MSc Psychology in Clinical Practice

The psychology in clinical practice masters degree will provide you with a critical understanding of the theory and practice of clinical psychology, and the organisational and social context of clinical psychology services. You'll gain the academic skills to undertake novel research in a clinical setting and you'll gain experience of working within a mental health setting through a six-month placement with a local clinical psychologist.

This blend of research and practical learning is reflected in the course team, which consists of clinical practitioners and academics who have considerable experience working with or researching the people who access clinical psychology services across the UK.

This course will provide an ideal launch pad if you are interested in pursuing a further career in clinical psychology.

What you'll study

The MSc Psychology in Clinical Practice consists of 180 credits completed within one academic year and each module in the course is compulsory. You will undertake a clinical research and practice placement alongside a range of taught modules.

As a successful graduate of the course, you will become a clinical scientist, able to critically appraise and apply key features of clinical psychology research. You'll also become a scholar of clinical practice, with an advanced understanding of key features of clinical psychology applications as well as a reflective academic, able to use an awareness of your own experiences and characteristics past and present to inform your knowledge and skills with regard to the science and practice of clinical psychology.

As part of the course, you'll be placed within local clinical teams with practicing clinical psychologists.

A placement within a clinical team will see you undertake a collaboratively developed piece of clinical research, with direct implications for the placement setting. Additionally, it will provide a unique opportunity for observations of mental healthcare in practice, such as joining team meetings, case conferences, and potentially shadowing clinical work. Although you are unlikely to be given any case load of your own, the placement supervisors may at their discretion arrange specific clinical tasks for your involvement.

Careers and employability

The course will be of particular interest to psychology graduates seeking to pursue a career in clinical psychology via doctoral training programmes (DClinPsy). Admission onto such programmes is highly competitive, and completion of this course will enable you to demonstrate that you have both the academic grounding and experience of clinical research to be in a favourable position to pursue either training or further work as an assistant psychologist.

Graduates will also be in a favourable position to consider alternative careers in healthcare and health research – either within core health providers such as the NHS or within academic departments locally or internationally.