evidence-base and applying a critical understanding of psychological research methods and models across both clinical and research activities. As such, we are both critical consumers and producers of research.

The two main research activities within the doctoral programme are:

Doctoral Research Thesis

We have recently adopted a portfolio model for the final year thesis. The benefit of this is that trainees will learn key research competencies, with the resulting research outcomes in a format which will facilitate publication of the research. We believe this gives our trainees a “real life” experience of research and allows them to complete the research process (i.e. dissemination of their research) in a more efficient way which will also enhance career and employment prospects. The research training on the doctoral programme at UEA is therefore aimed at teaching ways and means of conducting ecologically valid, high quality and generalisable research of direct clinical relevance to the NHS.

The doctoral thesis portfolio offers trainees the opportunity to engage in a significant piece of research, supported by an academic supervisor. The thesis is based on research carried out by trainees in partnership with staff within the specific research programmes, and sometimes with clinical supervisors in the region. As research is rarely carried out by individuals in isolation, collaboration between trainees and staff is encouraged to embed skills as competent scientist-practitioners. Dedicated days for research and academic study are allocated in each year of training. There are good library and computing facilities within the University and in NHS departments around the region. There are opportunities for collaborative and team research including opportunities for working with colleagues in other disciplines within the School.

Planning for the thesis starts early in the first year with a Research Fair where staff provide information about the programmes of research and outlines of potential projects in the format of a conference poster session. We plan to involve patients and the public in these early discussions from 2016. Trainees then have the opportunity to develop ideas and present them for feedback in the Spring term. Following this, trainees submit their thesis proposal in June of Year 1. The portfolio thesis is submitted in March of Year 3 (giving candidates up to 21 months to complete their research) and are assessed via oral examinations (vivas). The thesis is submitted in a publication friendly portfolio format, normally comprising a systematic review, chapters on methodology, results and discussion, and a chapter in the format of a journal article highlighting the main findings.

Service Related Project

The SRP is usually a small scale service evaluation or clinical audit project, driven by service needs, with the aim of making a difference to service users, carers and or service provision. It is usually carried out in the trainee's clinical base, with local dissemination of findings and recommendations an integral part of the project. The SRP is completed and submitted at the end of Year 2. Trainees develop the SRP Proposal in Year 1 with a Clinical and UEA Supervisor and work on this concurrently whilst carrying out work on the thesis. The service related project is submitted in the format of a journal article or professional practice report for the purposes of dissemination. Both the thesis proposal and the service related project are submitted for examination during training, prior to completion of the doctoral thesis. These assignments facilitate the development of research competencies in preparation for the larger doctoral thesis project.

Support for Trainees

UEA places student experience as integral to work that we do. We embrace these values in our approach to the development of the programme, with trainee representation and feedback considered in all forums. Each year group identifies ‘representatives’ to attend committee meetings, proving a feedback loop between trainees and the programme. There is opportunity for these representatives to rotate through and across years, so that trainees have great opportunity to be involved in these important roles and shaping the programme. We also provide joint reflective forums, such as ‘reflect and review’ for each year group. These aim to facilitate a reflective discussion of trainee’s experience of the term’s teaching, placements, and other programme matters. From this, action points can be identified and taken forward. Individual feedback forms are also completed following each teaching session, to provide directly to those providing teaching.

SUPPORT FOR TRAINEES

We appreciate that working and training as a clinical psychologist may be challenging at times. We aim to help trainees cope with these demands by providing a range of support structures and by developing their skills of self-reflection and self-awareness through the teaching programme and experiences on placement.

Normally we expect trainees to seek support from Programme staff, their peers and supervisors. We provide a range of support systems reflecting the different needs of trainees. We have a "buddy" system where each new trainee is supported by a trainee in the year above. In addition each trainee is allocated to a UEA advisor who is responsible for supporting them and monitoring their work throughout the three years. They have regular meetings with the trainees including advisor and appraisal meetings and typically mid-placement reviews. There is also a network of personal support tutors throughout the region to whom trainees are allocated. Trainees are encouraged to attend a personal and professional development group in each year of the Programme.

MINDFULNESS GROUPS

During the first year of training all trainees are invited to attend a Mindfulness group.

An Expert's Perspective

“Experiencing disturbances in mental health can be devastating, at best it is extremely unpleasant and deeply disturbing. Although, as a society, we have made huge progress in addressing the stigma associated with mental health issues, there still exists an instinct to cover up and attempt to continue as normal. At some level, many sufferers have low self-esteem and blame themselves for their problems, also believing that others judge them harshly. After support from a UEA graduate clinical psychologist I was able to recognise and challenge these thoughts. I was then invited to take part in various components of UEA clinical psychologists training, from open days and interviews to student evaluation and curriculum reviews. In doing this, I have found that my experience has value. Rather than my mental health issues being a part of myself to be ashamed of, I am thrilled to be able to share the personal knowledge so that it helps other people to travel this journey and, hopefully, receive excellent care. When taking part in the activities, the staff and students are open, caring and supportive. I have found these times to be wonderful opportunities for learning; the clinical psychologists are always willing to share information about their areas of speciality. Experts by experience are never patronised but are always respected and treated as absolute equals to the experts by training (psychologists!). I believe that the programme to include experts by experience has been shown to be of mutual benefit to all participants.”

Tania Nolan- Expert by Experience

Information for Applicants

Home/EU Applicants

Our information for applications details pre-requisits, essential criteria, selection procedure, offers and outstanding oualifications and financial support.

All applications should be made via the national Clearing House for Postgraduate Course in Clinical Psychology. Further details and how to apply can be found at www.leeds.ac.uk/chpccp.

Apply Now

International Applicants

Clinical Psychology is an increasingly international profession and at UEA we have developed many diverse ways of ensuring that our programme has a vibrant international outlook.

Since 2014 we have accepted self-funded overseas applicants onto the Doctoral Programme in Clinical Psychology at UEA programme and we now have a have a number of international students that have successfully graduated the Programme and are working as qualified Clinical Psychologists in their home countries. We have developed a flexible model of training meaning that for some international candidates, where appropriate arrangements are in place, it may possible to undertake their final year specialist clinical placements and/or research in their home country.

To encourage and enable this we have formed links and partnerships with overseas institutions and organisations enabling us to quality assure the international aspects of the programme. Finally, in the senior year international training opportunities are also available for our UK NHS commissioned trainees – so that they can also benefit from

these aspects of the programme as they come towards the end of their training. We promote the programme through talks and open days both in the UK and internationally, particularly in the South East Asia region, and in Norway and welcome any enquires, so please contact us should you want any further information.

Professor Siân Coker, Head of International Strategy and Developments

Download our International Student Brochure and our information for international applications details entry requirements and the interview process.