Clinical Psychology Training Programme (DClinPsychol)
Academic Unit of Psychiatry and Behavioural Sciences
Leeds Institute of Health Sciences
Charles Thackrah Building
101 Clarendon Road
LEEDS
LS2 9LJ
Telephone: 0113 343 0815/2732
Fax: 0113 343 6997
Email: clinical-psychology-training@leeds.ac.uk
Link to University of Leeds website
The Leeds Programme was established 45 years ago and is one of the longest running clinical psychology courses in the UK. It is based in the Academic Unit of Psychiatry and Behavioural Sciences (Head: Professor Andrew Hill) which forms part of the Leeds Institute of Health Sciences in the Faculty of Medicine and Health. It has close links with colleagues in the faculty, particularly the Institute of Psychological Sciences (Head: Professor Mark Mon-Williams). The programme also has close links with local clinical psychologists. NHS funded trainees are employed on a three year contract by The Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust.
This is a three year full-time Programme, successful completion of which leads to the award of the degree of Doctor of Clinical Psychology (DClinPsychol) which confers eligibility for registration as a practitioner psychologist with the Health Professions Council. Applicants should note that the University does not accredit prior learning or award an aegrotat degree for this scheme of study (DClinPsychol).
It is the purpose of the Programme to inculcate the attitude of being a curious clinician. The Programme aims to foster the scientist-practitioner approach to clinical problems in clinicians who are also reflective-practitioners. Above all we wish to engender curiosity and enthusiasm in trainees and to provide them with the clinical skills, and the intellectual and professional frameworks which will enable them to continue learning on completion of the Programme. The Programme aims to train clinical psychologists who can practise with a high level of therapeutic and research competence in the context of the changing NHS. The Programme strongly promotes the application of psychological theory in all aspects of the clinical psychologist's role, and its teaching covers a broad range of approaches including cognitive-behavioural, family systems, personal construct and psychodynamic theory. The Programme encourages trainees to evaluate critically all forms of psychotherapy and other clinical activities. The academic teaching is organised around a framework of clinical competencies.
There are three major strands to the programme: clinical and research competence, and personal and professional development; and throughout the three years the academic base provides research supervision, opportunities for personal and professional development, organises and monitors trainee performance in clinical settings, and offers teaching to support learning in these domains. Teaching is provided by a combination of blocks and weekly day release. Periods for private study are scheduled in the formal teaching programme. Most placements are located in West Yorkshire. Decisions about clinical placements are made by the Clinical Tutors and trainees may expect to be placed in any of the services traditionally linked with the programme. It is often an advantage if trainees have their own transport as the use of public transport can be difficult and time consuming. Travel expenses are met by the employer.
Trainees are expected to live within the geographical boundaries of West Yorkshire. Leeds is the pre-eminent city in West Yorkshire and with its neighbour Bradford is the centre of lively cultural, commercial and sporting activities. These centres of habitation are surrounded by easily accessible countryside in the Dales, North Yorkshire Moors and Pennines.
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Acceptance into the University of Leeds scheme requires that a person should have a degree in Psychology recognised by the BPS as meeting Graduate Basis for Chartered Membership (GBC) standards at a 2.1 or 1st class level, or have a recognised "conversion" degree. Applicants with a 2.2 may apply if they have demonstrated within their application that this result is unrepresentative of their academic potential, for example affected by life events or social disadvantage and they have demonstrated their ability to work at postgraduate level eg they have completed to a high standard an academically relevant MSc programme with a significant research component. All trainees accepted onto the Programme will have had a minimum of 12 months full-time (or equivalent) recent experience in more than one field relevant to clinical psychology. This may be clinically related research, work as an assistant psychologist, health care/support worker, in health, social services, private or voluntary settings. Evidence must be provided on the applicant's commitment to clinical psychology as a profession, and their ability to reflect on their relevant experiences. All trainees must be able to demonstrate: their knowledge of psychological principles and ability to apply these; their ability to be critical and analytical; their personal, professional and socio-political awareness. All trainees must also be eligible for NHS employment including satisfactory references. Applicants who have not yet graduated will not be considered.
It should be noted that places on the Programme are currently fully funded by the British National Health Service. The programme is not therefore able to offer places to candidates who do not have UK/EU fees status. Please refer to the section of this website for International Applicants for relevant details.
We have no plans to make any self-funded places available for the 2012 intake.
If English is not your first language and your university qualifications were not taught and examined in English, you will need to provide evidence that you have an adequate level of English language ability.
Both the University and all the NHS Trusts associated with the Programme are dedicated to the implementation of the Equality Act and the policy of Equal Opportunities with regards to age, disability, gender reassignment, marriage and civil partnership, pregnancy and maternity, race, gender and sexual orientation, religion or belief. Applications from people who have had direct experience of mental health difficulties are also welcome.
