Originating in 1963, our Canadian Psychological Association (CPA)-accredited Clinical Psychology Ph.D. Training Program was developed to educate scientist-practitioners in the fashion recommended by the Boulder Model. From the start, we aspired to the highest levels of skill development in both research and clinical practice so that our graduates would achieve leadership roles in academic and applied psychology settings. Over the last three decades, about one-third of our graduates have consistently taken academic appointments and continue in a major role as researchers and scholars, while many of the remaining two-thirds going into clinical practice have assumed important positions as chief psychologists, leaders of large consultation practices, directors of internship training programs, officers of professional societies, and the like.
Our Clinical Psychology program offers fully integrated training in research and clinical practice, preparing students for a wide variety of professional roles that include clinical research, psychological assessment and psychotherapy, teaching, clinical supervision, and program evaluation.
In the Clinical area, applicants are typically first admitted to the MA program with the expectation that the student will continue to the PhD. The Clinical area also occasionally admits an applicant who already has an MA from another institution directly into our PhD program; however, the time savings toward the PhD may be modest (i.e. a year or less) because the year-by-year sequence of required clinical-training courses usually need to be started from the beginning.
Those wanting a terminal MA degree should look into graduate studies in Counselling Psychology, Educational Psychology, or Social Work instead of the PhD program in Clinical Psychology. The University of Waterloo does not offer Counselling Psychology or Educational Psychology.
Faculty and staff
- Elizabeth Nilsen, Clinical Research Area Head & Director of Clinical Training
- Marjory Phillips, Director of the CMHRT
- Dr. Linda Bream, Staff Psychologist
Clinical core faculty
- Dillon Browne
- Allison Kelly
- Tara McAuley
- David Moscovitch
- Elizabeth Nilsen
- Jonathan Oakman
- Christine Purdon
- Uzma Rehman
Faculty members considering new clinical psychology graduate students for Fall 2025:
- Dillon Browne - Influence of Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs), trauma, and socioeconomic status on human development
- Roxane Itier* - Cognitive processes involved in the perception and recognition of face identity, facial expressions of emotion, gaze discrimination, and their interactions
- Allison Kelly – Predictors and consequences of self-compassion and self-criticism, often in relation to body and eating disorders.
- Tara McAuley - Nature and development of executive control in children, and the relation of executive skills to psychopathology
- David Moscovitch - Cognitive-behavioural mechanisms underlying the nature and treatment of social anxiety
* Non-clinical faculty members can supervise a clinical psychology graduate student in their research; having a non-clinical research supervisor has no impact on students’ involvement in the clinical psychology program (i.e., courses, clinical training), and can be a great option if that faculty member’s research interests the student.
Administrative Co-ordinator
- Janel Silva-Grande, Clinical Area & CMHRT