Entry Requirements

Relevant Experience

All course centres require applicants to have some relevant clinically-related experience before starting training. This helps to establish that you know what you are applying for, what clinical psychologists do, the settings they work in, and the clients they work with. It also gives you the opportunity to work in the field before committing to a career in clinical psychology, and to gain an idea of what work with clients actually involves. Many trainees make good use during their training of the experience they gain at this stage, so it is not "wasted" time.

You do not necessarily need a long list of varied clinical experience: quality of experience is as important as quantity. Whatever work you do, course centres are primarily interested in what you have learnt from your experiences, both personally and professionally. Please see the Entry Requirements information for each course centre for details of their requirements.

When to get experience

You can gain experience before, during or after your first degree and you should plan your time to strengthen your application as much as possible eg undergraduates could find relevant work over the summer.

What counts as experience

Relevant experience includes part-time or full-time, voluntary or paid work, involving caring or service roles with clients, whether in the public, private or charitable sectors. Although it is common for applicants to have worked in mental health in the NHS, work in other areas is also relevant. As examples, many successful applicants have worked in Social Services, in services for people with disabilities, or in the charitable sector. However, some (but not all) course centres may value clinical experience which has been supervised by a qualified clinical psychologist over other types of experience. If possible, you should seek regular supervision or contact from a qualified clinical psychologist who can then give you a reference for your application. If your job does not involve such contact you may benefit by making contact with local clinical psychologists.

Research experience

Research experience (in addition to the undergraduate project) in a branch of psychology or a related discipline can also be relevant if it gives some direct involvement in a clinical area eg where it involves direct contact with users of clinical psychology services, or where the results of the research are clinically applicable. This does not mean that you must have held a research post. This sort of experience can often be gained in a clinical post (eg where clinically-related research and service evaluation are undertaken).

Where to look for jobs

The BPS Psychologist Appointments and psychminded advertise jobs in psychology.
The NHS Careers website advertises NHS posts, and healthjobs and jobsinhealth advertise jobs in the health sector.
Jobs in social care may be advertised in Community Care and in other Nursing and Social Services journals or at the Local Government Jobs website.
CharityJob and Jobs in Charities and Third Sector advertise vacancies in the charitable sector and you can also check the websites of specific relevant charities such as Mind for vacancies.
The Guardian also advertises suitable vacancies.

Overseas experience

It is always a good idea to have experience of how services operate in the UK, so overseas experience should usually be supplemented by experience in the UK.