National Apprenticeship Week 2024

After a career in teaching, at the age of 58 I started an NHS apprenticeship: Emergency Department (ED) Practitioners’ Assistant.

I feel I am genuinely contributing and personally progressing, gaining skills and understanding every day from my inspiring colleagues, in addition to the formal study time for which the Trust pays me.

Only last week, I was first on the scene at the arrival of a choking child, and, thanks to my training, I contributed to saving his life. What a feeling! My apprenticeship is an exceptional opportunity, constantly challenging me, opening my eyes to an amazing world of which I knew nothing.

I discovered my apprenticeship via the Trac website and was surprised to learn it required no qualifications: the Trust would even bring English and maths up to standard, if required. I chose it because I wanted to continue contributing and learning while exploring a new career.

In broad terms, my team has two objectives: first is the support of nursing staff in ED Minor Injuries and, second is the swift processing of the public into ED as they arrive at the front door.

Regarding ED Minor Injuries, we cover these areas:

• Ordering, stocking and tidying, so that materials and equipment are at hand when needed.
• Taking on a range of tasks, such as cleaning wounds, applying dressings, plaster casts and splints, conducting ECGs, blood glucose monitoring, taking bloods, fitting walking boots and crutches.
• Checking and cleaning equipment, such as the emergency alarms, oxygen and suction, Entenox cylinders and observation machines, reporting faults as necessary.
• Preparing rooms ready to receive patients.
In this way, we promote the swifter treatment of patients by nurses.
Regarding the front door, we cover these areas:
• Taking observations: temperature, blood pressure, heart rate, blood oxygen and respiration rate.
• We apply temporary dressings or slings.
• Escort (or wheel) patients and relatives to the appropriate areas.
• Liaise with the wards within ED, with triage nurses and the nurse in charge.
• Respond to emergencies applying Basis Life Support training.

I have achieved my Level 2 qualification (about a year) and am now studying for my Level 3 (another year to 18 months), all of which I have enjoyed thoroughly. Beyond Level 3, I am considering moving onto Nursing Associate, whereas colleagues of mine have used the apprenticeship as a stepping stone into nursing and medicine.

The apprenticeship is an integral part of my working week, 20% of my paid time devoted to studying and taught courses while my work duties supply the necessary experience.

I feel very lucky to be a apprentice with the Trust, working with and learning from amazing colleagues while supported and paid to progress academically. Becoming an apprentice is one of the best decisions I’ve ever made.

I joined the administration team in Maidstone Tunbridge Wells NHS Trust after leaving teaching.

While I had lots of transferable skills, I was aware that I didn’t have many qualifications directly related to my new career.

I’ve always enjoyed learning so I wanted to continue to look for opportunities to develop myself. I completed some courses in the Trust offered by MTW learning, which were great. When I heard the Trust supported apprenticeships, it was the perfect way for me to continue to learn whilst working.

I completed the Level 3 Business Administration and found this really helpful to get a well-rounded experience in administration.

The apprenticeship gave me reason to learn new systems and expand the breadth of my current role. My role didn’t usually involve ordering equipment, for example, but part of the apprenticeship required me to learn about the Integra system and to make orders so I learnt these skills from a colleague and took on a section of the ordering for our directorate going forward.

I really enjoyed adding a variety of tasks into my role to keep it varied and challenging. It was also great from my manager’s point of view because I became another person able to place orders, which helped with covering annual leave. Expanding my skills gave me the confidence I needed to look for new opportunities and enabled me to secure a promotion into my current role.

In my new role as a personal assistant, I approached the Apprenticeship team to find out about what apprenticeships might be suitable for my role and they suggested a number of interesting possibilities. One of these was the Data Citizen course with Cambridge Spark. This course is a Level 3 Data Technician course and you also complete the Edward Jenner NHS Leadership course alongside. I deal with lots of data in all different forms and managers are often using spreadsheets for a range of projects.

