Professional Doctorate Portfolio

Abstract

This portfolio provides an insight into my personal development and professional development as a trainee sport and exercise psychologist, through the Professional Doctorate in Sport and Exercise Psychology at Liverpool John Moores University. The portfolio provides evidence of how I meet the competencies (professional standards, consultancy, research, teaching and dissemination) of the British Psychological Society (BPS) and Health and Care Professions Council (HCPC) for ‘Chartered’ and ‘Practitioner’ Psychologists. The practice log provides a summary of the hours spent on each learning outcome. The reflective diary highlights particular learning experiences or critical moments that that were central to my development, the development of my personal philosophy, and the development of my approach to practice. Four applied case studies are presented, which provide more thorough accounts of my approach to service delivery in terms of applied work and teaching and dissemination. The case studies offer deep critical reflection. The case studies demonstrate work across a number of different settings: a youth tennis player, a rugby union talent development environment, an injured motorcycle racer, and undergraduate students. The common thread with the research papers is motorcycle racing. The systematic review and meta-ethnography investigates psychosocial factors associated with positive rehabilitation outcomes in elite athletes following serious injury. The first empirical paper used descriptive psychological phenomenology to explore the lived experience of serious injury for motorcycle road racers. The second empirical paper used published autobiographies and narrative inquiry to explore how expert performers at the Isle of Man TT storied their childhood and adolescent development. The reflective practice commentary draws together my training experience, including what it has taught me, how I developed the competencies required to be effective, and how it has contributed to the development of a coherent and congruent approach to practice.