UCL Clinical Psychology DClinPsy

While training is usually an exciting and stimulating experience, it can also be challenging and sometimes stressful. It is not at all unusual for trainees to go through periods when they feel overwhelmed or upset. Making a judgment about when to seek support is not always easy; especially because these periods of stress can be fairly transient, and in some ways learning to manage them is part of the learning process. Equally, even mental health professionals can be reluctant to seek help because they somehow feel that they should be able to cope by themselves, even when they know that they are finding this a challenge.

Every trainee has an assigned clinical tutor whose role is to provide support and aid with personal professional development. The trainee should always contact their tutor in the first instance if they have any support needs. Please click on the highlighted section for a downloadable list of all trainees' tutors and MPR visitors (restricted access- UCL login and password required).

In addition to the course tutor, who should generally be trainees' first point of call when in need of support, there are a range of support systems for trainees. These include a general personal advisor scheme that all trainees are encouraged to use, plus these more specific support schemes:

Black and Minority Ethnic (BME) Support Scheme

Lesbian, Gay and Bisexual (LGB) Support Scheme

Parents and Carers support Scheme

If you have any queries about support for trainees, either talk to your course tutor or contact Kristina Soon (Clinical Tutor).

Every trainee at UCL has an annual developmental review with their course tutor. The Review should be seen as the culmination of other tutor meetings throughout the year.

The Developmental Review is an opportunity for trainee and tutor to review the previous 12 months to identify what has gone well and any areas that have been more difficult. The review should aim to identify the opportunities for the forthcoming year and anticipated challenges. The review is also an opportunity to identify any problems for that trainee that might interfere with their clinical training and to see what might be done to relieve these.

Follow this link for guidance on the Developmental Review and a form to be completed by the trainee and tutor prior to each review.

The course aims in all its activities to create conditions that support personal development, and offer support systems designed to ameliorate stress. This page provides information about the course's policy in relation to trainee's personal and professional development.

The course expects all trainees to ensure that their oral and written communication skills in English are commensurate with Doctoral Level training. Should trainees have concerns or concerns are raised by course staff or supervisors, trainees are expected to take prompt action to improve their communications skills. This document provides guidance on developing writing skills for a range of purposes, including on the ample resources available within UCL. 

This document sets out difference and diversity learning outcomes trainees are expected to acquire over the course of their training so that they can work effectively with clients from a range of backgrounds, and mechanisms for doing so.  

UCL's graduate school offers a wide range of courses  designed to help graduate students develop their academic, research and vocational skills. Information about courses is emailed to all students on a regular basis. You can also look at the full course list at: http://courses.grad.ucl.ac.uk/. All courses listed are free to all our trainees as post-graduate students.

In view of teaching and placement demands attendance may need to be negotiated- trainees are not permitted to absent themselves from DClinPsy teaching to attend any training courses external to the DClinPsy.