I have always been interested in IT and had completed the Advanced Excel course with the Trust but I still felt there must be more efficient ways to handle our data. I really wanted to extend my knowledge of Excel so I could better support my colleagues so proposed this apprenticeship to my line manager.

In this apprenticeship I have learnt about the value of data to the NHS and Maidstone Tunbridge Wells NHS Trust. I have become an “expert” in Excel and colleagues often ask me for help troubleshooting. I was introduced to using Power BI dashboards and other advanced data tools.

I improved my skills in analysing and presenting data with Pivot tables and charts. I use all these skills regularly and will continue to try to keep up with new technologies and continue my development.

After two apprenticeships I am looking forward to a break from studying and am working with my manager to use my new skills in projects for our directorate.

In the future, I am interested in the Level 4 apprenticeship on Data analysis. I am not sure what the next 30 years of my career in the NHS will hold but I think this apprenticeship will help me to adapt with developing technology. Data is so important to the NHS and as we collect more data with our online clinical systems, these skills will be useful in any future role I have.

My managers have been very supportive of my apprenticeships. It is a big commitment of 20% of your time towards your apprenticeship. I worked with managers to plan how I would make sure I completed these compulsory hours and what tasks and projects might work well with the apprenticeship. It’s really important to have regular meetings and catch ups to ensure that my apprenticeship and normal workload was balanced.

My managers were supportive and flexible, for example I could arrange to work from home to better focus on my online lectures undisturbed or write up my portfolio work.

I found that having a day of the week designated to focus on my apprenticeship work and projects helped to create a schedule- it is important to be flexible about this as sometimes service pressures mean you have to adapt your schedule.

I really enjoyed my apprenticeship and learning from industry experts. Apprenticeships are really great because you constantly have to relate the learning to your role and use your new skills, which I find much better than a training course which you might walk away from not sure of how you could use it every day. The time commitment and assessments can be challenging but I think it really suits people who like to work independently and are confident in managing their workloads.

Meet Michael, he is an East Kent Senior Medicines Optimisation Administrative Officer at Kent and Medway Integrated Care Board (ICB.)

At the start of his career, Michael first joined a programme with the Prince's Trust in which he was employed as an apprentice at Thanet Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG). After achieving Level two and three qualifications in Business Administration, he worked in various teams before landing his current role in the Medicines Optimisation team. Watch to learn more about Michael's journey.

Click here to watch Michael's story on Youtube

Ella recently completed the Training Nursing Associate Apprenticeship in Primary Care. Watch to learn her story.

Click here to watch Ella's story on YouTube

I started looking for an apprenticeship after I heard about it from other members of staff who had previous experience of it, had gained a lot from it and fully recommended it to me.

I chose to do a Level 6 in biomedical science as it was applicable to the job that I was currently doing, as well it being a subject that really interests me (I had done a L2 in Healthcare Science after leaving school) and it’s the field that I would like my career to be in.

I’ve found the study/work balance to be ok. I feel that the university does a good job of explaining everything and they also understand my position as an apprentice who is also working. I feel fully supported in my role by my manager and colleagues and I feel that if I ever fell behind or the study/work balance became too difficult for me to manage, there are lots of people who I can ask for help or advice.

I’m sure that I have developed a lot since I started this apprenticeship; I feel that I have become a lot more mature as well as more confident in myself and that this is definitely the correct career and path that I want to take with my life. I don’t think that studying full-time at university would’ve suited me so this feels like the perfect balance between gaining a well-recognised qualification at the same time as remaining in the workforce.

My biggest challenge doing the apprenticeship has been going back to studying after 7 years away from education. However, once I became accustomed to it and it became part of my everyday routine, it became a lot easier and I also felt comfortable that I could speak to my university tutor or my workplace manager and colleagues if there were any difficulties that I could not resolve by myself.

The apprenticeship has been thoroughly enjoyable so it’s difficult to pick a favourite element, but I would say meeting all of the like-minded individuals that are in my classes at university as well progressing my career has been a nice surprise that I did not expect!

