Applied Psychology (Clinical) Msci (Hons)

University of Reading

Receive specialist clinical training and develop your scientific knowledge of psychology on our MSci Applied Psychology (Clinical) course.

This course will qualify you for employment as a Psychological Wellbeing Practitioner (PWP) within the NHS, and will provide you with a masters-level qualification. It combines elements of the University's BSc Psychology and the Postgraduate Certificate in Evidence-Based Psychological Treatments run by the world-renowned Charlie Waller Institute. The degree is also an ideal stepping-stone for postgraduate studies in clinical psychology.

The first two years of the course will give you a grounding in cognition, neuroscience, development, personality and social psychology. You will then cover these subjects in far greater depth during the second year. During the third year you will receive specialist clinical training and carry out a placement within the Talking Therapies department of a Mental Health Trust. This experience will link directly into practical modules, which are designed to develop your clinical skills.

Your final year will consist of masters-level modules and enable you to develop your knowledge by exploring your areas of interest in greater depth through a wide range of optional modules. Modules are regularly revised in order to incorporate the latest developments in clinical psychology, ensuring your knowledge and skills are always up to date. Recently they have included topics such as methods in clinical psychology, topics in affective neuroscience and clinical neuropsychology. Should you wish to study abroad, you can spend a term of your final year at a partner institution.

Throughout the course you will gain practical experience, and learn how to devise and run your own experiments. During the final year you will carry out an original piece of research on a topic of your choice. You may have the opportunity to present your work at conferences, and a number of past projects have won awards from the BPS and British Neuroscience Association.

This MSci is accredited by the British Psychological Society (BPS).

Placement

You will carry out your third year placement within the Talking Therapies department of a Mental Health Trust. This will normally involve conducting assessments and interventions of mild to moderate anxiety and depression under the supervision of NHS staff. The placement is a direct extension of the practical work taught during course modules.

You may also decide to carry our placements during the second year of the course, or during vacations. These can take place at an outside organisation such as a charity, or with one of our in-house NHS clinics. These include anxiety, speech and language therapy, and dementia. Alternatively, you can volunteer as a research assistant on a range of projects within the Department of Psychology.

Accredited by the British Psychological Society (BPS) against the requirements for qualification as a Psychological Wellbeing Practitioner.

Accredited against the requirements for the Graduate Basis for Chartered Membership (GBC) of the British Psychological Society (BPS).