Securing a Placement for Training

Placements are one of the most necessary yet most difficult to access, aspects of forensic psychology training. In the prison service or secure mental health services you are able to access and work with the client groups but what do you do if you do not work in these sectors and need to gain experience?

Trainee counsellors and psychotherapists are required to have a placement and gain a certain number of client contact hours as evidence of experience. At the institutions they train at, they often have placement coordinators or a placements database where they can select and apply for placements. Many organisations will have placements that advertise for trainees and these can range from NHS to private such as The Priory, occasionally prisons, but also charities and private counselling organisations. Here, experience and placements are part of the training and it is made as easy as possible for trainee counsellors and psychotherapists to access a range of placements, gain a range of experience and accrue hours of client contact. Sadly as forensic psychologists in training we do not have these facilities especially for those on the independent route. So what can we do?

As mentioned in an earlier post, volunteering is one way of gaining experience with a client group, but what about learning about the services? What about more severe clients groups who are a better reflection of the type of client you will be expected to work with when you qualify? What about working with multiple agencies and staff teams in a forensic setting? These are all necessary for understanding and learning so it makes sense to try to gain a placement somewhere as a volunteer trainee.

Speaking to my supervisor I realised that most services won't take on a volunteer trainee for a placement without the minimum of a masters degree as they are asked so often by students and need to narrow the selection pool. Once you have these, accessing a placement should be easier but here is the next pitfall; what if they expect you to be available during the day but you work and cannot take time off for a placement? Quite a dilemma. This is not something I can advise about, merely something for you to consider when applying for placements. Below I have written a list of key points that I found helpful in applying for placements and getting responses:

Who to send it to?
Make sure that you are sending it to a relevant organisation and that you tailor your letter slightly to suit whether the organisation is public, private or 3rd sector.

Why their organisation?
Let them know why you are keen to work with them.  Is it their client group?  Is it there level and range of experience they can offer you?

What do you want from them?
Why are you approaching them, what are you hoping to gain from a placement with them?

What can you offer them in return?
The most IMPORTANT part.  What can you offer them in return.  Most places will want to know that you are capable if helping as well as learning from them.  Are you a good researcher?  Can you help with any research or evaluation they are trying to complete?  Perhaps you have developed and delivered training at your work and you are able to offer them free in house training that their staff might need.  Find what your strengths and experiences are and let them know how you can apply those strengths to benefit their organisation.

When are you available?
This is key.  Most places only have staff hours during the day when you can be supervised by senior psychologists.  When you are writing to organisations check if they are open in the evenings or weekends and let them know what you are happy to do.  Are you available on Saturdays etc?

Why you are applying?
You must be clear about why you are applying.  What is the Stage 2 Chartership?  Why does it require you to have a placement and how will it help?

Importance of having a supervisor?
You should have a supervisor.  This person is supervising your work and therefore a placement are gaining the benefit of you and your supervisor who will be ensuring that you are practising appropriately.
  
This blog post is in no way a dig at the DFP; I feel that the chartership process is fantastic at preparing trainees to work as forensic psychologists however I do feel that we could take a leaf from the book of the counselling and psychotherapy trainees. If there are going to be less trainee posts and assistant psych posts are too difficult to attain because of the number of applicants, then there should be some sort of database held within the DFP that has a list of services, number and type of placement available and contact details and trainees should be able to use that to apply for placements. This I believe would help both independent and non independent trainees gain the breadth and depth of experience required in order to charter. Trainees would feel more supported and hopefully be able to charter much more quickly than they are now.

Your thoughts and comments on this post will be most gratefully received.

Until next time.....