What work experience do I need before starting the clinical psychology doctorate (D.Clin.Psy) application?

I feel like I know what I need to do to become a clinical psychologist, but sometimes it can be a bit daunting and I don't really know where to start.  Getting work experience as early as possible seems like a good plan though!

Almost all clinical psychology doctorate courses require at least 6 months of clinical experience.  Research experience is also very helpful.  Gaining experience in these areas  can be very competitive and difficult to come by, so starting preparation early is essential.  Paid work is ideal but voluntary roles are also acceptable.

There are several different roles that would provide a good foundation of experience for clinical training, such as:

Volunteering

Whilst at university it can be difficult to balance studying and work.  Volunteering is a great way to gain experience without being as much of a commitment as a paid job and can be worked around your studies.  Most universities have a Volunteering Service which can help you find experience – even if the experience is not clinically relevant, it will still help build a good set of skills and show you are dedicated to self-improvement.

There are a huge number of opportunities at every university and your Student Union/Voluntary Services will be able to give you more information.  Some examples include:

• Nightline (student helpline service)
• Supporting a child with learning difficulties or lack of opportunities
• Helping out with the elderly
• Visiting patients in hospital
• Running activities in day centres
• Mentoring

Shadowing

Shadowing a clinical or assistant psychologist is an excellent way to gain an understanding of what the job entails and what happens in a typical day.  Shadowing can be quite hard to come across due to how busy clinicians tend to be, but it doesn’t do any harm to get in contact with local psychologists to see if they would be willing to let you shadow them.  Lists of psychologists in your area can be found on the BPS website.

Healthcare Assistant/Support work

Being a Healthcare Assistant or Support Worker involves working either in a hospital or in the community providing support to patients/individuals who need it.  The roles usually involve personal care, providing emotional support and ensuring the individual being cared for stays safe.  Care/support work provides invaluable clinical experience and teaches how hospitals or community care work from the ground up.  It is also a good way to begin your career in the NHS. Most organisations will provide robust training in areas such as manual handling, infection control and conflict resolution, as well as offering opportunities for further learning and self-improvement.

Psychological Wellbeing Practitioner

Psychological Wellbeing Practitioners help provide low intensity interventions for people with mild mental health problems such as depression or anxiety.  This role can either be over the phone, face to face or in group settings.  They conduct assessments and psycho-educational therapy using a cognitive-behavioural model within the Improving Access to Psychological Therapies service.  This role would initially be carried out as a trainee, with additional learning at a local university to become fully qualified.

Assistant Psychologist

Assistant psychologist work is ideal experience for the clinical doctorate course and involves working underneath a qualified psychologist.  The role would involve working as part of a team and carrying out assessments, observation, interviews, intervention programmes, research and anything else required by the qualified psychologist.  Quite a bit of data entry and report keeping is also essential and a good set of social skills is required to establish a good relationship with clients.  Assistant psychologist jobs do not come up very often and when they do they are very competitive, so experience from the previous roles mentioned as well as a strong undergraduate degree are beneficial.

Research Assistant

Although clinical experience is almost always essential, research experience is highly valuable too, especially if the research is clinically relevant.  Your undergraduate dissertation will be your first experience of research, and doing a Masters is also a great way to build upon your research experience.  There are also specific Research Assistant roles available which involve being responsible for the general running of whatever project you are assigned to.  This could involve phoning participants, setting up experiments, designing measures, organising materials, scoring data and liaising with supervisors.  Being a Research Assistant is a brilliant way to learn practical research skills while working and would provide a solid base of experience for the clinical psychology doctorate thesis.