Background:  To date minimal research has investigated adolescent psychiatric inpatient care from a service‐user perspective. Method:  Semi‐structured interviews were conducted with 10 adolescents with experience of psychiatric inpatient care. Interviews were analysed using the grounded theory method (Glaser & Strauss, 1967). Results:  A core category, ‘Living in an Alternative Reality’, reflected the unusual nature of the hospitalisation experience. Adolescents reported feelings of restriction and disconnection and used various relational and practical strategies to cope with hospitalisation. Conclusions:  Results suggest that psychiatric hospitalisation can cause strong affective reactions in adolescents, and may affect psychological constructs such as identity and self‐esteem.

In spite of the increasing emphasis upon spirituality in the psychological literature, research continues to highlight concerns that issues relating to spirituality are regularly overlooked within a therapeutic setting. The aim of the current study was to develop an account of the way in which clinical psychologists understand and address spirituality within therapy. Semi‐structured interviews were conducted with eight clinical psychologists. The transcripts were analysed using the qualitative methodology of grounded theory, which also informed the data collection process. Two core categories were developed and termed spirituality as an elusive concept and finding harmony with spiritual beliefs. The diversity of meaning surrounding spirituality and the relative lack of engagement was found to create difficulty for constructing spirituality coherently as a concept. When specifically considering methods for identifying and addressing spiritual beliefs, contrasting approaches were identified. This diversity in understanding and approach has implications for the process and outcome of therapy, which are discussed in detail. Recommendations are suggested for developing spirituality as a more coherent and accessible concept, both within professional dialogue and the therapeutic context.

Simulated patient role-plays (SPRs) with trained actors are a recent development in the training of clinical psychologists. This paper reports on the introduction and evaluation of SPRs as both a method used to teach clinical consultation skills and as a method to formatively assess trainee clinical psychologists' acquisition of these skills. The evaluation used a number of focus groups with clinical psychology trainees, programme staff and clinical supervisors to explore the acceptability of these methods in teaching and assessment, the experience of using them and the impact on trainees' learning. Focus group interviews were transcribed verbatim and analysed using template analysis. The core theme from the analysis concerned the capacity of SPRs to authentically recreate a clinical environment and capture the trainee's clinical practice. The concept of authenticity is discussed in relation to clinical skills teaching and the wider profession of clinical psychology.

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Ensuring that practitioners are competent in the therapies they deliver is important for training, therapeutic outcomes and ethical practice. The development of the Systemic Practice Scale (SPS) is reported -a measure to assess the competence of novice systemic practitioners trialed by Children and Young Person's Improving Access to Psychological Therapies (CYP-IAPT) training courses. Initial reliability assessment of the SPS with twenty-eight supervisors of systemic practice evaluating students' competence using an online recording of a family therapy session is detailed.The SPS was found to be a reliable measure of systemic competence across training settings.Rating variability was noted, with training and benchmarking to improve rating consistency recommended. Further research using the SPS to further establish the reliability and validity of the scale is required. Practitioner Points SPS represents an important tool, particularly for the supervision and development of more junior staff or students  Initial reliability for use of the SPS as a formative tool has been established. Further benchmarking is required if using the tool in a summative manner.