The group welcome Julie Steel this month to come and talk to us about her experience being in the first year on the Clinical Psychology Doctorate at the University of East London (UEL).
There are a lot of myths surrounding many courses and Julie wanted to tell us more about the course itself and her experience as a trainee.
- Epistemology is offered as a core unit at UEL, helping you challenge what you think you knew.
- In the first month, note keeping and ethics are taught. As well as focusing on research methods and clinical skills. It is quite intense, but very interesting and manageable.
- The workload is not as bad as people tell you!! With teaching and groups throughout the three years.
- In the 1st year:
- There is an essay in before Christmas, with very helpful tutors to talk through your essay and references.
- There is an exam in April
- Case report in May
- The placement is in adult mental health
- In the 2nd year:
- Case report
- Prepping for the 3rd year thesis
- The placements are in learning disabilities for half the year, and child and adolescence for the other half.
- In the 3rd year;
• The thesis is carried out
• Any placement areas are covered that have been missed, with some possible choice of specialist areas.
- There are numerous support systems for your personal and professional issues:
- The Buddy system (a trainee from the years above)
- University tutor
- Personal Tutor
- Placement tutors
- Support groups
- Student Counselling
- As well as other support services in place
- The backgrounds of the trainees are varied, with support workers, research assistants, psychology assistants and a Buddhist monk. From a variety of settings, such as forensics and sexual health.
- There were 21 places, (4 less than the previous year) with 5 boys and 16 girls, with ages ranging from 23 to the 30s. With most people applying at least twice.
- There is an idea that UEL is very psychodynamic, however, Julie notes that there are tutors from al backgrounds including DBT, systemic, Neuropsychology, CBT and psychodynamic. The work is described as very eclectic.
- At present Julie's placement is in Soho , in the West End CMHT, where she gets a lot of supervision and support.
- You do not receive any counselling yourself, but a list is available of personal therapists in the area if you wish to have therapy.
- Some fares are paid for you to placements.
The Interview
- The interview consisted of 3 questions per interview, with 2 interviews: research and clinical. In the research interview you had to describe a piece of research you had carried out, as well as something else you were interested in.
- Best ways to prepare for the interview:
- Be yourself!
- See how your experience fits into the questions
- Prepare basic assessments, formulation, with Julie recommending Dallos and Johnstone's Formulation in Psychology and Psychotherapy (2006)
- Include new developments in the NHS, such as Payment for Results, Agenda for Change, NICE Guidelines, Service User involvement, Evidence based Mental Health and Foundation trusts for example
- Try to demonstrate that you can think critically
- Do take time to stop and think and have a ponder over the question, do ask the interviewer to explain anything you do not understand!
• There is a lot of apprehension in the present climate about jobs after clinical training. We can only hope that this situation gets better. Some trainees are opting for more prison and private based work, as well as travelling the globe.
• Overall Julie found that the course at UEL is challenging and interesting, there are social events and a lot of support guiding her through the course.
The group thanked Julie for coming to speak to us about UEL and answer our questions about the course.
Next months meeting will be on Tuesday 27th February, 3.30 at UCL.
We hope to see you there.
CLOSE