I would say that being able to do the L6 apprenticeship has been an amazing opportunity for me and that if you are considering it yourself, I would say go for it! It will really improve your career prospects and help you personally develop for the workplace.

I have worked for Kent and Medway NHS and Social Care Partnership Trust (KMPT) for the last 16 years having started my career back in 2008 as a part time band 2 receptionist.

During various roles undertaken as an administrator then a business admin coordinator I took every opportunity made available to me within KMPT to develop my knowledge and experience, this included the completion of my functional Maths and English, Level 2 & 3 NVQ’s in administration as well as a Diploma in business management.

I later became the Performance, Quality and Area Admin Manager for Perinatal services where I enjoyed 12 years of my career, however, I had reached a point where I was unable to progress any further without the degree as this was a minimum qualification requirement for any progression beyond my banding. I was supported by my line manager to complete a Bachelor of Arts Business Management degree apprenticeship.

To start I was required to complete a registration agreement, this is very much like a job application in that I needed to include; reasons for applying, employment history, roles and responsibilities, education information and prior qualifications, as well as confirmation of support from my line management.

The degree apprenticeship was a three-year commitment, starting in the October of 2019.

It was completed alongside my fulltime job role although I was given 20% protected time for study. It included attending class-based/online learning sessions, completing training packages within each of the modules and then ending each of the units with a tutor marked assignment (TMA) which was graded and put towards the overall qualification.

In addition to the modules for the academic part of the degree is the apprenticeship, which required evidencing over the course of three years in excess of 140 pieces of work against different subject areas as well as the completion of an end point assessment. The final stage was an interview with an external verifier, my apprenticeship tutor and line manager.  

Challenges I had was starting a three-year degree apprenticeship in October 2019 leading straight into a global pandemic from March 2020, whilst working fulltime for the NHS across both community and inpatient services.

This initially meant that everything that had been scheduled in person, was moved to virtual and everything went online. Adjusting to new systems and getting Open University virtual platforms to work with NHS systems, as well as navigating these systems without the presence of a dedicated support was difficult.

The full-time day job became busier and the full-time degree was intense, so the only advantage to completing the degree during the global pandemic was not having spare time anyway specifically during the lockdowns. I also took on a Prince Project management qualification which involved studying and sitting an exam in London, so I really over committed myself and put myself under unnecessary additional pressure, although I do feel the two complimented each other, in hindsight I wouldn’t try and complete the two together again.

Obviously, there were advantages to everything going virtual in that I no longer needed to drive from East Kent to North Kent for the classroom-based learning sessions, and attending sites across the whole of Kent reduced so anytime I may have previously used for travelling, if not taken up by additional virtual meetings, I used for study.

I learnt so much by completing the various training modules and researching for the TMA’s. The TMA’s were often based on real life businesses with vast amounts of information and advice provided by the CEO’s or representatives of those businesses. The material provided was excellent with physical books included as well as the online materials. Before it stopped, the classroom-based training was incredibly useful in having those casual conversations and sharing ideas which are not always possible when working virtually or in isolation. At times it did feel like there was too much information to take in and that I couldn’t possibly remember it all, however, now I know I took in more than I realised.

I was provided with a dedicated tutor who supported me throughout the apprenticeship and had a selection of tutors with expertise in each of the subject areas for each of the different modules. The challenge here was, not all the tutor’s requirements, messages or marking methods were consistent.

Initially I was meeting with my tutor in person until Covid then all reviews were virtual. The reviews provided an opportunity to discuss progress and any areas of concern. Through strict personal organisation I was able to stay on top of my work load however I found it essential to work ahead where possible as if there were any work or personal emergencies there was little room or flexibility due to the deadline dates for submission and the start of the next unit. There were also occasions where the units overlapped each other, therefore doubling the academic workload, meaning deadlines were close together, so managing two units on occasions, the apprenticeship, the Prince qualification as well as the day job could be quite stressful and that’s before I remembered I had a family to consider.

