Psychological Therapy in Primary Care

Why study Psychological Therapy and Primary Care?

The growing demand for psychological interventions for adults presenting with common mental health disorders (e.g. anxiety and depression) in NHS Primary care has been identified in a variety of studies by central government and professional bodies.

Following consultation with NHS stakeholders, NHS Education for Scotland (NES) has supported the development of a new role for psychology graduates in NHS Scotland as Clinical Associates in Applied Psychology.

The Masters level training for this new role is designed to equip psychology graduates with the competence required to deliver the evidence-based psychological interventions required in circumscribed areas of practice defined by service need. The delivery of training involves a partnership, brokered by NES, between the Universities providing the academic components of the training programmes, the Universities of Stirling and Dundee, and the NHS which supports trainees in supervised clinical practice in the workplace.

Professional Accreditation

This course is professionally accredited by NHS Education for Scotland (NES).

Specifically the course aims to:

• create knowledge of the prevalence, diagnostic criteria, presentation and current psychological theories of common mental health disorders in adults
• create the ability to assess common mental health disorders by means of standardised scales, interviews techniques and observation
• foster the ability to develop clinical formulation based on information obtained from case notes, interviews, standardised scales and observation
• foster the therapeutic skills to deliver appropriate psychological treatments for common mental health disorders in Primary Care and evaluate progress and outcome of treatment

We are not specifically targeting recent graduates, but inviting applications across the board - essentially the question to be answered is "would this person make a contribution to Applied Psychology?"

• Cognitive Behavioural Psychotherapy