The Psychology Employability Programme offers you the chance to gain relevant work experience that is necessary to progress along training pathways in professional psychology, such as clinical, forensic, educational or research.

You can choose between working part-time in the community with charities and organisations that support vulnerable people or working alongside research staff in the Psychology Department on their projects. Crucially, every placement will provide you with experience and skills that are valuable to careers in psychology, thus strengthening your CV and enhancing your employability.

How the scheme works

Work for placements will be conducted in your free time while you are studying at Lancaster. The positions are not restricted by your year of study and all roles are unpaid, meaning there is no economic inequality. All placements are based in Lancaster or the surrounding area, so no-one will be disadvantaged by geographic location. This makes the Psychology Employability Programme fully inclusive. Every Psychology undergraduate at Lancaster University can apply for placements each year, although the number of positions is limited. The number of required working hours for each internship will be advertised so you can make an informed decision about how it would fit into your schedule before applying.

Benefits of voluntary placements

• Gain experience that will help you along a pathway in professional psychology
• Enhance your employability
• Put yourself in a strong position for prestigious postgraduate training courses whose selection committees value voluntary work
• Become better informed about the suitability of different career paths in psychology
• The scheme can contribute to the Lancaster Award.

Examples of previous placements

Some of the organisations we've offered placements with, and example roles:

Shelter volunteer mentor	National Autistic Society research fieldworker/interviewer	Lancaster University: Psychology Department research assistant: infant and adult language acquisition
Parkinson's UK support group helper	Advocacy Focus mental health volunteers	Alzheimer's Society community support volunteer
Making Space Supported Housing activity coordinator	Prison Advice and Care Trust group facilitator	Lancaster University: Psychology Department research assistant: neuroimaging/programming