Starting the degree (just before the pandemic) meant that I met new people. This was great and even better I found out two of them worked at KMPT! Although one unfortunately dropped out, the other person and I worked together where possible throughout, proof reading each other’s work, off-loading to each other when it all felt too much and basically just gave each other the support and encouragement needed at times, especially when signing on to a Sunday evening class when everyone else in the house was just settling down to watch a movie, those moments hurt the most.

Bang on schedule I completed the apprenticeship with a distinction and the degree with upper second-class honours (2.1).  And yes, I did also pass the Prince exam.

In February 2022 I successfully applied for and started my current band 7 role as the Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Practitioner (workforce lead) for KMPT. My new role now enables me to work across the whole of KMPT supporting directorates, line managers and staff as well as managing exciting projects supporting a culture of diversity and inclusion. Every day is different and every day I continue to learn something new.

Introduction

My name is Jess, I am a Clinical Associate Psychologist (CAP) working in Kent and Medway NHS and Social Care Partnership Trust (KMPT). 

[KMPT provide a number of different mental health and specialist services to people living in Kent and Medway.]

Clinical Psychology is an ever-growing field which looks at mental health and the difficulties one might be experiencing in their own mental health, and how it can be understood, treated, and prevented. Clinical Psychology will look difficulties across someone’s lifespan, and will work with difficulties such as stress, trauma, adjustment difficulties, and crises.

The Clinical Associate Psychologist (CAP) is a new role designed to bridge gaps in mental health services and treatment provisions. The role sits in-between an assistant psychologist (often an entry level role after completing a degree in Psychology) and a qualified Psychologist (e.g. Clinical, Counselling Psychologist, who have completed a doctorate in their field). It is an integrated degree, where the training involves completing a masters degree alongside a level 7 apprenticeship.

Background

I studied A-Levels in Psychology, Sociology and History, along with an Extended Project Qualification (EPQ) in which I chose to explore ‘Intelligence: What is it and how can it be measured’.

Following this, I completed an undergraduate degree in Psychology at Canterbury Christ Church University (CCCU). This was a course accredited by the British Psychological Society (BPS), and alongside my degree I was able to complete a placement year in a Clinical Psychology setting. During my placement, I worked in a private mental health service that provided support for adult and child mental health, Autism and ADHD diagnosis and support, and neuropsychology rehabilitation. There was also an NHS primary care talking therapies service that was housed there and so I spent time working in this team as well.

I completed a Master’s degree in Foundations in Clinical Psychology at CCCU after my undergraduate degree in order to provide me with further knowledge of the field, as BPS accredited degrees in Psychology will often teach a broad overview of the field, rather than specialising in one particular area.

Once I had completed my Master’s, I began applying for jobs in the relevant fields, including roles as a support worker and as an assistant psychologist. I successfully got a job working as an assistant psychologist working in KMPT where I was supported and supervised by a clinical psychologist. I was able to use my theoretical knowledge learned from university in a practical way and begin to work with service users to aid their mental health recovery.

Selection Proces

I applied for the apprenticeship through the NHS Jobs website. I was asked about my educational and professional background, and had to write a statement providing evidence as to what I could bring to this new role and how I would be suited to the apprenticeship. I was selected for interview, where I was asked questions by the interview panel about my previous clinical experience, and how I would manage the apprenticeship requirements. I was also asked about the KMPT Trust Values and asked to give examples of how I have or may use them in my work.

Apprenticeship Details

The apprenticeship lasts 18 months. During this time, you are employed by the Trust you complete your placement at, for me this was KMPT. You spend 3.5 days a week at your placement, 1 day at university, and 0.5 day completing independent study.

The training consists of 5 modules, covering topics such as assessment, formulation and treatment in mental health, ethics and professional practice, and clinical research. These made up the Masters component of the qualification.

