The reflective practice journal, explained

A reflective practice journal is a private record of what you are learning from your own practice. It is where you write what happened in a session or an activity, what you made of it, and what you would do differently. It is separate from the logbook. The logbook records that the work was done, and your supervisor signs it. The journal records what the work taught you, and it is yours alone. This page sets out where the Board expects reflection from a provisional psychologist, how to keep a journal that is worth keeping, and how PsychLog's reflective journal works.

Why it matters in the 5+1 internship

The 1,500 hours of the internship are a condition of general registration, and the final assessment of competence at the end of it is your principal supervisor's judgement of whether you have reached the competencies. The hours build competence only when they are thought about, because a session you have reflected on changes what you do in the next one.

The Board's Guidelines for the 5+1 internship expect reflection in three places.

• The logbook. Section A, the record of practice, has a column for your reflections on each entry, and your supervisor reads and signs it. For Section B, the record of education and training, the guidelines say that provisional psychologists “should also provide evidence of reflection of how the activities will be integrated into their practice to improve overall effectiveness”.
• The progress review. You and your supervisor must complete a progress review every six months. The guidelines list what it must contain, and your part is your “critical self-reflection on progress”, set out with your supervisor's evaluation of your progress.
• Simulated practice. The guidelines say that “All simulated learning activities should be followed by review, reflection, and discussion in relation to the professional competencies”.

None of these requires a separate journal. Each of them is easier to meet if you have one, because the reflection is already written when the progress review is due.

How to keep one well

• Write a little and often. A few lines written on the day, while you still remember the session, will serve you better than a long piece written once a term. Most weeks is often enough, and a session that stayed with you is a good reason to write that day.
• Write what you would do differently. A reflection that only describes what happened adds little to the logbook entry. Describe the session briefly, then write what you noticed, what you made of it, and what you would do next time. That last part is the one you will draw on when you write the progress review.
• Link each reflection to the entry it came from. A reflection that names the session, the education activity or the supervision it came from is easier to find and easier to use. When the progress review is due, you can read everything you wrote about one client, or one competency, in order.
• Leave the client's identity out. Use the same de-identified client code as the logbook and leave out anything that would identify the client. The journal should hold your thinking about the work.
• Use a structure when you are stuck. A simple set of questions is enough on most days. For a difficult session, the 5R framework of Bain and colleagues takes you through reporting, responding, relating, reasoning and reconstructing, and the last step is the plan for next time.

How PsychLog does it

PsychLog has a reflective journal built into the logbook. It is one of three private journals, with the learning journal and the supervision journal, and all three link to your logbook entries.

• Written from the entry. The feather icon on any practice-log row opens a reflection linked to that session, with the date and the client code carried across. A reflection can also be written on its own, and one reflection can link to several logbook entries, including education and supervision rows.
• Prompts if you want them. Each new reflection offers two optional scaffolds, a simple four-question set and the 5R framework, or a blank page.
• A full editor. Headings, lists, checklists, tables and links, with screenshots pasted straight in. Dictation works in any field, and a draft you leave is waiting when you come back.
• Searchable. Search across every reflection, filter by client or by date, or open the calendar view across all three journals. When the progress review is due, PsychLog's six-month progress review on the Reports page fills in the numbers from your logbook, and the journal is there to read while you write your self-reflection.
• Private to you. The journal never appears in reports, sign-off pages or anything your supervisor sees. It is included in your Excel export and can be printed with your name and registration number. The brief Reflections column in the logbook remains part of the signed record, and the journal is for the longer thinking.

The journals are included with every PsychLog subscription, and free-trial accounts can use them too. Start your free trial — 14 days free, no credit card.

Common questions

The Board's documents

The quotations above are from the Board's Guidelines for the 5+1 internship. The logbook form (LBPP-76) and the example progress review template are on the Board's forms page, and our plain-English guide to the logbook requirements covers what each section must record. Those documents are the authority; if anything here and the Board disagree, the Board is right and we would like to know.