Before, During, After: An Alternative to the STAR Method for Clinical Scenario Interview Questions

If you're preparing for an Assistant Psychologist interview, you've almost certainly been told to "use STAR". For lots of questions, I'd say the same; I recommend it in my post on 10 common Assistant Psychologist interview questions.

But when I'm coaching people through clinical examples ("Tell us about a time you ran a group", "How would you manage risk in an assessment?", "Talk us through a piece of clinical work"), I often notice how STAR doesn’t capture some of the competencies required in Assistant Psychologist or Doctorate interviews. The answer comes out as a narrative, but the panel hasn't heard what they're listening for: how you prepared, how you kept risk in mind, when you used supervision and what you did afterwards.

That's why I teach a second structure alongside STAR: Before, During, After. Here's why it works so well for clinical scenario interview questions in AP, DClinPsy and DCounsPsy interviews, and how to use it.

Full transparency: I don't think Before–During–After is an official or recognised structure. It's just one I've found very useful, and in my experience it covers the competencies panels look for really well. It's especially good at drawing out the systemic side of a question: reading and following policies and procedures, safeguarding processes, working within service protocols, consulting the MDT and documenting in line with policy.

Why STAR can fall short for clinical examples

STAR (Situation, Task, Action, Result) is a brilliant all-rounder for competency-based questions. But clinical work is rarely one action leading to one result, and a few important things get lost:

• STAR ends at "Result". Adding a second R (STARR) helps, but reflection often becomes a rushed final sentence!

• Panels want to hear your thinking and psychological reasoning: how you prepared, what you decided and how you adjusted. In STAR, it's all crammed into "Action".

• Risk isn't a box you tick once. You consider it beforehand, monitor it throughout and follow it up afterwards.

• Good practice means consulting before, escalating during if needed, and debriefing after. In STAR answers, it often shrinks to "I told my supervisor" at the end.

The Before–During–After framework, explained

The idea is simple. You walk the panel through what you did (or would do) before, during and after the piece of work. The following are just examples of what we’d need to consider for each stage.

Before: preparation

How did you get ready, safely and thoughtfully?

• Reviewing notes and risk information so you knew what you were walking into

• Consulting your supervisor or the MDT

• Reading the relevant policies or procedures, such as lone working, risk or safeguarding

• Planning your approach, and why you chose it

• Adapting to the person's needs, such as communication, accessibility, culture or cognitive needs

• Gaining consent, including explaining confidentiality and its limits

• This shows you don't go in cold, and that your role sits within a team.

During: in the moment

What did you do, and how did you respond to what came up?

• Building rapport

• Adapting as you go when things didn't go to plan

• Monitoring risk and wellbeing throughout

• Working within your role and your level of competence

• Using relevant skills and models, named briefly, without turning the answer into a lecture

• Be specific about what you did and why.

After: follow-up

What happened next, and what did you learn?

• Documenting clearly, in line with the service's policies

• Debriefing in supervision

• Sharing relevant information with the team

• The outcome and any feedback

• Reflecting: what would you keep, and what would you change?

Lots of candidates stop at the outcome, but this is where you show you're a safe, reflective practitioner. You can check my guide to demonstrating reflective capacity in NHS psychology interviews.

When to use it: reach for Before–During–After when a question asks how you would run, prepare for or manage something, or asks you to talk through a piece of clinical work. For broader competency questions, such as "Tell us about a time you received difficult feedback", STAR is still a great fit.

A worked example: an Assistant Psychologist interview question

An illustrative, made-up example with no real client details. Use your own experience, and keep it anonymous.

Question: "Tell us about a time you helped to run a group."

Before: "In a previous support worker role, I co-facilitated a six-week anxiety management group with a qualified psychological. Before the first session, we reviewed each person's referral and any risk information, and I met with my supervisor to agree my role: I'd lead the psychoeducation sections, and my co-facilitator would hold overall clinical responsibility. We planned what we'd do if someone became distressed. We also made an easy-read handout, as some people had told us reading could be hard. At the start, we explained confidentiality and its limits and checked that everyone was happy to take part."

During: "In the third session, one person became tearful during a discussion about avoidance. I acknowledged it gently and offered a pause, and my co-facilitator checked in with them outside, as we'd planned. I carried on with the group, normalising that the topic can bring things up. Throughout, I used a CBT framework to link thoughts, feelings and behaviours, slowing down when people needed more time."

After: "Afterwards, I wrote up my notes in line with the service's documenting policy, and we debriefed as facilitators. My co-facilitator had checked the group member felt safe to go home, and, with their agreement, we updated their care coordinator. I took the session to supervision, where we reflected on how to set the tone at the start so that distress feels expected rather than disruptive. The end-of-group feedback was positive about the handouts. If I ran the group again, I'd build a short check-in into every session from week one…"

Why it works: it covers what the panel is likely to be scoring (preparation, risk, role boundaries, supervision, the relationship and reflection) without sounding like a list.

Adapting it for a DClinPsy or DCounsPsy interview

At doctorate level, the structure stays the same but the depth changes. Perhaps you're asked: "Talk us through a piece of clinical work."

Before: why the person was referred, your early formulation hypotheses, how you approached consent and what you took to supervision.

During: how the formulation shaped your intervention, how you noticed and responded to the relationship (including ruptures, power and difference) and how you kept risk in mind.

After: outcome measures or feedback, how you shared your thinking with the team and your reflexive learning, including your own responses to the work.

For DClinPsy panels, lean into formulation, the evidence base, NHS systems and structures or MDT working. For DCounsPsy panels, give more space to the therapeutic relationship, reflexivity and how your values and identity showed up in the work. More in how to prepare for a counselling psychology doctorate interview.

Common mistakes to avoid

• Spending too long on Before. Keep it brief; spend most of your time on During and After.

• Saying "we" the whole way through. The panel needs to know what you did.

• Mentioning risk once and moving on. Show it at all three stages.

• Treating supervision as an afterthought. It often belongs in Before and After, and sometimes During.

• Stopping at the outcome. Reflection turns a good answer into a strong one!

• Sharing identifiable details. Leave out names, ages, locations and anything unusual enough to identify someone.

• Overclaiming. Panels want to see you know the limits of your role.

Want to practice your clinical examples?

Knowing the structure is one thing; saying it out loud under pressure is another. If you have an AP or doctorate interview coming up, my 1:1 Interview Preparation sessions are where we practice questions like these until your examples feel natural.

• Applying for Assistant Psychologist roles? Book my 1 Hour Call Assistant Psychologist Interview Prep.

• Preparing for a DClinPsy or DCounsPsy interview? Book my 1 Hour Call Psychology Doctorate Interview Preparation.

Still working on getting shortlisted? Land My First AP Interview, Secure My DClinPsy Interview, and Secure My DCounsPsy Interview help you get your application to interview stage.

Not sure what you need? Book a 30-minute discovery call and we can work it out together!