The Apprenticeship component is completed during your placement, where you compile a portfolio of the clinical work you have done, demonstrating key elements of knowledge, skills and behaviour. Your clinical supervisor at your placement will observe you, perhaps doing an assessment or some clinical intervention. You will also have regular meetings with the university and staff at your placement to assess your progress and what targets you can be working towards. As you are a paid member of staff at your placement, you will be working as a clinician and using the theory learned at university to inform your practice with the support of your clinical supervisor. At the end of the training, you complete an End Point Assessment. This involves a clinical interview, and several ‘role play’ based stations where you are presented with clinical scenarios and are examined on how you manage them. This, combined with your portfolio, completed the apprenticeship component of the qualification.

Work Experience

During my placement, I began delivering short structured interventions to clients with mental health difficulties that included bipolar, schizophrenia and personality disorders. I attended regular supervision and had many training opportunities. As I developed confidence, I began offering longer term interventions and conducting clinical assessments using different models (e.g. Cognitive Behavioural Therapy, Psychodynamic Therapy). I began delivering group therapy with a co-facilitator too. Although the majority of my work focused on the clinical treatments, I was required to attend daily meetings to discuss risk, systemic changes in the team, policy changes or reflections. I also had other clinical roles such as being a ‘carers champion’, meaning I was the contact for any support that carers may need, and I was also the advocate for patient feedback.

A challenging project was completing a Quality Improvement Project, this is a piece of work where you identify a practice which could potentially be improved, and complete some analysis on it and present your findings and suggestions to the wider team. This was a requirement to complete during my apprenticeship. For someone who struggled with presenting to a large group of people, this was quite a daunting prospect, but ultimately once this hurdle was overcome my confidence in public speaking greatly improved.

Training and Development

I was given a large amount of training during this apprenticeship. Not only was the university training invaluable in developing my clinical skills, the placement offered me a wealth of training including: risk assessments, managing conflict, data protection and security, working with learning disabilities and improving communication. I was also given the opportunity to learn sign language! Some of the training was mandatory to the role (such as data protection and awareness), but opportunities were given to for personal development too (such as sign language). I was also given training for each clinical treatment I delivered.

During my placement, I learned how to confidently complete a thorough psychological assessment using a CBT model, treating clients using CBT, risk assessing and managing crises, effectively delivering a group therapy, and most importantly learning when I don’t know something and how to discuss this in supervision.

Mentorship

During the apprenticeship, I had a clinical supervisor at the university who would support with the academic aspects of the qualification, and a clinical supervisor at my placement who would support with my clinical caseload and practical training. As this was the first time the CAP course was offered by KMPT we didn’t have a mentor, however we would often discuss our experiences with the wider cohort and have regular group supervisions and reflective practices.

The guidance I got was invaluable in developing my skills. Both clinical supervisors were incredibly knowledgeable and experiences in their respective fields and so I felt very supported throughout. They would be able to offer me advice and guidance as to how to improve my work and helped me work towards my targets by setting out a plan of how to reach them.

Challenges

Being the first cohort for the Trust was challenging at times. There were some benefits, for example that we could develop and shape the role ourselves. However, we were often met with clinicians not knowing who we were or what we did. I managed this by discussing my role with my supervisor and sharing this with the wider team. I had to be patient, as in the early months I would be asked daily if I could do ‘X Y or Z’, but over time this became less frequent and the team got to know me and what I could do. I think being a friendly and approachable member of staff helps with this.

Impact on Career

I think the CAP role has been fantastic in creating another direction for clinical psychology. It has created home grown practitioners who are skilled and confident in their practice, and who can contribute a huge amount to their teams.

Prior to the development of the CAP course, my options were somewhat limited. I was an assistant psychologist, but the next step in my career was the doctorate or accredited CBT therapy training, both of which are highly competitive and I did not feel ready for this personally or professionally. The CAP programme has given me an opportunity to become a psychological practitioner at a step that works for me.

Recommendations

I think there is still some work to be done in skilling the teams as to the role of a CAP. I am aware that other CAPs in different teams had different experiences and roles during training (and after qualification!) and so consistency needs to be addressed.

