Searching for a supervisor

At an early stage in the training process you are set a challenge:  finding a supervisor.

You might be one of the more fortunate trainees in that your post in your workplace as a trainee forensic psychologist means that you will automatically have a supervisor to take you through Stage 2.  Not everyone is going to find the process this straight forward, so you may need to negotiate through your organisation for a chartered forensic psychologist to provide you with professional supervision.  But there are difficulties involved with this, such as the capacity of the psychologist, the cost to your department for their time and their availability.  

In all job posts you will need to be receiving clinical supervision from a manager, you may also arrange to have peer supervision which has many benefits for you and other trainees including sharing practice and learning without the appraisal aspects that may be part of clinical supervision.  Clinical supervision is about your work and can be undertaken by a manager but in order to charter you need a coordinating supervisor who is a chartered forensic psychologist.  Managers or clinical supervisor can be named as your designated supervisor for particular pieces of work and this counts towards your 4 hours of supervision a month but you need to have at least 2 hours supervision a month with your coordinating supervisor who will need to be a chartered forensic psychologist.

 If you decide to find an independent supervisor to be your coordinating supervisor you will need to contact Alex Johnson, the Qualifications Officer at the DFP.  Alex has a list of current supervisors and their contact details so that you can start canvassing for supervision. The only thing the list doesn't provide is information on whether the supervisors have any current availability. Whilst some chartered forensic psychologists do not take on independent trainees as they feel we are unable to get the experience, many others see the benefits of having independent trainees not just as an extra source of income but as essential to the development of the wider forensic psychology arena.

I also made sure to note what areas they had experience in and where they worked as it helps to have a supervisor who holds the same interests in forensic psychology as you do, for example, if you do not agree with the prison system and do not want to work in that setting, you want to look for a supervisor who perhaps has experience of secure units, police or community work. Furthermore, if your interest is in the courts and eye witness testimony etc, you may find a supervisor who has only worked with offending behaviour and mental health more difficult to work with. On the other hand, a good supervisor may be able to support you despite your differences in interests.

Trying to secure a supervisor is very similar to sending your CV out for a job. You have to sell yourself. It can take some time between finishing your masters and securing a supervisor.  Supervisors will then want to know what you have been doing in the mean time to keep your skills sharp, to gain experience and to continue your professional development. 

This is where volunteering and placements can come in handy and if you need help in organising and logging your continued professional development (CPD) then the BPS have a great CPD site on their main website which allows you to keep a record of your CPD, your learning and your reflections. 

British Psychological Society



It can be hard to know what it is supervisors are looking for in order to sell yourself to them, SO, I asked my supervisor what she looks for and what she thinks other supervisors look for in a trainee. 

Essentially she feels supervisors are looking for people who are motivated and able to work independently; supervisors are there to advise and guide and it is made very clear that you will be doing the work for yourself. You will need to demonstrate a high degreel of organisation so that a supervisor can be certain that you are capable of working at this level. She agreed that a variety of experience is also helpful even if it is voluntary work. 

She did add another useful point.  As with any job or placement, demonstrating that you are mature and professional in your approach to securing a supervisor can make the difference between being accepted and not, so a strong CV and cover letter stating your intention for supervision, what stage your are at with your CPD and training and where you want to go in the future are a must.  

The independent route to chartership does have one special difficulty and this is associated with supervision, and that is finance.  Unless your workplace will fund this training, you will have to fund supervision yourself. 

Supervisors costs vary but are usually between £50 - £100 an hour, and half again for marking work that you send to them. Ouch.

Ok, deep breath, don't panic. You only need to see your supervisor for 4 hours a month once you are enrolled on Stage 2.  Furthermore, it can take up to a year to do all the preparation and have your application completed and approved and you won't need to see your supervisor for 4 hours a month during that time. It is once you are enrolled that you must see a supervisor for 4 hours a month.  However, this can include a designated supervisor who is overseeing your examplar work at your placement or in your workplace. S

For example, if you are doing a placement with a college for one of your exemplars then someone has to be named your designated supervisor and you can see this person for 3 out of the 4 supervision hours a month, saving you a bit of money. A word of caution, your coordinating supervisor is there to make sure that your work is up to standard and to ensure that you are practising appropriately, therefore if they feel at any point that you are struggling then you will need to see them more often. This isn't a bad thing and can only help to improve your practice and the likelihood of passing your exemplars first time.  For some ideas and tips about funding, see my blog post of:

Money Matters for Training Success

Readiness to Research and Publish

Research is a hot topic for trainees in this discipline.  It is also important for academics and professionals throughout their career, so it is essential for trainees to master the art of carrying out research and, equally important these days, having it published.  

