University Placements

For the first four weeks, students undergo full-time training covering techniques from Motivational Interviewing, Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (including graded exposure and CBT for insomnia), and Acceptance Commitment Therapy.

The programme incorporates a mix of live workshops (usually in the morning and often recorded), role-plays in the afternoon, self-directed study (recordings, readings, quizzes), and assessments.

On top of the live workshops, each day requires around four hours of availability for role-plays, which are scheduled flexibly around the student's schedule. Assessments occur at the end of Week 1 and Week 3 to prepare students for real client sessions.

A typical day might include a one-hour workshop, a short cohort meeting, and two role-play sessions spread through the afternoon.

If a student needs to be away for one to two days, they should inform the training team and catch up upon return; assessments can be shifted accordingly. However, those missing the entire Week 1 training are strongly encouraged to defer, as historical data shows 80% of students who start from Week 2 struggle to catch up with Week 1's material.

After completing training, students at Overcome work with clients from around the globe, tailoring their caseloads based on their comfort and availability. Students receive robust support through supervision, including:

• Internal Clinical Supervision: Weekly group sessions led by an Overcome staff member who is a licensed counselling psychologist in Kenya. Students are expected to attend, share cases for broader discussions, or contribute to the group's learning.
• External Clinical Supervision: Irregular group sessions with a qualified psychotherapist, counsellor, or supervisor. These sessions occur approximately every month, depending on the supervisor's availability, and spaces are allocated on a first-come, first-served basis.

When requesting leave, Overcome is highly flexible and transparent. Students are expected to inform clients and the team well in advance. If necessary, clients can be reassigned to another coach to ensure consistent support during the student's absence.

At Overcome, students have the chance to tailor their experience and explore various opportunities beyond client work, including:

• Recruitment: Serve as an assessor for role-play assessments to help recruit future students.
• Training: Take on a senior coach role, providing feedback to new students during their training.
• Triaging: Shadow screening meetings for higher-risk clients to gain insight into clinical decision-making.
• Outreach: Assist with recruiting clients or participants for studies.

Running Your Own Mental Health Projects
Students with a passion for supporting specific communities can propose their own mental health projects. Overcome provides guidance, helps recruit participants, and connects students with relevant resources. For example, past students have successfully organised peer support groups for targeted communities.

At the end of the placement, a 30-minute post-placement meeting will be held with each student to discuss:

• Feedback on the training and placement experience
• Updates on their current clients
• Whether they wish to continue volunteering with Overcome

Around 70% of alumni choose to continue volunteering with Overcome, enjoying the flexibility of setting their own hours. For those who continue, there may be opportunities to work with clients who pay for extended coaching sessions. These arrangements are mutually agreed upon between the student and the client, with students keeping 100% of the payment, as clients pay them directly.

~80% of our alumni have got paid roles in mental health (e.g., Trainee Psychological Wellbeing Practitioners, Assistant Psychologists, Support Worker), or are pursuing further studies in relevant areas. Our training carries Personalised Care Institute (PCI) accreditation, which is required to work as an NHS Health and Wellbeing Coach in the UK.

2% chance of full-time employment at Overcome at a competitive salary. We're a small start-up charity and can only hire the best students. Please do not expect guaranteed full-time employment following the placement.

Our alumni found the placement particularly beneficial to their professional development:
"I learnt more during the three-week training at Overcome than my three-year psychology degree."

Upon request, we can provide a professional reference for your future endeavours.

We can issue a certificate of completion after you have passed both low-risk and medium-risk assessments, and have seen at least 5 clients. The certificate is accredited by the Personalised Care Institute (PCI), the NHS body that sets quality standards for personalised care training. This is the same standard required to work as an NHS Health and Wellbeing Coach.

We're also planning to issue certificates that highlight different levels of achievement, allowing alumni who continue volunteering with us to be issued a higher level certificate when the corresponding criteria are met.

UK psychology degrees are theory-heavy, with limited practical experience:

• Placements (if you get one) are usually admin, shadowing, or research, not client work
• Paid mental health roles are largely inaccessible until you already hold the qualification
• Most graduates leave with a few support worker/SEND TA shifts, some volunteering, and a degree, but no direct client experience
• The usual next step (a master's or doctorate) gatekeeps real experience further, and often still leaves you to source your own placements and clients

Overcome fills that gap:

• In-depth training in goal-focused coaching, plus evidence-based techniques (not therapist or counsellor training, more a grounded taster)
• Real clients sourced for you, including global clients in LMICs
• Supervision included at no extra cost
• You graduate with an actual caseload managed under supervision

This helps our trainees and interns move into paid roles such as:

• Trainee Psychological Wellbeing Practitioner
• Trainee Clinical Associate in Applied Psychology
• Mental Health Support Worker / Recovery Worker
• Assistant Psychologist

And, with further experience, into:

• Doctorate in Counselling Psychology
• Doctorate in Clinical Psychology

CVs are reviewed to ensure that applicants are:

• Aged over 18
  We cannot accept any applicants under 18 due to safeguarding reasons
• Aware of the role they're applying for
  We consider applicants from all walks of life, although the majority of our applicants have a relevant degree. Rejected CVs often indicate that the applicants are interested in another role instead, e.g., data analyst placement

Shortlisted applicants are emailed a 1-hour quiz link alongside study materials. Applicants are encouraged to study the materials in great depth and learn from additional resources (e.g., readings, videos).

Shortlisted applicants will be invited to a role-play assessment where they put the theory into action. Applicants who performed less competitively in the quiz will be encouraged to re-apply for future cohorts.

The role-play assessment involves the shortlisted applicants acting as the coach of a given mock client profile. The mock client will be portrayed by an assessor who completed our training.

Applicants are expected to utilise knowledge learnt from the theory quiz in a natural conversation with the mock client. Assessors will jot notes on the applicants' performance and record the role-play assessments. These will be further reviewed by the HR team and staff members running the placement programme before final hiring decisions are made.

Applicants often complete the role-play assessment multiple times before they get accepted onto the programme. We can provide tailored feedback to applicants who completed the role-play assessment but were not accepted in the end.

Successful applicants will be emailed a list of onboarding tasks (e.g., signing volunteer agreement, setting up accounts on tech platforms that Overcome uses) around one week before start date.

We can only accept a fixed number of applicants but we often have an overwhelming number of exceptional applicants. Some exceptional applicants may be added to a waitlist, or invited to join the next available cohort instead.

Successful applicants will have 14 days to respond to the offer. Our HR team will remind the applicants via email and/or telephone and/or LinkedIn. If our HR team does not receive a response before the deadline, the offer will be withdrawn and provided to the next applicant on the waitlist.

After completing the onboarding tasks, students will be added to the relevant communication channels. The detailed training schedule, meeting invites, and resources for Day 1 will be shared on the weekend before.