University of Bath Department of Psychology
Clinical Psychology Unit and Research Centre
6 West Level 0
University of Bath
Claverton Down
BATH
BA2 7AY
Telephone: 01225 385506
Fax: 01225 386752
Programme Director: Paul Salkovskis
Programme Manager: Lesley Anderson
Admissions Tutor: Lorna Hogg
Link to University of Bath website
Open day - Wednesday 2 November 2011, 12.15-5.00pm
This exciting new Programme is based at the University of Bath and ran for the first time starting in October 2011. It is a three-year training programme leading to the degree of Doctorate in Clinical Psychology (DClinPsy). As a completely new programme it has been developed to reflect recent advances not only in Clinical Psychology, but also in adult learning strategies and supervision. The programme is both well supported in this by the University of Bath and also by local NHS Trusts. It is approved by the Health Professions Council and also accredited by the British Psychological Society.
Key features of the Bath programme include:
The Bath programme ethos emphasises the importance of theory-practice links. Trainees will learn how psychological theory can inform clinical practice. The training will draw on the full range of empirically-grounded psychological theories, not only in psychopathology but also in other areas of psychology such as social and developmental psychology in order to allow consideration of context and life-span development. The emphasis in assessment and therapy will be person-centred in the broad sense. The course training and placements are based on an understanding of the importance of equality, diversity and empowerment.
Trainees will be supported to develop high levels of competency in academic, clinical and research domains. They will learn to become highly capable scientist practitioners, able to skillfully blend the scientific basis of clinical psychology ("clinical science") with reflective practice and personally adapted approaches ("clinical art"). Through the acquisition of meta-competencies, trainees will feel confident to extend their skills to work with clients whose needs, or combinations of needs, they may not have encountered in training or for which treatment models do not yet exist.
The programme is designed to foster enthusiasm for learning, personal development and research. The PPTNA will enable trainees to reflect on their strengths and aspirations from pre-training and, in collaboration with programme staff and placement supervisors, enable trainees to work throughout the three years towards the acquisition of skills and goals that are meaningful for them.
Specialisation in the third year will allow trainees the opportunity to shape their career pathway in any of the many ways increasingly on offer in the evolving NHS, and consistent with New Ways of Working.
The programme has major strengths in Clinical Health Psychology and it is expected that some students will develop this specialisation throughout their training whilst gaining core competencies across other specialties. Opportunities will also be available for specialisation in other fields and this process can begin early in training.
The programme is very enthusiastic in pursuing accreditation with the British Association of Behavioural and Cognitive Psychotherapies and also accreditation at Foundation Level with the Association for Family Therapy. These developments will be very positive features particularly given the difficulties in procuring funding for further training and study leave post-qualification. The requirements will be built into the academic and clinical components of the programme, thus minimising additional demands. If successful, Bath will be one of the first clinical psychology training programmes in the country to have BABCP accreditation.
The University of Bath campus is situated about one mile from Bath city centre, and there are regular buses to and from the University. Bath is a spectacularly beautiful city, boasting striking architecture - Roman baths and sweeping Georgian terraces. There are countless art activities spread over the year, including the prestigious annual Bath Festival and close by, Glastonbury. The city is within easy reach of London, an hour and a half by train, and Bristol is about fifteen minutes away. Bath is surrounded by beautiful countryside, with the Cotswolds to the north, the Mendips to the south-west and, just across the Severn Bridge, the Wye Valley and the Forest of Dean. The coast at Weston-super-Mare or South Wales is also within easy reach. Further information about the city of Bath can be found at the University of Bath website.
The training programme works in close partnership with NHS trusts in the South West region, including Avon & Wiltshire Mental Health Partnership NHS Trust, 2gether NHS Foundation Trust, Oxford Health NHS Foundation Trust, North Bristol NHS Trust, and NHS Bath & North East Somerset all of which provide excellent training placements.
Placements will be available over a large geographic area, spanning from Gloucestershire in the north of the region to Salisbury in the south and from Weston-super-Mare in the west to Swindon in the east. Consideration will be given to trainees circumstances in organising placements but all placements in a particular location cannot be guaranteed and would restrict learning opportunities. The PPTNA will form the basis for consideration of placement requirements.
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The programme will seek to recruit trainees who show evidence of a commitment to the core principles of clinical psychology and the specific ethos and philosophy adopted in Bath. It will take 14 students in its first year, but it is hoped that this will expand in subsequent years.
All applicants must meet the following Essential criteria:
Applicants completing their psychology undergraduate degree in the year of expected entry to the programme will be considered if they meet the other essential criteria, given above. Similarly, there is no minimum requirement for clinical experience, although applicants must have some relevant clinical experience to be considered. The programme is more interested in the quality of the experience and the candidate's potential to become a capable clinical psychologist as evidenced, in part, by what they have made of the experience they have had. We welcome mature or second career applicants.
Applicants currently studying for a PhD will be required to complete this degree, including pass the viva, in advance of starting the programme in October. Applicants should take account of this early in their planning given delays in organising vivas.
