Assistant psychologist Review

Although there were good days, I mostly just dreaded going to this placement. Main reasons for not enjoying it included poor management and hostile or unwelcoming staff. A management change had happened in January (I started in April) and a lot of people were still very unhappy with the new service layout.

I did not feel valued much at all in this placement, some members of staff like my supervisor and one other clinical psychologist were very welcoming and treated me with respect however a lot did not. Within my first week I had members of staff complaining about other members of staff behind their backs.

My supervisor was mostly supportive and pointed me in the right direction when I was preparing to run a therapy group, however no training at all was provided. Management was not interested in providing support as they had other things to be doing. The work was mostly unchallenging though so didn’t really require support.

Busyness changed depending on the workload at the time but mostly there was not much to do due to people not showing up for appointments, however this gave me time to work on dissertation work. Towards the end of placement there was more to do but in general not very busy.

Given responsibilities such as doing lone appointments with patients and doing assertive outreach work in the community, however this was not an every day occurance. As expected, More responsibilities were given to me towards the end of my NHS placement. Also a lot of shadowing work too, which was interesting.

I did not receive training and did not gain any new skills, as I also had a paid job in a similar role at the same time. This placement was for an MSc and would be good for someone who does not have much patient or mental health experience already.

It was very quite in the office, people were mostly civil to each other but it was very clear that people did not get on with each other as they would complain about each other to me (which honestly I just thought was bizarre). A High tension and stressed environment!

I was there for about 7 months and did not receive my NHS ID until the last week of my placement! When I arrived I could not do anything for the first week as my email and online details had not been sorted, I also could not get anywhere in the hospital for the first week as they hadn’t made a fob!

Nothing at all. There was a mandatory training on how to use the NHS online record keeping software which took an entire day but could have been done in 1 hour. Management seemed to have no interest in me or the other placement students, as my peers had reported similar experiences

The NHS as a whole I would certainly consider working for, however the hospital itself (St Ann’s) absolutely no way would I go back there. A really bad placement in a hospital with poor management and unhappy and stressed staff members. Would consider a more established and well run hospital though.

It was bizarre how little people actually liked each other! Almost all staff members in my department would eat alone at their desks. No socials or rewards were talked about either. Between placement students there wasn’t really a social scene either, people got on and occasionally met up for lunch but this was rare.

I live in London so very expensive in general but can be done on a budget if you really try. Cost of living is high which is unavoidable but socialising can be done in a budget if you know the right people or they can offer you deals. Social scene in London in general is excellent but not with regards to the placement.

I did not go out in this area of London (haringey) as it was far from where I lived in London. As far a do am aware haringey is fairly up and coming but still has a long way to go. Shoreditch/old street/Bethnal Green in east are good locations for nightlife

There was one oppportunity for an informal session on a new type of therapy, however the venue was changed last minute and none of the placement students were emailed about this so unfortunately we all missed out. Aside from this, no there was not any opportunities for external activities or socials.