By Dr Melody Smith, Clinical Psychologist
Reflection is a key part of good clinical work. It helps you pause, look closely at what happened, and decide what you can take from it. For anyone aiming for an Assistant Psychologist role or a place on the DClinPsy, being able to reflect clearly can make a real difference. It shows in interviews, in supervision, and in how well you connect what you’ve learned to theory and practice.
Our Reflective Models Workbook was created to make this process more manageable. It brings together four well-known models and shows you how to apply them in a way that feels practical and purposeful. With these tools, you can structure your thinking so your reflections are clear, balanced, and show good professional judgement.
Why reflection is useful
Selectors don’t just want to see a list of your duties or tasks. They’re looking for evidence of how you think about your work, what shaped your decisions, and how you use those experiences to develop your practice. Reflection allows you to show this clearly — not just the “what” but the “why” and the “what next.”
By using a structured approach, you can capture these insights more effectively. This is where the workbook comes in, helping you move from recalling events to making sense of them and planning practical next steps. Over time, this process builds confidence and makes it easier to explain your thinking in interviews, supervision, and day-to-day discussions.
The four models in the workbook
Each model in our workbook gives you a slightly different way to approach the same aim — learning from experience.
What? So What? Now What?
This is a quick, three-step method that works well when time is short. You describe what happened, explore why it mattered, and decide what you’ll do next. It’s simple but powerful, making it ideal after supervision or a busy shift when you still want to capture your learning.
Gibbs’ Reflective Cycle
This model uses six stages — description, feelings, evaluation, analysis, conclusion, and action plan. It’s a more detailed structure, which makes it especially helpful for written reflections or preparing interview answers that need a clear, logical flow.
Atkins & Murphy’s Model
This model begins with noticing when something felt uncomfortable or uncertain. You then work through your thoughts, examine assumptions, check your knowledge, and consider alternative actions. It’s a good fit for complex or emotional situations that need more than a surface-level review.
Kolb’s Experiential Learning Cycle
Kolb’s approach works in a loop: doing something, reflecting on it, drawing ideas from it, and then planning what to try next. It’s especially useful when you’re building skills over time, such as during a placement or in a new role.
By having all four in one place, you can choose the one that best suits the situation you’re reflecting on — or experiment with different ones to see which brings out the most useful insights.
Getting the most out of it
The workbook is designed to be flexible. Each model comes with an editable template, so you can work directly in the document or print the standalone worksheets. Whichever you choose, try to complete your reflection soon after the event so the details are still fresh.
Keeping your answers short and focused can help you avoid getting lost in the detail. Often, one or two sentences per section is enough to capture the key points. You can always expand later if needed.
As you work through each model:
- Be specific about what happened, including who was there and what the goal was.
- Mention what influenced your choices — client needs, service priorities, theory, or your own values.
- Weigh up the outcome fairly, noting what went well, what didn’t, and what was beyond your control.
- End with a clear next step that you can take in the near future.
If you’re preparing for interviews, you might find it helpful to practice telling the same example using different models. This can highlight different angles in your story — for example, Gibbs’ cycle can make the sequence clearer, while Atkins & Murphy’s model can bring out the personal learning more strongly.
Making reflection part of your routine
The real value comes when reflection becomes part of your everyday work, not just something you do for an assignment or interview. Short, regular reflections tend to be more effective than long write-ups done only occasionally.
You might choose to spend ten minutes after supervision jotting down key points, make a few notes at the end of a shift, or review your week on a Friday afternoon. Over time, these small habits help you spot patterns — where you’re growing, where you might need more training, and the kinds of situations that bring out your best work.
Reflection also supports compassionate and ethical practice. It gives you space to notice your own reactions, acknowledge uncertainty, and still make decisions that are in line with both your values and professional standards.
Next step
If you’re a DClinPsy Prep Pathway member, you can download the Reflective Models Workbook from the ACPsych Hub and start with one recent experience this week. Not a member? You can buy the workbook here: aspiringclinicalpsych.org/resources/course/view.php?id=148
Final thoughts
You don’t need to write perfect reflections to benefit from them. What matters is having a clear structure, being honest about what happened, and setting one or two realistic actions to carry forward.
The workbook gives you a simple set of questions and the space to work through them, helping you build steady progress over time. As you make reflection part of your routine, you’ll find it easier to prepare for interviews, make supervision more productive, and strengthen your confidence in your own professional judgement