Photo by Stuart Miles, courtesy of www.FreeDigitalPhotos,net

There is a current, rather heated debate on issues around publication of research.  There are those who voice concerns that there is a distinct lack of replicable studies, while others state that many published studies may replicate others but that this serves to confirm outcomes and push forward political or policy agendas rather than theory.  Critics of the latter focus on their belief that there currently exists too great an emphasis on novel research, or randomised control trials and that there is not enough theoretical development emerging from each study. 

Added to this discursive mayhem are the voices of those who point out that only particular types of research appear to be popular in terms of receiving funding, and there are those who complain of receiving unnecessarily caustic, even personal, criticisms from peer reviewers.  When faced with all this, as well as the ever-present possibility of rejections from editors, it is unsurprising that trainees will feel disheartened at entering this apparent academic minefield.

However, there are ways of achieving publication and recognition for your research.  A good starting point would be to ensure that if you are replicating a research study that you have a very strong case to do so - ideally you will show that you are addressing any recognised flaws in the original study, or you are developing a strand of theory that emerged from the original. If your rationale for replicating  a study is not solid,then it would be best to develop a novel research study.

Trainees in the prison service find themselves with an additional challenge to overcome since they generally have no options as to the research that they carry out: they usually will receive instruction on this as part of their duties.  Independent trainees are fortunate to have greater freedom, but their particular challenges are difficulties in obtaining both funding and access to participants. Research can sometimes be affected by the issue of access to participants since independents sometimes have to resort to researching with willing members of the public rather than a specific sample.

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The discussion must then be had on whether the first step for research is the theory or idea to be tested, or whether the research should be developed from the feasibility of certain areas of study.  When searching for research ideas either or both of these issues may be hugely influential.  

Ideas for research often do emerge from the participants that trainees can access.  To a much lesser extent, however, there are still possibilities to have an original idea by exploring the literature and the current research base and be able to create a successful proposal and gather relevant participants - so trainees do need to hold on to that thought.

Research does need to have a sound rationale based on existing academic literature, theory and  relevance in the current socio-political climate. Although, as scientists we might all wish we could easily research on subjects we feel are of pure scientific interest.  There is a two-fold purpose to this: firstly, the rationale will support at an ethical level why the researcher wishes to test participants; secondly, the rationale will provide a firm foundation with which to approach funding and supporting organisations, groups of participants, and, eventually, publications.

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With some creativity, trainees can develop a successful research proposal where they explore a field of study in which they have an interest, without funding, with access participants even if this might be time limited, and can find theoretical support or gaps in the current literature.  Trainees ought to consider these questions when contemplating developing a research project: Is this research going to be useful to the wider community and if so, why? Does this research open up the pathways to further study, and does it have implications for policy? Does it have current cultural and societal relevance and form a useful addition to the field?

I think most trainees have some great and creative ideas for research, but it is important to pare these down to those which have the attributes of relevance, feasibility and uniqueness in the field.  The research projects that can clearly show these attributes will be the successful projects.

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Trainee research projects do not have to be vast, however, trainees should be aware that though small,concise and thorough may be effective and achieve interesting results, they may be limited in terms of being attractive to publishers.  For example, pilot studies are rarely published unless part of a much wider piece of research.  It is much easier to achieve publication if the initial results are followed up and this work forms part of the paper presented.  Trainees looking to publish research may need to consider adding this dimension of time as a factor required in the research preparation and proposal.

The preparation of research studies is important to trainees and should be neither forgotten or underestimated.  With your supervisor and aided by your review of the literature, your initial ideas will be developed so that you can refine a hypothesis, define your aims, prepare your research questions, decide on the type of data you need and develop your methodology and analysis.  Working through all this with your supervisor will help you to move from an initial research idea into developing a working and feasible proposal and then creating a working project.

