Work Experience in a Forensic Setting

by Lilly Lane
(West Midlands, UK)

This was the criteria for a post I saw for a prison psychologist recently:

'You must hold a degree in psychology conferring to Graduate Basis for Registration, be qualified or working towards a postgraduate level in a field of forensic or applied psychology and have experience of working as a Psychologist within a forensic setting'.

My question is: how do you get experience working as a Psychologist within a forensic setting if you have not completed your masters?

I think that perhaps if you are lucky you may get a psychology assistant post during your masters, but my understanding is that once you have your masters you could then perhaps apply for a psych asst post.

The above criteria relates to a post in Scotland.

All About Forensic Psychology Reply

The following general advice on work experience is taken from the Psychology Student Survival guide which you can download for free Here.

Building a portfolio of work experience is invaluable on so many levels, personal, educational, professional etc. As you progress as a student you may decide to pursue a particular psychological discipline e.g., forensic, educational, clinical etc. At this stage it would be worth seeking out related work experience i.e. a student interested in forensic psychology doing voluntary work in a prison. Listed below are some of the places psychology students may be able to gain work experience.