My career as a clinical associate in psychology apprentice

My career plan had always been to follow a traditional route into clinical psychology, but after three rejections and one unsuccessful interview for a DClinPsy doctorate course, I changed direction in 2022 to take on a CAP apprenticeship.

I've always had an interest in psychology after caring for my younger brother with special needs, and followed that interest through my A-levels and to university, where I found out more and more that my interest in people's behaviour could developed into a career option.

Becoming a CAP has allowed me to support and empower people to live meaningful lives and fulfil their potential, using the psychological theories that I learned during my studies to understand the behaviour of the people we work with and use evidence-based interventions to facilitate change.

I work in a team with two clinical psychologists, one of whom supervises me once a week, and work closely with my clinical psychologist colleagues on post-assessment meetings and as part of our multi-disciplinary team offering care.

I also run a dialectical behaviour therapy group once a week, which allows me to help run the group, collect outcome measures, and deliver content, alongside a clinical psychologist as the main facilitator.

A standard week for me includes a wide range of activities, such as university teaching, meetings as part of our multi-disciplinary team, supervision, conducting one-to-one sessions, assessments, and continuing to study and learn.

Going down the CAP route has allowed me to find a balance between continuing to learn more about psychology while gaining practical experience of what it's like to work in a service and how to deliver effective care.

It's given me the chance to support people to achieve their goals, live meaningful lives, and have hope – the reasons I wanted to pursue a career in psychology.

I would definitely encourage people to consider an apprenticeship as an alternative to the more traditional routes into psychology, and to make the most of the opportunities that it affords and the chance to work alongside people in different roles and with different experiences.

CAPs can join our dedicated Wider Psychology Workforce Register, and a job profile is available on our website.