For future apprentices, I would advise gaining clinical experiences in a few different services, not just as a support worker or assistant psychologist, but perhaps volunteering at an inpatient ward, or at a community dementia group, or as I did which is working as a receptionist at an older adult’s community team.

Knowing more about the population you will be working with is incredibly valuable, firstly to equip you prior to placement (it can be pretty scary walking into a clinical environment for the first time), and secondly to establish if this is the right pathway for you.

Clinical Psychology as a field is one of the most rewarding environments to work, but it can be very hard and exhausting. Check in with yourself, take some time to reflect and then make the decision that is best for you.

Introduction

My name is Maddison and I am a Qualified Clinical Associate in Psychology (CAP) working in a Forensic Low Secure Service within Kent and Medway Partnership Trust (KMPT). I was part of the first cohort of Level 7 Clinical Associate in Psychology (CAP) apprentices / Masters of Science in Clinical Associate in Psychology (MSc) in January 2022 at University of Kent. This role is a fairly new one and is designed to help address the staffing needs of mental health teams across the country and increase access to psychologically informed mental health services.

Background

My passion for psychology first started in secondary school at Dartford Grammar School for Girls whereby I was given the opportunity to complete a Psychology GCSE. From there, I went on to complete my A-Levels studying Psychology, Fine Art and Philosophy and Ethics. I was fortunate enough to be selected for my top choice of university which was the University of Leeds to study a British Psychological Society (BPS) accredited Psychology degree. Whilst completing this degree, I undertook jobs working with special educational needs children (e.g., autism) involving psychological practice e.g., Applied Behavioural Analysis (ABA) programmes.

After completing my university undergraduate degree with a 2:1, I applied for many (MANY!) Assistant Psychologist jobs in order to work my way into the field of psychology. If you are not aware already, the field of psychology is very competitive with lots of rejection throughout the application process, so make sure you have some self-care techniques! Despite the rejection from many companies, I was lucky enough to receive an interview working at a private psychology company who were commissioned to work within a Low Secure Forensic Service (specialising in Learning Disability - LD) in Kent.  With this company, I worked there for between 2-3 years as there was scope for me moving around in my role to work in different areas within the company e.g., inpatient, community work, Autism Diagnostic Service etc.

After working for this private company, I finally got a job within the NHS (TIP: I should say once you have had one Assistant Psychologist job, it is much easier to find another!) working as part of a Community Mental Health Team (CMHT) in Dover, Kent. I worked for this team for about 6 months before deciding to apply to the Clinical Associate in Psychology course at the University of Kent.

Selection Process

In terms of the application process, I was fortunate enough to know another Assistant Psychologist who was helping the University of Kent set up this course so I had an inside scoop into knowing when the applications were going to be open.

For this specific CAP application, I had to apply through NHS jobs by searching for a Trainee Clinical Associate Psychologist and the University of Kent. Hence, you apply for the job rather than the university course directly. Therefore, the interview process involved completing an NHS application form, stating your preference as to which service you would like to work for, to which I responded with Forensics. If you were successful on your application, you would be offered a panel interview which involved 2-3 psychologists from different services asking you questions, similar to an Assistant Psychologist interview. If you passed the interview then you were offered the job alongside a space on the course at the university.

I would like to say that the Forensic LD/Autism Services in Kent is a small community and so I was already aware of the forensic psychologist who was on the panel for my interview and so tailored my answers for him. (TIP: I researched the psychologists as I was provided with their names beforehand to try and find out more about them and to include their expertise into my answers!)

Apprenticeship Details

The aim of this Masters level apprenticeship is to provide the general public with greater access to psychologically informed mental health and wellbeing services, filling an identified skills gap between Assistant Psychologist and registered Practitioner Psychologists. Working in health services alongside existing Psychological Practitioners, a Clinical Associate Psychologist’s work is informed by psychological theory and evidence-based psychological interventions. Each CAP specialises in a scope of practice e.g., adults across the lifespan.