The DClinPsychol programme, in conjunction with the Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust, operates its selection procedures in line with the "Positive about disabled people" principles associated with the Two Ticks symbol and in compliance with the Equality Act (2010). We therefore intend to interview all disabled applicants to the programme who meet our minimum standards for entry.
A detailed information sheet is available regarding this. It explains our selection procedure and should allow everyone to make a considered choice about what personal information they might elect to disclose in their application and what the consequences of that disclosure will be. Any potential applicant wishing to obtain an information sheet or discuss this policy is welcome to contact Sheila Youngson.
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For the past four years the selection process has consisted of two separate interviews. One interview is with a panel of psychologists from academic and clinical settings. The second interviewing panel consists of three individuals who have had experience of using clinical psychology services either as clients or carers. Candidates are asked to make a brief informal spoken presentation to this panel who subsequently engage them in a conversation on the points raised. The aim is to allow the panel to form a judgment on the communication and inter-personal skills of each candidate. We are currently reviewing our selection processes to include further competency based assessments. Please check our website for updates.
All offers of a place on a course are dependent on satisfactory criminal record and health checks.
Feedback is routinely offered to all interviewees. Unfortunately, we are unable to provide detailed feedback to those candidates whose application does not progress beyond short-listing. However, our website does post full and up-to-date details of all stages of our selection procedures.
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Under current arrangements the fees of NHS funded trainees are paid by NHS commissioners. The Yorkshire and the Humber SHA have provided a clear statement that they fund the starting salary for all trainees at spine point 1, Band 6.
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Academic teaching occurs in all six semesters (October-February and February-June) of the three years of the Programme. Clinical Placements are for six months (October-March and April-September) in Years 1 and 2 and for twelve months in the final year. There is considerable overlap between the academic and clinical components especially in the first and second years of the Programme. The general weighting of academic, clinical and research components is that the research component increases in the second and third years of the Programme. The taught academic component is heaviest in the first year and reduced significantly in the third year.
During clinical placements trainees are released two or three days a week in term time for teaching, academic study, research and private study. In so far as is possible, teaching on the Programme is active and participatory rather than didactic. Owing to limitations in the availability of certain clinical placements it is not possible for all trainees to do the same type of clinical placement simultaneously. All trainees begin their clinical training with a placement in either a clinical psychology service for working age adults or a service for children and adolescents.
The academic syllabus is designed to emphasise the considerable areas of common ground shared by the clinical specialities. It aims to offer a thoroughly generic training providing trainees with the core skills and knowledge required to approach a whole range of presenting problems which a trained clinical psychologist is likely to encounter. The academic syllabus covers the assessment of psychological disorders and problems, formulation, basic treatments and interventions, the evaluation of treatments, interventions and services together with professional issues. The Leeds Programme strives to place special emphasis on an understanding of the social and developmental context in which psychological dysfunction occurs. Teaching is delivered by academic staff, clinical supervisors associated with the Programme and occasional external teachers. In Year 3 trainees opt to attend one of a limited number of elective teaching modules on one therapeutic school (currently CBT, CAT and Systemic) broadly relevant to their final year elective clinical placement.
There are five clinical placements to be completed during the three years of the Programme during which trainees are expected to develop a range of core competencies. In the second year of the Programme some time on clinical placement is dedicated to clinical work of a research nature, during which trainees are expected to conduct a service evaluation or service development project. The elective placement chosen by the trainee for their third year of training will have a focus that is specialist in terms of population, therapeutic orientation, type of service or in the emphasis placed on particular core competencies.
Placements are organised by the Clinical Tutors and placement experience is monitored by the Tutors and members of the academic staff who seek to ensure that trainees integrate their clinical work with more theoretical teaching, and that they continue to develop the necessary competencies throughout the period of training. Trainees and supervisors undertake a planning exercise at the beginning of each placement to ensure that a balance between the trainees' needs and the Programme requirements are met.
Trainees are required to demonstrate their competence in research in a number of ways. In the first and second years of the Programme they submit a Systematic Case Study report (5,000 words), a service evaluation or service development project (5,000 words) and a thesis transfer report for the transfer viva (10,000 words). In the final year a substantial piece of empirical work is completed and presented as a thesis (40,000 words). This thesis must make an original, critical contribution to the field of clinical psychology and should be publishable. The Programme has major research interests in aspects of health psychology (eg eating and eating disorders, pain, cystic fibrosis), adult and child psychopathology (eg self harm and suicide), some aspects of experimental psychopathology, systematic reviewing and meta-analysis, Learning Disability, and the process and effectiveness of psychological treatments (visit our website to get a more complete overview of current research projects). Supervision is provided by members of the programme team and colleagues from the faculty, who have expertise in a range of quantitative and qualitative research methods. The Programme recognises that it cannot provide expert supervision in every sub-speciality of clinical psychology and applicants should note that the Programme expects that all trainees will conduct their research with an academic supervisor able to supervise in the chosen field. Applicants with research ambitions outside of the core areas of expertise should note that supervision in their chosen topic may not be available. The University has excellent, widely accessible computing, library and research facilities.
