Overview: Specialist Placement for Clinical Psychologist Doctorate Students 3^rd years

For more than 15 years the University of Warwick Counselling Service has offered a specialist trainee placement opportunity to Clinical Psychologists in their 3rd year elective placement.

This placement offers you the opportunity to work in an organisational context that is different from the NHS thus broadening your training experience. The skills acquired on this placement will allow you to demonstrate to future employers - in the NHS and other settings - that you are able to manage a substantial case load, that you can work creatively and flexibly with a range of presenting issues and you can work effectively with short term as well as longer term therapy contracts.

The placment may particularly appeal to you if you are interested in developing your capacity to work at relational depth in short term work in one-to-one therapy relationships. The model you will develop is based on using your self as your key therapeutic tool in order to meet the client need. The model used is generally integrative, tailoring your therapy interventions to each individual client.

The CAPS team is comprised of a core staff team of therapists from a variety of theoretical orientations, offering a range of psychological therapy services to students of the University. In addition, the team generally includes a number of counselling trainees on placement and Associate Psychological Therapists.

The client group is 18-21 year old undergraduate students and mature students (22+). Warwick University attracts many international students who also access CAPS.

The placement is generally available as the October to March option.

A pre-placement meeting would be an essential part of the process in selecting this opportunity, to make sure the placement is suitable - you are welcome to arrange a visit at any time.

For more information, contact the Head of Service Samantha Tarren, samantha.tarren@warwick.ac.uk

Read the Personal Reflections of previous Clinical Psychology Doctorate student placements.

"The client group at the University is incredibly diverse which meant that I was able to work with a huge range of difficulties and presentations, including perfectionism, eating difficulties, distress relating to physical health concerns, relationship difficulties, cultural challenges and concerns relating to sexual orientation"

"This placement has really facilitated the development of my therapeutic skills and helped me to become more confident in tailoring my approach to an individual client. I am now much more aware of the ways in which I relate to each client and how this can be used to inform the therapeutic process"