Clinical Child & Adolescent Psychology

Clinical Child & Adolescent Psychology is an eleven-week specialist programme that builds directly on the foundational Child Psychology course or equivalent prior study. It is intended for practitioners who are, or who will shortly be, carrying a clinical caseload of children, adolescents and their families. The programme combines contemporary developmental psychopathology with practical skills in assessment, play-based work and family engagement.

A central premise of the training is that clinical work with young people is never dyadic. Every child is embedded in a family, a school and a wider cultural matrix, and the clinician who overlooks any of these quickly loses purchase on the case. The programme therefore devotes substantial time to the first encounter with parents, the contract with the family, the liaison with schools and other services, and the ethical complexities of confidentiality when the patient is a minor.

Assessment of children requires a different skill set from adult assessment. Children are often referred by adults for behaviours the adults find difficult; the task of the clinician is to translate the presenting complaint into a developmentally-informed formulation. We teach the semi-structured child interview, the adapted mental state examination, standard screening instruments (SDQ, CBCL, RCADS, CDI-2), the use of drawing and play as assessment tools, and the systemic interview with parents. Particular attention is given to neurodevelopmental conditions — autism spectrum, ADHD, specific learning difficulties — because misidentification of these at initial assessment is a common source of later therapeutic failure.

The treatment component draws on several well-established traditions. Play therapy, in both non-directive (Axline, Landreth) and psychodynamic (Anna Freud, Winnicott) versions, is taught as the lingua franca of work with younger children. Cognitive-behavioural approaches adapted for adolescents are covered for anxiety, depression and post-traumatic presentations. Family-based interventions — both structural and narrative — are included because many childhood presentations remit most reliably when the family context is addressed.

Participants present case material weekly in small supervision groups. Each participant submits at least two detailed process notes during the programme and a final case study of approximately five thousand words. The certificate is awarded on the basis of attendance, active supervision engagement and the quality of the final case study. The IPAS Certificate in Clinical Child & Adolescent Psychology is signed by the President of the Council and bears a unique verification identifier.