Life In the Labyrinth Life In the Labyrinth

In this episode, Candice speaks to Rob Parker (member of the course team on the Clinical Psychology DClinPsy training course at Lancaster University) and Dr Pieter Nel (Programme Director, The University of Hertfordshire) about Lancaster's journey and experiences of developing a new part-time training pathway. Lancaster now offer 6 funded part-time training places. In this episode you will also hear Pieter share his own experiences of clinical training on a part-time course in South Africa, and you will hear Pieter ask Rob some of the questions that we have had over the last few years.. what are the practicalities on the ground of designing a new part-time pathway and how does it impact trainee and cohort identity? 
In summary, there is a shared sense that offering a formalised part-time training route may better support trainees' needs and support trainee and cohort identity, rather than each trainee who follows a bespoke training journey due to personal circumstances (e.g. ill health, maternity amongst other reasons) and each course team, navigating a number of separate, unique pathways. Importantly, there is a general agreement that part-time training opportunities may increase diversity in the profession and enable applications from applications who would not be in a position to train full-time and therefore may not even apply to full-time courses and would not have the opportunity to join the profession of Clinical Psychology. 

Keith spoke to us during his second year of training and shared reflections on how his role of 'Dad' had impacted his identity of 'trainee'. He shared really valuable parts of his experiences that relate to how he has managed to navigated training in a pandemic, whilst spinning many plates as a single Dad. He reflected on the importance of asking for help when needed, taking a year out as a result of personal circumstances and the value of knowing what you need in order to achieve academically, such as staying connected with others.

Dr Mandie George, Clinical Psychologist, met with us last month to share her own experiences of starting DClinPsy training with a young baby and also shares her findings from her Thesis; a qualitative IPA study that explored how being a parent can impact trainee’s experience of a CAMHS placement. She shares her findings (that having children and not having children) both play a really important role in participants’ experiences of CAMHS placements. Mandie also reflects on the importance of trainees knowing their own position and knowing their vulnerabilities. She highlights the importance of finding connections with people who can support a process of reflection on both personal and professional impacts of clinical training, particularly when things feel difficult. Mandie shares her wisdom, that we all have the shared experience of being human beings and that inevitably will lead some of our experiences to overlap with the experiences of our clients. We talk to Mandie to find out what tips she would give her trainee self, if she could go back in time and do it all over again!

In this episode we share our experiencing of starting our second year of the DClin Doctorate. We reflect on what it has been like to carry on parenting during pandemic and how that feels now that we have in Year 2.
We talk about the importance of the wider contexts surrounding training and we catch up about how the kids are getting on, and share tips on how we manage situations where we want to get on with work but our kids just want to play! We talk about what helps us to shift from 'work mode' to 'mum mode'?
We share how we have learnt to accept that with kids and training, we can’t be in control of everything and how liberating it can feel to let the children take on the role of ‘boss’ sometimes..
We really hope that you enjoy listening!
Sarah and Candice x

In this episode we invite Zoe, a qualified Clinical Psychologist and Lucy, Trainee Clinical Psychologist to have a conversation with each other about their experiences of taking maternity leave during DClin training.

We reflect on what it has been like for us to finish our first year of training as Trainee Clinical Psychologists whilst navigating parenting during the pandemic.