St Patrick’s Mental Health Services (SPMHS) and University College Dublin’s (UCD) School of Psychology have signed a partnership agreement that will see an increase in the number of candidates supported by St Patrick’s Mental Health Services to take part in UCD’s Doctoral Programme in Clinical Psychology.
Under the updated agreement, psychologists in clinical training will undertake clinical placements with St Patrick’s Mental Health Services as part of their doctoral training programme. With input from service users, the doctoral trainees will advance research to strengthen evidence-based approaches that further understanding of and address mental health difficulties. The goal of this work is to improve service user outcomes and inform best practices in mental healthcare both nationally and internationally.
Supporting training and research in mental healthcare
Through this partnership, training will be provided for two psychologists in clinical training per year. St Patrick’s Mental Health Services will also provide UCD with additional staffing to ensure an appropriate staff student ratio.
The Doctoral Programme in Clinical Psychology is a three-year research degree and professional training programme in clinical psychology. St Patrick’s Mental Health Services and UCD recognise the importance of investment in improving the competencies of those working in mental healthcare. By investing in the training of compassionate, highly skilled clinical psychologists and supporting meaningful, high-quality research, it helps to ensure that care is grounded in both a human-rights based approach and the best available evidence.
Speaking on the partnership
Adjunct Professor Clodagh Dowling, Director of Psychology at St Patrick’s Mental Health Services, said:
“We are delighted to consolidate our partnership with UCD’s Doctoral Programme in Clinical Psychology. This agreement aligns with St Patrick’s Mental Health Services’ organisational strategy, The Future in Mind 2023 – 2027, which places service users’ voices and opinions at the forefront of shaping our innovative psychology-led programmes.
By combining this commitment with investment in the training and development of future mental health professionals, we are strengthening quality of care and nurturing skilled clinicians who can meet growing and increasingly complex needs.”
What the Doctoral Programme includes
The Doctoral Programme includes three interrelated elements:
- 2,000 hours of research over 200–250 days
- 500 hours academic coursework over 100–150 days
- 3,000 hours of supervised clinical practice over 390 days.
Within the programme, psychologists are trained as professional scientist-practitioners, working collaboratively within a multidisciplinary care model to deliver high-quality, service user-centred mental health services.
Strengthening collaboration between SPMHS and UCD
Professor Louise McHugh, Head of the School of Psychology at UCD, said:
“We are delighted to strengthen our collaboration with St Patrick’s Mental Health Services and look forward to the opportunities this strengthened partnership creates to enhance psychological care, innovate in mental health research, and improve outcomes for service users and their families.”
Impact of the partnership to date
To date from this partnership, three clinical psychologists have qualified and are now working in St Patrick’s Mental Health Services, with seven more psychologists currently in clinical training. Six research papers have been published, with each doctoral candidate completing the programme having contributed two papers. These publications are available through St Patrick’s Research Repository, SPIRE.
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