Clinical Psychology Professional Doctorate

Your time on the course will be divided between academic work, clinical experience and research.

Academic

Following mandatory induction blocks each year, youll attend workshops, lectures and seminars and undertake online learning for up to two days per week throughout the course. The mandatory induction blocks will be for 2-5 days each week depending on the stage youre at.

Youll cover a broad range of topics in clinical psychology, giving you the knowledge required for your clinical placements and research.

In Years 1 and 2, teaching is closely linked with the competencies that are assessed on placements, while Year 3 teaching focuses more on specialist skills.

Clinical experience

Throughout the course, youll undertake clinical placements in a variety of settings – you could be placed in hospitals, clinics, community centres or voluntary agencies. Placements can be located anywhere across the large geographical area of Staffordshire and Shropshire. Youre likely to be travelling some distance at times during training.

During each year-long placement module, youll typically work with two (and up to three) main supervisors on clinical placements, which can last from 5-12 months (typically six months). In your third year you may have a degree of choice over some of your placements, depending on circumstances and progress.

Research

Your research activities will include:

• critical appraisal of literature
• a research proposal
• an examination of research methods and processes
• a service evaluation project
• a research thesis portfolio

Youll have scope for choosing your research topics, provided theyre in line with staff interests, national and/or local research priorities and suitable supervision is available from University academics and local clinicians.

Youll start your thesis early in Year 1 and complete it by the end of Year 3. The thesis portfolio is written up as two papers, written in a format suitable for submission to identified peer-reviewed journals, and an executive summary. The first paper, a literature review, is submitted at the end of Year 2.

Youll have access to a wide range of University and NHS library and online resources, and youll be given training in qualitative and quantitative research methods and the process of conducting clinically relevant research.

Professional body accreditation

Accreditation by the British Psychological Society. Graduates from the programme are deemed to have met the requirements for Chartered Membership of the Society (CPsychol) and full membership of the Division of Clinical Psychology.

Approved by the Health and Care Professions Council (HCPC) for the purpose of eligibility to apply to register with the HCPC as a practitioner psychologist (clinical psychologist)