Meet our studentsPsychological Sciences & Health

Working with clients really does underpin my passion for person-centred therapy, I have watched clients grow and work through presenting issues and issues that come up throughout the course of therapy. My experience of placement has really driven me forward and increased my drive, but it has also enabled me to be confident professionally.

The research clinic taught me about the research side of counselling – in particular, data collection. I am fond of doing that. It also gives me another perspective to understand clients.

I learned so much from my supervision group peers and tutor when we started discussing our client work. I always felt well supported by my supervision tutor when I stumbled across client situations I felt I needed to discuss further or seek guidance on.

My advice to prospective PhD students would be to look at what expertise and support your supervisors can offer you. My supervision team are experts in the specific field I am studying but it was also important to know that I could work with them on a personal level too.

This degree has given me skills in professional practice that I have not been able to develop before and has expanded my knowledge greatly on research methods. It has also given me the courage to pursue my passion while testing me in every way as an intellectual and a human being.

I’m not even half way through my course yet and I love how diverse and interesting the content is. This course allows me to take so many different career paths if my initial one doesn’t work out the way I hope it to.

The University of Strathclyde's School of Psychological Sciences and Health is one of the best schools with multidisciplinary research groups. Also, The University of Strathclyde is one of the oldest institutions in Glasgow and one of the leading universities in the UK. 

Along-side working in the hospital as an auxiliary, I was able to see the input of speech and language therapy and its benefit to patients, which sparked my interest. Also, my grandmother was diagnosed with motor neuron disease and it allowed me to see the impact speech and language pathology made on her quality of life, which improved vastly.

The practical counselling skills element of the programme was well implemented and centred around the person-centred principles of congruence, empathy, and unconditional positive regard. This began with learning how to engage in self-awareness, active listening, ethical principles such as confidentiality, and with progressive practice within peer triad group work.

The staff in Strathclyde Psychology are extremely helpful and supportive, and genuinely want to see you succeed. I have always felt comfortable asking questions or asking for support, which has been crucial in my development as a researcher.

I would thoroughly recommend the Doctorate in Educational Psychology to any colleagues who want to deepen their practice and refresh their enthusiasm for learning.  It will benefit them personally as well as their service and the children and families they work with. 

The teaching staff were brilliant at introducing the cohort to new topics, themes and ideas in psychology and allowing us to cultivate our own critical approach to existing theory and research. The use of group work made our learning a team journey and hearing different perspectives sped up our knowledge and understanding.

I was naturally drawn to the modality of person-centred counselling and very fortunate to have a university on my doorstep which has an excellent reputation for its Masters in Person Centred Counselling.

The teaching staff and international student support are the main forms of support that I have used throughout the course. You can get help from the faculty and student union very easily and quickly.

I wanted to continue on my international journey and was keen to couple this with studying psychology. The structure of the course at Strathclyde made this stand out, along with the dissertation topic and the industry placement (this was the cherry on the cake for me!). Before committing, I explored the background of the professors, which I found fascinating, each researching their own fields.

When I was thinking about what to do at University I came across Speech and Language Therapy and decided that it was something I wanted to do because of my experience with my grandma. It also seemed like an ideal course for me because I am passionate about improving the quality of life of others and I loved biology at school. Luckily it was the best decided I've ever made- I love it!

Initially when I was narrowing down my options, choosing a course abroad was especially difficult for me. Interestingly, I found the perfect balance of health psychology, neuropsychology and clinical psychology all together. It was only when I came across this particular course that I knew what I wanted to do.