Patient help: enhancing UCL psychology training

The UCL Research Department of Clinical, Education and Health Psychology has taken an innovative step to enhance its renowned doctoral course in clinical psychology - by involving mental health service users in designing and delivering training. The UCL doctoral course in clinical psychology is the largest of its kind in the country and vastly oversubscribed. In recent years, mental health service users ' anyone with direct experience of using psychology services, as client, relative or carer ' have come in for two three-hour lectures over the course of the doctorate to talk about their experiences of mental health services. The lectures provide students with personal accounts of living with mental health problems and of caring for someone who experiences major difficulties such as dementia. The lectures are also an opportunity for service users to describe how the attitudes and skills of health professionals have a profound impact on chances of recovery. Katrina Scior, Academic Director of the course, explained the reason for expanding the service users? involvement: 'The feedback we were getting from students about these sessions was so positive that we started looking at ways to get service users more involved on a more regular and long-term basis.' Thanks to funding from UCL's Beacon Bursary scheme , service users from the local community have become involved in shaping and delivering more aspects of the course since January 2009. They are actively involved over the full duration of the course and spend more time working with trainee clinical psychologists in a variety of ways, including lecturing and teaching sessions on engaging with patients and assessment, advising on the course curriculum and helping assess potential students?