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During Year 1 of the Programme trainees produce two 5,000 word essays, one in each semester, and complete a clinical problem solving examination (PBL) at the end of the year. One essay is required in each of the second and the third years - both 5,000 words.
Clinical competence is assessed in a number of ways. Clinical Tutors meet with trainees and supervisors at Mid Placement Visits and End of Placement Reviews in order to discuss and assess the development of core competencies by the trainee. Supervisors and trainees complete a structured assessment form at each of these meetings. The outcomes of these assessments are submitted to the Programme's Examination Board. Trainees also give oral and written presentations of case reports.
The assessed components of research are outlined in the Course Structure - Research section above.
To complete the Programme successfully the student must satisfy the examiners in all components of the Programme (Academic, Clinical and Research).
The examination of academic and clinical performance is conducted by University staff. An external examiner is appointed to oversee the examinations. The external is involved in moderating marks and in appeals against the decisions of the internal examiners. The research theses are examined by individual external examiners with specialist knowledge of the subject area.
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Personal and professional development is one of the three core themes in Leeds, and the staff team is committed to promoting and encouraging personal and professional development throughout training and beyond. The overall aim is to help psychologists in clinical training to become reflective practitioners. A variety of methods and strategies are utilised: time-tabled workshops throughout the three years; reflective groups in all years; a personal development journal; set conversations with a clinical tutor focusing on personal development gains and aims. It is an ever-evolving process, and we continually ask for trainee feedback to inform future developments.
The Personal and Professional Issues Sub-committee (part of the overall Programme Management Committee) is both reactive to expressed need, and proactive in terms of promoting awareness and understanding of personal and professional development needs throughout the training community. Trainees from each of the three years are members of this sub-committee. In the Introductory Block in Year 1, the personal and professional development programme is outlined, and trainees are directed to the relevant documentation on the website, notably: PPD - A Core Theme, and Personal Support for Trainees documents.
Each psychologist in clinical training has a named academic tutor, and a named clinical tutor, and regular meetings are time-tabled throughout the three years to reflect on the training experience and to receive support. Trainees are also allocated to an appraisal tutor for review of progress annually. We do not have a named personal tutor, as the feedback from trainees has been that they wish to be able to choose whom to approach depending on their relationship with individual staff members, and the nature of their concerns or difficulties. For the 2011 intake we will be introducing a mentor scheme where every trainee will be allocated a qualified clinical psychologist as their mentor with the aim of developing a confidential and supportive relationship across training.
Overall, there is recognition by the staff team of the need for a supportive climate throughout training, and that seeking support when it is needed is a responsible and professional course of action. We hope and believe that we offer sensitive, responsive and flexible care to those in clinical training; and that we are open to critical comment, and seek to offer training of the highest quality.
There is a good deal of information on all of the above on our website. We encourage you to explore!
As well as the aforementioned sub-committee, trainees from each year are representatives on a range of other sub-committees (eg Academic, Selection, Research, Placements) as well as on the Programme Management Committee.
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Professor Stephen Morley - Programme Director, Professor of Clinical Psychology
Dr Gary Latchford - Research Director, Honorary Senior Lecturer
Dr Carol Martin - Academic Director, Honorary Senior Lecturer
Dr Jan Hughes - Clinical Director, Honorary Senior Lecturer
Ms Sheila Youngson - Clinical Tutor, Senior Lecturer
Dr Tom Isherwood - Clinical Tutor, Honorary Lecturer
Dr Sylvie Collins - Lecturer in Clinical Psychology
To be appointed - Clinical Tutor, Honorary Lecturer
Dr Ciara Masterson - Lecturer in Clinical Psychology
Dr Clare Dowzer - Research Officer
Ms Anita Dorsett - Research Officer
Mrs Lydia Stead - Programme Assistant
Mrs Jennifer Webster - Programme Assistant
Mrs Debby Williams - Programme Co-ordinator
Many members of the Academic Unit of Psychiatry and Behavioural Sciences, other Academic Units within the Leeds Institute of Health Sciences and the Institute of Psychological Sciences contribute teaching and research supervision to the programme. We encourage trainees to make professional and academic links within the discipline of psychology and at an interdisciplinary level with psychiatry and other health care professions.
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