Clinical Psychology

Y Programme Activities

The clinical Diploma is a three year course, with papers and practica at every level.  Most formal classes after the first year are held on Mondays, with clinical placements and other activities (e.g., Masters’ research) on other days.  Students are extremely busy keeping up with the demands of the programme, which requires students to be committed and well-organized, and comfortable with a high level of reading and writing assignments as well as practicing clinical skills.  The following is a brief overview of the three years of the programme.

OVERVIEW OF THE PROGRAMME

The clinical programme is a generalist programme designed to provide some exposure to a range of areas of contemporary clinical psychology. The three years of the academic training represent a progression from academic/book learning to more practical skill development; however, these two domains are not seen as conflicting and the goal is to be able to integrate academic and practical knowledge.

There are five major sources of learning, all of which are important. These are (1) formal course work (papers) with a strong emphasis on scholarship; (2) clinical courses which are designed to provide a rationale for clinical judgments, professional ethics, and issues related to practice; (3) supervised clinical work with clients; (4) research, usually related to clinical issues and topics, and (5) the informal education that takes place within any community, which includes learning from peers, attending conferences, going to departmental and Hospital Waikato seminars, workshops, and special one-time training opportunities.

The programme is designed as a continuous three year programme that is to be completed following the completion of an Honours degree in Psychology that includes  the Clinical Programme pre-requisite papers. Thus, it is now expected that all new Clinical Diploma students will have completed the graduate level pre-requisites and will have their Honours degree.  Some students have not completed their Honours at the University of Waikato and may need to take one or two honours papers that are unique to this University (e.g., Psychological Applications of the Treaty of Waitangi) during their first year. It is also expected that once enrolled, a Clinical Diploma student will be dedicated to the completion of the programme, barring unforeseen circumstances or advanced study (i.e. a PhD). That is, while leave may be granted to defer sequential progress through the three years of the programme in order to complete a PhD thesis, or understandable (e.g. a new child) or unavoidable personal reasons (e.g. illness), such deferment creates logistic difficulties for programme planning, and will not be granted without formal petition and discussion by the clinical team.

In the first year of clinical training programme, the greatest emphasis is on course work, including any papers remaining and clinical courses (521,522) that introduce the tasks of the professional clinician. The first practicum experience is introduced at this time. This is a short placement at the Child Development Clinic at Waikato Hospital, where students observe the assessment of children and families with special needs.  In addition, students participate in a series of visits to agencies around the region in which psychologists work; the specific agencies vary from year to year but include services such as Community Living Trust, Specialist Services in Child Youth and Family Services, Hauora Waikato, Psychological Services in the Department of Corrections, Community Adult Mental Health, Child and Adolescent Mental Health Service, and Group Special Education. First year students also participate in  a 3 hour weekly clinical skills workshop to facilitate the development of specific skills; the emphasis of this seminar in the first semester is assessment, and in the second semester, treatment. By the end of the first year, students should have a sound knowledge base and some skills in ways of approaching clinical problems that will allow them to start supervised clinical practice the following year.  In addition, first year students begin attending, and eventually presenting at, the case conference, which includes all students and staff in the programme.

In the second year of clinical training, there is still some course work (523,524) of approximately 4 hours per week, including a clinical concepts seminar and case conference, but in addition students are assigned for the first time to two human service agencies where they are responsible for specific clients. One of these placements is at The Psychology Centre unless special circumstances indicate otherwise. For students on the Master's track, this is also the year they must complete their thesis; students on the doctoral track will need to spend a great deal of time planning their study and possibly running pilot subjects or trials of their procedure.

The third or final year of the programme (depending on time out for the doctoral track) is devoted to the full-time internship, which serves as the opportunity to expand one's clinical skills and take on responsibility for a variety of clients. One day of each week is devoted to academic work, since students will need to do library research around the topics and problems presented by their clients, as well as writing case studies and attending classes. Attendance is required at the clinical concepts seminar, which provides an opportunity to consider advanced topics regarding clinical practice and to discuss the issues raised by clinical cases with university staff and other interns. In addition, interns attend and present at case conference.

Research Expectations

Research activities should be thought of as a direct part of clinical training.  All students at some point in their training are required to engage in a research activity.  This is most likely to be at Honours level (e.g., a Directed Study), and Masters (i.e., thesis), but may also be in the form of a PhD.  A research study, for those enrolled in the Clinical Diploma, is expected to focus on work related to clinical psychology practice.  Students enrolled in the Clinical Diploma are encouraged to present their research findings in forums outside the Programme including hui, symposiums, and national and international conferences.

Before you can graduate with the Clinical Diploma you must be awarded either a Masters degree or PhD.