Shining a light on the wider psychological workforce

When we talk about the wider psychological workforce, we mean professionals who are working in psychological practitioner and applied psychology roles. The growth of this workforce is integral to the future of the NHS. The NHS Long Term Workforce Plan has dedicated £600 million to foster the development of the wider psychological professions and to expand training opportunities in these fields. But what is it like to work in one of these roles and what do the day-to-day responsibilities include? How rewarding is it, and what does a typical day look like?

We felt it was time to shine a spotlight on a workforce that continues to make a big difference to individuals.

In this case study we sit down with Robin Coakley, a Psychological Wellbeing Practitioner, to find out more about her role, what in her opinion are the most rewarding elements of it and how the BPS has supported her throughout her journey so far.

Can you give us a quick introduction to yourself and your role please?

I'm a Psychological Wellbeing Practitioner - which means I deliver guided self-help or low-intensity cognitive behavioural therapy. I work at step two within the stepped care model, which means that I provide brief interventions to clients. I've worked in my current service for three and a half years and I also have experience working within charity-focused roles, as well as roles focused purely on supporting those feeling the effects of domestic violence.

What do you enjoy most about your role?

One of the most important things when you work in a psychological profession is your colleagues. It's great to be around like-minded people with similar interests and passions. The PWP role requires a lot of mental stamina, so it's really important for your own mental wellbeing to have supportive colleagues - which I'm very fortunate to have. 

Another element I enjoy is working with our clients. You can often meet people who are going through some of the most difficult points in their lives, and I hope that within my role I can really empower individuals to take control of their distress and provide techniques to support them. 

Does it feel rewarding to help people on a daily basis?

Yes definitely. If someone can tell you what they're going through and you can work up a collaborative treatment plan and a pathway based on evidence, then it's really rewarding. With OCD for example, a lot of people don't have an awareness of intrusive thoughts, so being able to provide psychoeducation around this is really empowering for clients and rewarding as a practitioner. 

As a Psychological Wellbeing Practitioner, you see a lot of people, you complete a lot of assessments and you come across people who have had poor experiences of mental health services in the past. It's therefore understandable when people sometimes have hesitation about seeking support - and asking for support can be a daunting process in itself!

I've worked with clients who have been very sceptical and opened up the conversation by saying "how is this going to be beneficial to me?". What's been really nice is building a rapport with these clients and helping improve their confidence in mental health services. It's often about making people feel listened to and cared for. 

When you've been working with somebody and you've seen that they've overcome that barrier, how do you feel as a wellbeing practitioner who's guided them through that?

It's just lovely, really. It's nice to come away from work and think "I've made a difference". We have what we call Experience Questionnaires, so we can see and read the feedback from our clients - which is really rewarding too.

What three qualities do you think you need to be a Psychological Wellbeing Practitioner?

I would say you need to have a commitment to quality, the ability to be resilient and a promise to be genuine. 

You need resilience because it is often a challenging role in terms of contacts and access rates. Being genuine is important because you need to provide genuine care for people while being authentic within yourself. I think that by being compassionate and genuine, you're able to keep going even when you're experiencing difficult and very busy days.

What would you say to somebody who's thinking about a career as a Psychological Wellbeing Practitioner?  What would you say attracted you to the position?

I was attracted by the opportunity to work with different people. You're very client-facing and there's a lot of client interaction - which is the part of the job I enjoy most. There's also a range of modalities that you can offer - it's quite flexible - so as practitioners we can provide face-to-face, telephone, video, groups and online treatment. 

The best advice I can offer is to remain aware of your own wellbeing. The job can be very busy due to the high number of contacts expected of PWPs, so it is important to have supportive management and colleagues. 

What attracted you to BPS membership?

Once you leave university, it's quite difficult to find recent and relevant psychological findings. The BPS has these findings in one place and as someone that's accessing them, you know that they have the quality approval of the BPS. 

The Society also supports you with your continued professional development and you know that the training and materials on offer are of a high quality. From a career perspective, there's that peace of mind around the quality and standard of the resources that you're using to develop your knowledge. You know you're in safe hands.

You talked about working with your colleagues and being part of a like-minded community. Have you found that being part of the BPS has brought that same feeling?

Some PWP services have champion roles, within my service, I am the champion for gender-based and sexual violence. This means that it's my responsibility to discover relevant findings and provide continued professional development sessions for the wider team around this topic.

The BPS was a great source of articles related to COVID-19 and the influence of the pandemic on domestic violence and mental health. At the height of COVID in particular, there was a lot of misinformation being circulated around the subject, so it was good to have access to BPS-approved articles to support my research and offer factual, up-to-date insights to my colleagues. You feel confident that you can pass that information on to others and that it's from a trusted source.

How would you describe being a member of BPS?

I would say that being a member is a great way to be aware of relevant and recent developments within psychology while supporting you with improving your clinical practice.

For people in similar roles who are thinking about joining the BPS, I'd say have a look at the website and the socials because even if you aren't a member right now, there's a lot of information that you can access before you join. If you want a taste, then those channels provide a good guide to the benefits that a membership will offer.