Oxford

Professional accreditation.

The Oxford Course is accredited by:

• Health and Care Professions Council (HCPC)
• British Psychological Society (BPS)
• British Association for Behavioural and Cognitive Psychotherapies (BABCP): The course will support all trainees to gain Level 1 BABCP accreditation. The course will support a proportion of   trainees to meet requirement for Level 2 BABCP accreditation. 
• Association for Family and Systemic Psychotherapy (AFSP): All trainees are invited to opt into the AFSP Foundation level course in Year One. All trainees receive the foundation level teaching. Opting in involves completion of three additional assignments. The Systemic Intermediate Course runs from Years Two to Three and is capped at approximately 12 places. Trainees are able to apply for this at the beginning of Year Two.
• Neuropsychology Accreditation of Prior Learning (APL) for those trainees who apply to, and are selected for, this pathway.

The length of the course cannot be reduced through the accreditation of prior learning or experience: all trainees are required to complete the full programme of training in order to qualify.

Approach and theories

The Course supports trainees in the process of becoming highly competent and flexible scientist-practitioners for the NHS, who are confident in their ability to meet a range of needs in health and social care contexts. This is achieved through a research-led academic and skills training programme; high quality placements in a broad range of specialty areas; and excellent research support and supervision. The philosophy of the Course stems from the reflective scientist-practitioner model, and the Course is committed to drawing on a range of empirically supported and grounded theoretical orientations including Cognitive-Behavioural Therapies and Systemic (Family) Therapy. Graduates from the Course will be equipped to practice at a high level of research and clinical competence, and within an empirically grounded reflective and ethical framework which will provide a foundation for further learning and development. The Course also prepares trainees to take leadership roles and enables them to develop the skills, competencies and meta-competencies needed to contribute to and influence services in which they work. This broad range of skills is attractive to future employers, and past graduates from the Oxford Course have gone on to occupy senior positions in clinical, academic and research settings. Course team members are all clinically and/or research active and use this experience to enhance the provision of clinical psychology training at Oxford. Course staff are engaged in research including but not confined to anxiety disorders, CBT, clinical health psychology, eating disorders, intellectual disabilities, neuropsychology/neuroscience, older adults, psychosis, stigma, Systemic/Family therapy, transdiagnostic psychological processes, and working with children.

The Course is part of the Oxford Centre for Psychological Health, which also includes and integrates the Oxford Cognitive Therapy Centre (OCTC) and the Oxford Health Specialist Psychological Intervention Clinic (OHSPIC). The course works closely with placement providers and local supervisors to offer research and clinical practice experiences in a wide range of services including specialist services such as complex trauma, clinical health, staff support, forensic and prison services, and homelessness settings. Training takes a life-span developmental perspective. As training progresses trainees are supported in developing their own personal styles of working.

The Oxford Course frequently updates the way in which training is delivered. This reflects our commitment to work at the cutting edge of clinical psychology training and research and to fully meet the requirements for approval by the Health & Care Professions Council. We are committed to the meaningful involvement of Experts by Experience within all strands of the training programme including within Admissions. 

Placement locations

Clinical placements are located throughout the Thames Valley region of Berkshire, Buckinghamshire, Oxfordshire, and parts of the South Midlands including Northamptonshire and Warwickshire, and potentially beyond as required. These are allocated primarily on the basis of training needs. Therefore, trainees must be prepared to travel within this area, and potentially beyond as required.

Trainees will be allocated a base: Either Aylesbury (with placements across the Buckinghamshire region), Brackley (with placements across the South Midlands region and Milton Keynes), Bracknell (with placements across the Berkshire region) or Oxford (with placements across the Oxfordshire region). Allocation of base is dependent upon a number on factors including a personalised Training Needs and Aspirations (TNAA) form that trainees complete, reasonable adjustments, and trainee preference. Please note - individuals are not guaranteed their preferred choice of training area / base. There are limited placement opportunities within Oxfordshire. Most trainees will not be allocated the Oxford base.

Attendance and Driving

Summary

All Trainee Clinical Psychologists on the Oxford Course will be required to attend multiple teaching and placement locations, supported by reasonable adjustments for those with disability, as required. This forms part of trainees’ training contracts. Attendance at multiple locations in the Thames Valley and beyond is an essential criterion of the role, with reasonable adjustments, if required.  Except where reasonable adjustments are arranged, access to a car or other motorised vehicle for the duration of training is considered to be essential for the role.

For candidates offered a place on the course in need of reasonable adjustments to enable attendance as a result of a disability, evidence explaining the travel-related restrictions will be needed, so that these can be taken into consideration in base and placement planning. Please note, this evidence is neither shared with those interviewing a candidate, nor is it used to inform decision making about whether an offer is made or not.

Further details:

1. Please note this role is community-based. Trainees are expected to travel to a placement location anywhere in the Thames Valley footprint and beyond as required, and travel to see patients clinically.  As such, applicants to the course, and trainees on the course, must be able to attend teaching and placements, supported by reasonable adjustments for disability, if required. This is an essential criterion of the role.
2. Trainees are allocated a base and may have placements that are not well served by public transport. As such, reliable access to a car or other motorised vehicle is essential for the role.
3. The need for disability adjustments for trainees will be considered and reasonable adjustments provided in line with the requirements of the Equality Act 2010.
4. Any penalty points on your licence must be declared.
5. Trainee Clinical Psychologists on the Oxford Course must be able to drive and have access to a car for the duration of the three-year training course. This forms part of trainees’ training contracts and is an essential criterion for the post.

Candidates must have a full UK valid driving licence, and submit evidence of this to the Oxford Course, at this Oxford DClinPsy email address, by 31st December 2026. Candidates selected for interview are required to bring their valid driving licence with them.

Trainees on the course are eligible for the Trust’s car leasing scheme.

Travel expenses are given for trainees’ journeys to clinical placements and / or teaching where that journey distance exceeds the distance from trainees’ home to base. If trainees choose to live away from the designated base (after receiving Director’s or appointing officer’s approval), then placement mileage is subject to review based upon this. Expenses are also provided for required travel within placements (e.g., community visit to a client’s home). NHS travel expenses policy does not reimburse travel from home to base, however travel to placements is currently reimbursed subject to the NHS policy for mileage in excess of the usual home to base journey.

Location of Teaching, and Residential Requirements

Currently, the Course has use of purpose-built teaching spaces in Cowley, just south of Oxford city centre. The course hub is the Isis Education Centre, located in the grounds of the Warneford Hospital, Oxford. This has well-equipped teaching rooms, seminar rooms, offices, computer facilities, kitchen and a common room. Teaching may also take place in other Trust locations in Oxford and the surrounding area, and within the Thames Valley footprint, as well as on-line as required.

Clinical placements are located throughout the counties of Berkshire, Buckinghamshire, Northamptonshire, Warwickshire and Oxfordshire, and can extend beyond these given placement availability. This should be borne in mind in organising living arrangements whilst on the course.

University of Oxford regulations specify that students should live within 25 miles of the centre of Oxford unless permission is granted to reside further afield. Requests to live within the wider Thames Valley Region and South Midlands area will be considered on a case by case basis by the Programme Director.