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A final, essential issue that must play a part in your preparation to research, is that of ethics.  In many ways, this should be obvious to trainees: research, in its idea and proposed execution, must be ethical, and wherever possible be approved by an ethical board.  Independent trainees who do not have access to an ethical board would be well advised to obtain confirmation of the acceptability of their research from the DFP or BPS in order to cover themselves and also their supervisor.  Furthermore, trainees should always demonstrate strong management of ethics by checking data protection usage and data storage, for example, if using online surveys with the general public.

The labyrinth that needs to be negotiated in order to achieve publication will be addressed in my post later in the month, but for now, happy researching.

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Money Matters for training success

Sinking money into your training - photo "Pound Sinking in Sea" by Stuart Miles courtesy of www.FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Since starting to blog on my experiences as a Forensic Phsychologist in Training Stage 2, I have had numerous comments and interactions from readers who are either at various stages of the training or are considering embarking on the training, and are concerned about funding.  Of course, how you organise the financing of this professional training is crucial not just to attaining Chartership, but also to avoid an additional stress when in the depths of carrying out the work necessary, arranging supervision and so on.  So I decided to summarise what I had to do to pay for the training.

I have to admit I have not fully kept tabs on all the costs.  Perhaps if I had, the enormity of it would have had me abandon ship.  But, with an eye firmly on the final goal, which I am certain will amply recompense for the work, effort and budgeting of the last few years, I embarked on making sure that I could make ends meet.

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Firstly there is an annual cost of enrollment of £1500.  This covers all your submissions and any resubmissions of that year and of course, is the first cost you must be sure to be able to meet.  You might want to think about how much time it will take for you to complete the training.  5 - 6 years seems to be a standard sort of time frame for this and worth keeping in mind, because this is not a short term commitment.

Next there is the cost of supervision.  This is typically around £80 per hour for face to face contact and around £40 per hour for non-contact time, such as reading through and assessing your work.  The training requires you to ensure that you demonstrate a minimum of 4 hours per month of supervision spread out between your designated supervisor and your co-ordinating supervisor.  If you are in a position at your work to be able to complete any expemplars, it is possible for your manager in your work place to also be your designated supervisor, and this would certainly reduce the cost.  If you are in a particularly advantageous position, you may find that your work place will also be able to supply you with a co-ordinating supervisor and in this way you will have no supervision costs..  I was fortunate enough to have one out of the two and so my supervision costs were not as great as they might have been.  The costs will vary from month to month - some months you will need more face to face time, some months less, and the same for non-contact time.

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So how to meet those costs.  Work is the obvious answer, but not just because it will supply you with a regular income.  Where you work may be crucial to keeping costs down.  Not only could your work place provide you with some if not all supervision opportunnities, but there may be numerous projects or work products that could provide material for exemplars, and your work place may want your developing skills enough to susidise the cost.  Another obvious usefulness of the work place will be whether you are able to work overtime at least on some occasions to add to the income that you can dedicate to meet those costs.

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It is possible to borrow money - perhaps through a personal loan, or possibly a professional development loan, both of these from banks and the usual lending institutions.  It may also be possible to obtain funding from bursaries or research or charitable institutions that want to invest in chartering psychologists, although in general I found that these believed that  having reached Masters level, the career had been achieved.

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One of the ways I found it possible to boost my income enough to meet my commitment to pay for my training was by tutoring students during after work hours.  Having attained masters degree level you can tutor students who are on undergraduate courses.  However, I find that the greatest demand for private tutoring is from A level students - or rather, their parents.  Tutoring is not reliable regular income, and most interest comes in the period January to June (from the time of the mocks to the actual A level!), but it certainly helps tremendously.  This is a tough option, because not only are you working and preparing your submissions, but you are  having to include time for tutoring as well as your own life, relationships, families etc.  This option calls for strong time management and I would strongly recommend builidng in a series of breaks to avoid burn out.

Financing the training is as much of a challenge as meeting the requirements of the course.  It involves reasearch, analysis and good time management skills, not to mention skills of persuasion and the sharpness of wit to spot an opportunity for funding or for saving on costs when it comes your way.  

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