The programme operates an equal opportunities policy and candidates will not be disadvantaged in the selection process or indeed through training because of race, religion, age, gender, social class or sexual orientation. The programme also operates a double tick system, and will make reasonable adjustments to meet the needs of candidates and trainees with disabilities.
Offers will be subject to occupational health clearance and Enhanced Criminal Records Bureau (CRB) checks. Appointed trainees will become employees of Taunton and Somerset NHS Foundation Trust. See the Job Description and Person Specification for trainees for further details.
Candidates should select one academic and one clinical referee (ie not both of the same type) who can speak to different aspects of their application. The academic referee should be someone who is familiar with the candidate's academic performance, ideally an academic tutor at either undergraduate, or postgraduate level. If this is not possible perhaps due to time lapsed since academic study, then a recent research supervisor who has some awareness of the candidate's academic ability could be selected. The clinical reference should ideally be from a clinical psychologist and also a current employer. Again, where this is not possible, a previous employer or non-psychologist can be selected but candidates should give careful consideration to the referee's ability to speak to their suitability for training in clinical psychology. Where choice of referee is not ideal, it is important that candidates explain the rationale for their choice in the Personal Statements, Background Information section of their application.
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Given the high proportion of candidates meeting the above essential criteria, and also the academic demands of the programme, an academic score will also be used to filter candidates prior to short-listing. This score will be based on academic performance from A-level through to postgraduate degrees.
A short-list of candidates will be considered by short-listing panels comprising members of the Programme team and Regional clinical psychology representatives. Applications will be rated at this stage in relation to the following Desirable criteria:
A total of 60 candidates will be short-listed for interview. (This figure may change if number of commissioned places changes.) Unsuccessful candidates will be notified by email. We will not be in a position to give candidates who are not short-listed detailed feedback and would refer candidates to the programme's essential and desirable criteria. Double-tick candidates who meet essential criteria will go straight through to interview and they will be additional to the 60 chosen through short-listing.
The interview process will take place for each candidate over one full day. There will be three parts to the process:
Interviews will take approximately 30 minutes and each of the two interviews will be conducted by a different panel of interviewers. Final decisions will be made at the end of the interview process and will be arrived at through consideration of performance in relation to the three parts of the interview process together with more holistic indices of candidates' relative strengths. A ranked reserve list will be drawn up and those remaining candidates considered appointable will be offered the opportunity to be added to a reserve pool.
Successful candidates will be notified by telephone as soon as possible after the interviews. Unsuccessful candidates will be notified by email in the first instance and offered the opportunity to talk to a member of the programme team to receive feedback.
Please direct any enquiries about admissions to Lesley Anderson or Lorna Hogg, our Programme Manager and Admissions Tutor.
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All trainees are employed by the Taunton and Somerset NHS Foundation Trust. There are no self-funded places. Trainees will be appointed on a fixed term contract for three years, on band 6 of Agenda for Change pay scales and under Agenda for Change terms and conditions.
Travel expenses and subsistence are claimable in certain circumstances: see Conditions of Service.
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The academic teaching will work in tandem with clinical placements. The academic curriculum in the first year will cover core competencies and developmentally appropriate applications of clinical psychology. This latter topic will extend through the second year. All teaching on the programme is mandatory. The third year will in general emphasise the development of specialist and higher level competencies and meta-competencies, including supervisory, management and leadership abilities, with a progressive shift from first to third year from supervision towards mentoring and peer supervision and supervising others. There will be some opportunity to choose topics in the academic teaching in the third year.
The programme emphasises the integration of University based theoretical and skills training with clinical practice by using a range of research led teaching and learning strategies including lecturing, workshop based training, problem-based learning, small group sessions, and debates, matching the topics to be taught to the methods of teaching. Some academic work will also be carried out as part of clinical placements, with integrated clinical/academic teaching being delivered by supervisors.
The clinical/research/academic integration will be enhanced by teaching which will be conducted both by programme staff (all of whom will be clinically and research active) and clinical psychologists from across the region as well as national experts. From the beginning of the programme, some teaching days will take place in NHS settings elsewhere in the region as "away days" hosted in a variety of sites. These sessions will also be an opportunity for trainees to familiarise themselves with the range of NHS and social care services across the region.
An eight-week mindfulness based cognitive therapy course is included in the curriculum so that trainees can experience this intervention for themselves. Good practice guidelines strongly recommend that health professionals undergo a mindfulness course for themselves before delivering this intervention to others. It has been shown that this allows trainees to experience some of the psychological processes and effects that they may be eventually helping to cultivate in clients using mindfulness interventions. (Rimes & Wingrove, 2011. Pilot study of mindfulness training for trainee clinical psychologists. Behavioural and Cognitive Psychotherapy 39, 235-241.) Even if trainees choose not to use such interventions with their clients, mindfulness practice should help to enhance self-awareness and reflection skills more generally which could contribute indirectly to improving clinical practice. Mindfulness will also be one of many options available on the programme for supporting trainees to manage their own stress.