The duration of the apprenticeship will be 18 months. The apprentice spends the majority of their week in their workplace.  The programme includes face-to-face teaching one day per week at the Canterbury campus. Face-to-face teaching is supported by online learning throughout the year and progress review meetings with a dedicated Apprenticeship Advisor every 8-12 weeks.

Line managers are expected to support apprentices in their day-to-day job roles and attend the progress reviews with the Apprenticeship Advisor every 8-12 weeks to sign off the apprentice's skills and behaviours in preparation for the end-point assessment (EPA). 

For more information visit: https://www.kent.ac.uk/global-lifelong-learning/apprenticeships/employing-an-apprentice/clinical-associate-psychologist

Work Experience

This apprenticeship has a lot of competencies to achieve by the end of the 18 months. It has the largest number of Knowledge, Skills and Behaviours (KSBs) at 119 compared to other apprenticeships at this level. This number may sound daunting but a lot of the competencies overlap and many can be achieved by doing one thing which contributes to more than one KSB (TIP: you need to be organised and complete you KSB tracker as you do along not at the end…TRUST ME!)

In terms of tasks and responsibilities which are in line with KMPT values (Open, Respect, Accountable, Excellence, Innovative and Working Together), it is a cross between Assistant Psychologists and Trainee Clinical Psychologists. When you are a Trainee CAP you are more likely to working at a ‘Senior’ Assistant Psychologist level (Band 5) and then when you are qualified, transitioning into a Trainee Clinical Psychologists responsibilities/tasks (Band 6). It would be hard to note down all of the tasks/responsibilities undertaken by CAPs as they vary but for me it involves: admission assessments, risk assessments, treatment and interventions (mainly Cognitive Behavioural Therapy – CBT), developing formulations for patients etc.

I think one of the biggest parts of the apprenticeship / masters is completing a Quality Improvement Project (QI) within your service. It is a great opportunity to think about areas of improvement within services as well as utilising your research knowledge (TIP: maybe chose one thing to focus on, rather than what I did which was multiple things - it is a lot easier to write up if you chose one small thing).

Visit here for more information regarding tasks and responsibilities for CAP: https://www.instituteforapprenticeships.org/apprenticeship-standards/clinical-associate-in-psychology-cap-integrated-degree-v1-0

Training and Development

With this apprenticeship, you are constantly taking the psychological theory from what you are have learnt at University and applying this to your working environment. Of course, not everything is going to fit exactly into what you are doing but you can be adaptable and flexible in applying these skills at work. I think a key thing to remember is that you are always learning new things when completing this apprenticeship especially around CBT and how you could use this within sessions with patients / service users. Again, another thing that helped me was my experience in both community and inpatient as that allowed me to understand the processes within each type of service and how this could be applied. It should be noted that the course was tailored more so to community services than inpatient services due to the increased number of CMHTs. 

Upon completion of the apprenticeship, you will gain a master's - MSc in Clinical Associate in Psychology and a Level 7 Clinical Associate in Psychology Degree Apprenticeship. Two for the price of one – although you definitely work for it!

Mentorship

As part of the apprenticeship, you are required to have weekly clinical supervision with a qualified clinical psychologist preferably. This is to help reflect on things that are going well and maybe areas to improve as well as the management of workload. Within the psychology field, supervision is valued and held on a regular basis. This helped me when I was experiencing some personal issues and/or difficulties with patients and how to navigate these situations e.g., transference and counter-transference.

I think having a mentor, separate to supervision, helped me to just understand that I am not alone and could validate these thoughts and feelings that were arising due to being in a new team, new job and trying to find a work / uni / life balance that suited me which was hard! Therefore, I feel having a mentor enabled me to navigate these new experiences and she herself was newly qualified Forensic Psychologist so was able to share how she managed to balance work, uni and personal life.

