University College London

Professional accreditation

This course is accredited by the:

• Health and Care Professions Council (HCPC)
• British Psychological Society (BPS)

Trainees completing the course will receive:

• Recognition of having completed a Foundation level course in systemic practice accredited by the Association for Family Therapy and Systemic Practice (AFT) – this applies to all trainees who successfully complete the DClinPsy course and course work required as part of the AFT accredited Foundation Course in Systemic Thinking and Practice.
• Eligibility to apply for accreditation with the British Association for Behavioural and Cognitive Psychotherapy (BABCP) via the individual accreditation route post qualification.

The course also offers four pathways:

BABCP-accredited CBT Pathway

All trainees on the programme receive a thorough training in CBT. However, the BABCP has also approved a specific Level 2 CBT pathway on the course. Trainees who complete this CBT pathway will be eligible to apply for provisional accreditation with the BABCP when they qualify from the DClinPsy. Only a proportion of trainees can follow this pathway so there is a selection procedure in which trainees are asked to indicate their interest in pursuing it prior to joining the course.  There are additional academic and clinical requirements on the pathway and these are communicated to offer holders before they are asked to indicate their interest.  This is the largest pathway on the course with typically approximately a third of trainees are on the pathway.

Intermediate Systemic Pathway 

All trainees on the programme receive teaching on the fundamentals of systemic theory and practice, as part of our embedded Foundation Course in Systemic Thinking and Practice. We are also developing and piloting a new, small intermediate systemic pathway, for which we will seek accreditation with AFT in due course but please note that this pathway is not yet accredited with AFT and it may not become accredited with AFT. Trainees on the pathway will be required to complete additional teaching hours and assessments, in addition to completing at least one placement with a systemic orientation. Trainees are given more information about the pathway and the selection procedure for the pathway in the first or second term of the course. It is difficult to estimate the number of trainees who will be able to pursue the pathway because it will depend on the available number of suitable systemic placements, but it will likely be in the range of 5 to 10 trainees in each cohort.

Neuropsychology Pathway

The pathway does not lead to an independent accreditation but its completion will be noted on the graduation letter from UCL. Trainees who complete the pathway will be able to:

1. count up to one year of supervised practice done on the DClinPsy towards a two-year post-doctoral qualification in clinical neuropsychology;
2. skip some of the learning component on the Bristol post-doctoral course in clinical neuropsychology;
3. leave with additional learning and experience in neuropsychology.

The pathway requires trainees to do two pieces of neuropsychology-related coursework and select a neuropsychology placement. Again, there is a selection procedure for the pathway and only a small number (approximately 6 trainees in each cohort) are able to pursue the pathway. Trainees receive more information about the pathway and the selection procedure in the first or second term of the course.

Clinical Academic Pathway

The clinical academic pathway aims to give research-focused trainees additional opportunities throughout their training to learn more about clinical academic careers, with an aim of applying for competitive research funding post-training. There is no formal accreditation for this pathway, but the goal is that by the end of training, pathway trainees will have solidified their further research plans and will be preparing to submit an application for further clinical academic work (e.g., PhD, fellowship, clinician scientist role).

The pathway begins with semi-regular meetings and workshops in Year 1, and evolves into more independent, hands-on research experience (beyond the major research project) as training progresses. Trainees can expect regular meetings of an hour each, as well as group and self-led activities (i.e., research presentations and interactive feedback, working with or shadowing other clinical academics at UCL), and most "assignment-based" deadlines are aligned with standard course deadlines (e.g., research project proposal submission).  Again, there are a relatively small number of places on the pathway (5-10%) and trainees are given more information about the pathway and the selection procedure in the first or second term of the course.

Approach and theories

We have an explicitly pluralistic ethos exposing trainees to a variety of approaches, including the following:

• Cognitive behavioural therapy including third wave models ACT and CFT
• Systemic
• Psychodynamic

Placement locations

• Trainees are expected to travel to placements within the North Thames region (see the below map)
• Placements are in a range of NHS Trusts and third sector organisations.
• Commute times can be anywhere up to 1 hour 30 minutes one way, though we do try to ensure trainees have a mix of commute length across the course.
• Placement allocators do take into account any additional needs that have been agreed with course tutors e.g. relating to childcare / caring responsibilities, mental and physical health issues.
• Placements are primarily in person although some may involve hybrid working.