Clinical Psychology trainees are recruited on to the programme with an extremely wide range of prior experience, training and ability. Many trainees at this early stage will already have particular aspirations and career pathways in mind. It is also very clear in the evolving NHS that the role of the clinical psychologist is becoming ever more diverse and, to be fit for purpose, courses need to have the capacity to support a degree of specialisation. With this in mind, the Bath programme has developed the PPTNA to enable staff to work collaboratively with trainees, from pre-training through their entire training experience, to shape their clinical experience to meet their specific needs, career plans and aspirations.
The PPTNA includes sections on skills and experiences prior to training, a personal development plan to meet future aspirations, core and advanced skills and also professional practice. The PPTNA is cumulative, and will be an important tool in identifying the suitability of placements and priorities within placements.
Working Age Adult Clinical Psychology will be the first placement. At first this is mostly observational, with only one day per week in placement. Observations will be incorporated into the teaching programme both as academic and clinical material and as the basis for structured reflective sessions. The trainee and supervisor will identify clients who will be assessed and ready to begin treatment in January, as the placement reverses configuration to four days placement with the same supervisor/s and one day in the University until May. In May trainees then begin their second placement, Mental Health of Older Adults. In the second year the placements are Child And Adolescent Mental Health, and Learning Disabilities. From May of the first year to the end of the programme placements will be for three days per week.
There may be also some flexibility in timings beyond the first year; for example, some trainees may opt to have Clinical Health Placements in the second year on the basis that the other core placement is scheduled in the third year.
The programme has a strong commitment to the development of Clinical Health Psychology training. Clinical Health Psychology will be the first placement in the final year, with placement in one or more specialist areas being possible during this time. It is anticipated that the majority of trainees will have a placement of this kind. However, students who wish to gain experience in another specialist area can discuss not having such a placement; for example, perhaps choosing to have a 12-month elective placement in another area, such as Forensic Psychology or Early Intervention in Psychosis. Trainees may opt to have a long Clinical Health Placement in their final year by attaching it to the core placement. Similar arrangements may be possible for other core placements (eg CAMHS, LD). The programme aims to arrange placements with some flexibility according to the training needs of the trainee and their future career aspirations; the PPTNA process is central to making such flexible arrangements work.
Consistent with the aim to train competent scientist-practitioners, the programme has a strong research element. There are two main research projects, a service-related research/audit project conducted in the first year and the main research project to be completed by May of the third year. The main research report should be of a standard and in a style suitable for publication in an appropriate journal, rather than as a thesis which then has to be rewritten for publication. It is hoped that this will help trainees develop skills in writing for publication and also ensure that much of the high quality work conducted by trainees finds its way into journals.
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Assessments and examinations are an integral part of the degree. The programme has worked hard to ensure that assessments are varied and interesting useful learning experiences in their own right. Assessments include case studies, clinical placements, research projects, a group debate task, a literature review, service-related project and service review/consultancy.
The only written examinations will be held in June of the first year and consist of two 2-hour papers: Empirically Grounded Psychopathology, and Assessment And Treatment In Clinical Psychology.
There will be six case studies in total at least one of which has to be orally presented. Case studies included in the research portfolio are examined in the final year. Other parts of the research portfolio are an evaluative/critical review of literature paper (or a quantitative review), the main research project, a service user evaluation/improvement document, an executive summary/dissemination document, a reflective narrative. The research components will be assessed in a viva voce examination.
Each year cohort will have an external examiner who will follow that year group through the training programme and be joined by further external/expert examiners for the final viva.Back to top
Training is a life-changing process and this inevitably brings with it stresses of various kinds. The Bath programme aims to help trainees to reflect on this process, in whatever way they find most useful, and also to develop resilience and a healthy work-life balance. A range of support options will be available for trainees in recognition of individual differences and preferences.
Support systems will include Mentors, clinical psychologists or other appropriate mental health professionals from the Region who are knowledgeable about the programme but not part of the programme team; buddies, who will be second year trainees; cohort tutors and clinical tutors. The programme also has an appointed Disability Lead. It is recognised that one of the main supports for trainees is members of their own peer group so there will be an emphasis on facilitating team building within each year group.
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Professor Paul Salkovskis - Programme Director and Research Director
Dr Kate Rimes - Academic Director and Deputy Programme Director
Dr Ailsa Russell - Clinical Director
Dr Claire Lomax - Clinical/Research Tutor
Ms Lorna Hogg - Clinical/Admissions Tutor and
Personal Tutor Co-ordinator
tbc - Academic Tutor
Dr Jo Daniels - Clinical Tutor/Cohort Tutor 2011 intake
Professor Bas Verplanken - Chair of Examiners
Lesley Anderson - Programme Manager
Jane French - Programme Administrator
Mr John Brice - Graduate School Management,
Faculty of Humanities & Social Sciences
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