Challenges

Of course, as with any job there can be challenges, especially when it comes to assignments and trying to complete them whilst working (what seems to feel like a full-time job when its part time one!) and trying to keep a good work-life balance can be tough. However, it is all about planning and making sure you have things to look forward to on weeks where assignments are not due and remembering that on the week’s assignments are due just focusing on / completing them!

I think one of the major challenges faced was the communication between the university and KMPT as there did not seem to be a robust route for clear communication between the services. However, this got better throughout the course, as systems were put in place to help with this. I think this was also compounded by the fact there is an increased demand for Clinical Psychologists within the Trust so many of them were supervising more than one CAP and many did not understand the job role (as it is new) making a seemingly hard task, near impossible. However, I think it is good to try and remember that we are only human, we can make mistakes but what’s important is to learn from them and I think both services have tried to improve their communication skills.

Achievements

I think one of my personal achievements was winning an award for the Clinical Associate Psychologist of the Year during the Apprenticeship Awards at the University of Kent. It was an honour to be nominated and to receive the award on behalf of the cohort. A sense of joy and recognition of my work was noted and it was nice to know that it was not purely based on grades as don’t get me wrong I did well in my assignments but I was definitely not the best academically and that’s okay!

I think it should also be noted that completing an MSc and Level 7 Apprenticeship within 18 months, working a full-time job into a part time role whilst also trying to manage to say ‘sane’ by having a personal life was difficult to say the least. So apart from winning an award, what I am most proud of and for the rest of my CAP colleagues, is that we did it! We made it out alive, slightly scarred but now working towards a future to increase access in psychological interventions.

Impact on Career

As part of the ongoing process to become a Qualified Psychologist, it is nice to know there are other options than completing a Doctorate. I should state that even though I am a Qualified CAP this is different to a Qualified Psychologist. A Qualified CAP works at a Band 6 level within NHS payment scales but is not currently registered to a registering body i.e. BPS (although this is currently in process). A Qualified Psychologist works at a Band 7 + level within the NHS payment scale and is registered to a registering body usually the Health and Care Professions Council (HCPC). HCPC professionals can also provide regular supervision towards other psychological professionals whereas a Qualified CAP cannot.

Despite some of the restrictions currently in place, the good thing about being a CAP is that we are trained to work in our services from the start of the course. We can gain in-depth knowledge into our service, work with specific populations (so for me I get to combine both Clinical and Forensic which is not often the case) and can provided a more proscribed range of activities than HCPC professionals. I think as well as like the purpose behind a CAP in that rather than providing the usual prescribed treatment i.e., psychology does this as that’s what we know, we look at the patient as a ‘whole’ and think about how best to help the patient and try to work more collaboratively with others.

Conclusion

Overall there have been some ‘bumps’ along the way as with any job but I have learnt so much in terms of both professionally and personally about myself. It has been great getting to know other CAPs on my course (and the fact that we all worked in KMPT which really consolidated us together). For me, an apprenticeship fit well with my work-life balance. I am always seeking to learn new things especially in regards to mental health and wellbeing. By being able to learn at university for one day a week and then being able to apply the skills/theory I have learnt at university to my job really helps consolidate the learning process - I am much more of a visual/practical learner so it suits me perfectly! 

My current plan is to continue staying in my job role for the foreseeable future. I love the fact this is a role that I get to develop and chose how to 'mould' it to my strengths whilst working on improving my weaknesses. I am very hopeful that there will be some development of creating promotion opportunities for CAPS as I feel this is a valuable role for the NHS and can really help bridge the gap between people accessing psychological therapies.

Recommendations

Throughout this article, I have highlighted some tips and websites to look at, should you think about taking this route into psychology. If you want to be able to learn new information whilst applying this to your job role then this is the route for you! However, this doesn't necessarily mean it is easy - working at job for 3-4 days a week whilst being at university for 1-2 days a week is tough and intense at times but as with everything the sense of accomplishment for managing to complete the course or even just a module is well worth the work.

So good luck to those thinking of considering a higher or degree apprenticeship, you won't regret it as long as you have a realistic expectation to what is ahead of you and who you want to be!