MDCS41230 Clinical Placement 1

Academic Year 2023/2024

This module is part of the MSc in Child Art Psychotherapy. The Clinical Placement is arranged by the Course Co-ordinator or Course Director in liaison with the student and the Clinical Placement supervisor, subject to appropriate student references being received prior to commencement on the course. The placements are situated within a variety of child mental health multidisciplinary settings throughout Ireland, with the student on clinical placement for one full day per week. Clinical Placement 1 and Clinical Placement 2 modules are continuous - the clinical placement commences before the end of Autumn Year 1 and continues through to the end of the course in Summer Year 2.The Clinical Placement provides the opportunity for the trainee to acquire clinical skills in the application of Child Art Psychotherapy within a multidisciplinary team setting. The trainee learns to develop skills in observation, assessment, engaging in, maintaining and terminating the therapeutic process. Careful planning takes place with the placement supervisor in choosing suitable clients for the trainee. Prior to starting his/her own clinical work, the trainee observes clinical sessions of the team members to become familiar with the variety of approaches practised in child and adolescent mental health services. The Clinical Placement also provides an understanding of the importance of organisational issues and professional responsibilities such as boundaries, confidentiality, appropriate ways of clinical note taking, report writing and sharing relevant information about the progress of the therapeutic process with the placement team and communication with the child's parents. It is a course requirement that each trainee should work under supervision with at least 3 long cases during the period of the placement. Trainees take on further cases for Child Art Psychotherapy assessment and shorter treatment periods. The student has an opportunity to co-work with multidisciplinary team members and to contribute to team process. Transparency is required in all communications regarding trainee status. While on placement the student has 15 hours of method specific supervision provided by the UCD MSc course per year and also has a placement supervisor provided by the CAMHS team.

100% attendance is expected, but 80% attendance is the minimum attendance required to achieve credit for the module. Absences must be discussed with the module coordinator or course lecturers, who will require supporting documentation (e.g. medical certificates). Students who miss part of the module may be asked to do a further piece of work in remediation.