clinical psycology

[morchoxplz]

My first degree was in nursing. (adult general). I got a 2.1 if that's relevant.
I'd like to do clinical psychology. Do I need a degree conversion course? How long would it take me? What would it cost? What is the employment situation like in this field?

[hannibalismisunderstood]

Hi you need a conversion course to get British Psychological Society accreditation and then lots of relevant experience before applying to the clinical psychology training. Have a look at the careers advice on //www.bps.org

[Selks]

There are clinical psychology jobs out there but it is very competitive I'm afraid.

[GoodnessIsThatTheTime]

You need a degree conversion/bps recognised degree first. Then you can apply for a 3yr ft psych doctorate training at a uni that offers it. These are incredibly competitive.

I spent a few years doing the conversion and added one module to get a full degree. I think it was about two years ft with ou. I've not applied (yet) for the ft training doctorate as the cost to family life is too high with hire far we live from a uni that offers it.

[GoodnessIsThatTheTime]

You'd pay to do the conversion course/degree.

The 3yr doctorate had a bursary/trainibg salary attached.

[AllMimsyWereTheBorogroves]

morchoxplz, I am not a psychologist but I picked up a lot of knowledge about how hard it is to get onto clinical psychology training through my old job. I posted the information below on another thread and am re-posting it now as it might be helpful to you. However, I wonder why you aren't looking at re-training to be a mental health nurse? I would have thought that would be easier for you and a lot quicker. Good mental health nurses are like gold dust in the NHS and private hospitals, as far as I can make out and a senior nurse is likely to be on a similar salary to a trainee or recently qualified clinical psychologist. You can often get some help from your employer to do an MSc and a Ph.D. - some paid study leave at the very least, and often help with the fees.

Clinical psychology is incredibly tough to get into. It is common for each training scheme to have hundreds of applicants for 20-40 places and for those who get accepted to have not just a good first degree or conversion course in psychology (a First or a very good 2.1 would be expected) and some relevant work experience but also a good Master's degree and (often) a Ph.D. as well. It's extremely common for psychology graduates to apply for years and to be well into their 30s before getting onto clinical training (or giving up and doing something else).

The reason it's so competitive is that it's funded by the NHS and trainees get a salary of about £30k pa as well as all their university fees paid while they train (which takes three years). It used to be the case that on qualifying clinical psychologists should be able to get a good job straight away, but psychology has been very hard hit by cuts in NHS budgets and this is not necessarily the case any more.

[morchoxplz]

Thanks for the info. Lots ti think about...
MH nursing is an option but I hate hate hate shift work. Would have to think hard whether or not I could hack nights lates and weekends if only for the duration of the training.

[Selks]

Not all MH nursing involves shifts...most community MH nursing doesn't unless you're in a specialist team e.g. crisis team. Most community MH services operate standard working week.

[morchoxplz]

I'd have to suffer 3 yrs training though...

[GoodnessIsThatTheTime]

There will be more than 3 years training for clin psych if you include the degree ascwell.

I was under the impression the training bursaries weren't as high as that when Iblooked last year but it could have changed!

[AllMimsyWereTheBorogroves]

It's band 6 on the NHS scale, Goodness. I was amazed when I found out how much they get. When you take into account getting all fees paid too, it's a really generous training scheme.

[GoodnessIsThatTheTime]

I think that's about 24,000, from googling though? Although yes, still great. Ed Psych is a little less. I've been trying to see how I could make the commuting and training f/t work and I just can't see how I could do it (even if I did get a place) short of being away from children mon-fri.