Entry requirements

Recruitment and selection for this course is led by NHS employers, and health and care employers, in collaboration with the University of Bath.

Therefore, applications must be made via employers (such as an NHS Trust) recruiting apprentice/trainee CAPs, not directly to the University of Bath. These services typically advertise apprentice or trainee Clinical Associate in Psychology posts on recruitment websites, such as NHS Jobs.

To apply for this course, you should have:

a minimum 2:2 undergraduate degree in psychology, or an equivalent conversion course, accredited by the British Psychological Society (BPS)
relevant clinical experience in a mental health setting
the offer of a suitable work position as an apprentice/trainee Clinical Associate in Psychology

Applicants should be eligible for BPS Graduate Basis for Chartership (GBC) and will need to have, or have applied for, Graduate Membership for entry to the course. Read more about BPS Graduate Membership.

Months of entry

September

Course content

Become a qualified Clinical Associate in Psychology (CAP) on this British Psychological Society (BPS)-accredited master's degree course.

This 18-month part-time course starts in September 2026. You'll study at Bath alongside your work-based practice as an apprentice or trainee Clinical Associate in Psychology (CAP). Applications must be made to employers (such as an NHS Trust).

Please note: For 2026/27, we plan to run MSc Clinical Associate in Psychology (Adults) and/or MSc Clinical Associate in Psychology (Children and Young People). This depends on a sufficient number of students being enrolled on each strand.

This MSc course, which has been accredited by the British Psychological Society (BPS), will be the foundation for your training to become a qualified Clinical Associate in Psychology (CAP).

Alongside your formal study of clinical psychology theory and practice, you will undertake practice-based learning and supervised clinical practice in a relevant health or social care setting under the supervision of a registered clinical or counselling psychologist.

You’ll develop the knowledge, skills and behaviours necessary to work safely and effectively as a CAP, including knowledge of governance, ethical and organisational issues.

We will train you to work effectively with individuals experiencing mental health problems using evidence-based approaches. You'll develop skills in psychological assessment, formulation and intervention, and in how to evaluate and enhance your practice. Your developing clinical practice skills and competence will be reviewed and assessed throughout the course.

As you work to become a reflective, ethical and competent practitioner, you'll gain the experience needed to contribute to the effective provision of psychologically informed care across the wider health and social care system.

On successful completion of this degree, you will have demonstrated the knowledge, skills and behaviours to work as a qualified CAP, and be able to:

work autonomously with appropriate support and supervision from a registered psychologist
provide personalised and evidence-based care to people from different backgrounds and cultures
support service development through quality improvement

This course is designed for psychology graduates employed by health and social care providers as an apprentice or trainee Clinical Associate in Psychology (CAP). The CAP role aims to address unmet needs in mental health provision, as outlined in the NHS Long Term Plan and Community Mental Health Framework.

Graduate prospects

On completion of this degree, you’ll be eligible to join the British Psychological Society (BPS) Wider Psychological Workforce register as a Clinical Associate in Psychology, and apply for Clinical Associate in Psychology roles in the NHS and other health and care organisations.

Professional accreditations

This course is accredited by the British Psychological Society (BPS). As a graduate from this course, you'll be eligible to join the Wider Psychological Workforce and become a registered Clinical Associate in Psychology (CAP).

Studying with us

You will join our Department of Psychology, which offers several accredited professional postgraduate courses in psychology, as well as a highly ranked undergraduate degree in the subject.

Research interests in the department span a broad range of clinically relevant topics, including:

ageing
autism
child maltreatment
common mental health problems
eating disorders
persistent physical symptoms
psychosis
trauma

Course ethos

We aim to provide a supportive, stimulating environment to nurture CAPs in training as they grow professionally. Because of this, our course mixes learning that is practice-based as well as problem-based.

We believe that the classroom should be an extension of the workplaces in which CAPs are embedded, offering academic learning that is fully grounded in clinical practice. This means that CAPs will be encouraged to bring their experience from practice to the teaching we provide and to take what they learn back to their workplaces to create a virtuous cycle of learning.

By doing this, we will support our students to become reflective and ethical practitioners who can work with complex presentations in an evolving health and social care context. In addition to ensuring that the practice we teach is evidence-based and outcome-focused, we will encourage our students to pay close attention to wider organisational, social and cultural trends.