Artificial Intelligence and future psychological practice: Opportunities and risks - DCP Fourth Annual Digital Healthcare Conference  

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Programme 

Online Conference Agenda 

Psychological Digital Practice: The Basics and Beyond Book Launch Agenda
 

Speakers 

Ross O'Brien

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Professional affiliation: The XR Health Alliance

The Rise of Large Language Models and Generative AI - Friend or Foe? In this talk we will explore the current state and applications of Artificial Intelligence, Large Language Models and Generative Ai in mental health care settings. We will explore how ai has developed, what is the evidence, where we are now in terms of its use and deployment and where we might be in future years as its spread widens.

Biography: Ross from XRHA is a Digital Health Growth Advisor with expertise in scaling companies in the UK in AI and Immersive Healthcare sectors. Ross supports hundreds of companies to navigate sales and procurement, regulation and compliance, market analysis and segmentation, partnership and product development, customer success and retention, investment and fundraising.

Ross is a Co-Founder of the UK XR Health Alliance. Ross was Lead Author for 'The Growing Value of XR in Healthcare in the UK' a report bringing together UK the NHS, UKRI and Health Education England to create a strategy for UK Immersive Healthcare. XRHA supports hundreds of XR Health Companies with the Mindset XR Programme

Ross is the former Managing Director of WYSA for the UK and Europe. Wysa is the world leader in AI mental health support with 6 million users across 95 countries. Ross established Wysa as a leader in the UK digital mental health support.

Ross exited the NHS in 2021 as the Director of Innovation and Technology at Central and North West London NHS where Ross was also the Lead for the Grenfell Health and Wellbeing Service. Ross was also the Programme Lead of the London Digital Talking Therapies Programme at Healthy London Partnerships.

Dr Neil Ralph

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Professional affiliation: CPsychol

Biography: Dr Neil Ralph is the Deputy Director of Technology Enhanced Learning at NHS England (NHSE TEL), leading a national function within the NHS that aims to maximise the impact of learning technologies and simulation based education in how we train and educate the health and care workforce. The NHSE TEL team works with local, regional and national system partners to leverage these approaches in order to meet their workforce learning needs; underpinned by evidence-based approaches. The team supports access to learning technologies through its capacity to develop and deliver learning at scale via its national digital learning services; elearning for healthcare, Digital Learning Solutions and the Learning Hub. It also seeks to expand and enhance the adoption of XR and other immersive technologies through a range of approaches, alongside support for the educational workforce through its faculty programmes and enhancing the learning environment through its TEL maturity assessment. Neil is also a practicing clinical psychologist and academic lecturer.

Pablo Smithson

Professional affiliation: Sussex Partnership NHS Foundation Trust

Biography: Pablo is a Mental Health & Wellbeing Practitioner in a secondary care community mental health team at Sussex Partnership Foundation Trust. Alongside his role supporting clients, Pablo has a passion for implementing digital healthcare tools in routine NHS practice and has worked alongside the Trust Digital department to develop better ways of gathering and auditing patient data. This year he will be supporting the implementation of a new electronic patient record system. He is currently part of a group trialing the use of Copilot in the Trust. Before retraining into mental healthcare he was in digital roles for a decade - and this dual clinical and digital skillset has enabled him to explore digital/data projects at the trust. Pablo also sits as a committee member on the Psychological Professions Network (PPN) -South East branch of the Aspiring Psychologist Community of Practice.

Dr Alesia Moulton-Perkins

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Professional affiliation: Clinical Psychologist and CBT Therapist

Biography: Alesia is currently a tutor at the Oxford Institute of Clinical Psychology Training and Research, educating the next generation of clinical psychologists on the doctoral programme. She also co-directs NeuroDiverse Online, a private clinic offering assessment and treatment for children, young people and adults with neurodevelopmental disorders.  As Treasurer of the Division of Clinical Psychology's Digital Healthcare Subcommittee, she led the development of the British Psychological Society's eLearning on digital mental health. With a longstanding fascination for new tech, she enjoys trying new AI tools, many of which are now indispensable parts of her routine clinical and administrative work. One of her most notable achievements is co-editing the book, 'Psychological Digital Practice: The Basics and Beyond', which the authors hope will be instrumental in advancing mental health practice.

Alesia qualified as a clinical psychologist from the University of Surrey in 2009 and as a BABCP-accredited CBT Therapist from the Salomons Institute for Applied Psychology in 2010. Previously, she was a Senior Teaching Fellow on the University of Surrey clinical psychology training programme leading on BABCP accreditation and Digital Mental Health. Before academia she worked as a clinical psychologist in NHS Trusts across Sussex and Kent including leading pre-registration psychology training; establishing an ADHD and Tics/Tourette's psychological therapy service for patients in an adult neurodevelopmental conditions clinic; delivering therapy to hospital staff in occupational health and patients with long-term health conditions (LTCs) in a clinical health psychology service; and delivering CBT in an Improving Access to Psychological therapies service. Prior to her career in psychology, she was a teacher in the UK and Spain. Her passion for integrating technology into mental healthcare was sparked by her early experiences as an IT coordinator in a primary school, where she saw firsthand the transformative power of digital tools.

Sam Pye

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Professional affiliation: Trainee Clinical Psychologist, University of Surrey

Attitudes Matter: Exploring Clinician Perspectives on the Future of AI in Psychological Services

This talk explores why clinician attitudes toward generative AI technologies are critical to their safe and meaningful integration into psychological services. I will also present an overview of the two dissertation studies I am currently conducting: one examining the key factors that influence clinicians' intentions to adopt AI tools, and the other exploring their experiences of using AI as a psychological formulation assistant.

Biography: I am a Trainee Clinical Psychologist at the University of Surrey, currently completing a placement on a neurorehabilitation ward. Since the widespread adoption of generative AI technologies, I've become particularly interested in how clinician attitudes shape the integration of digital tools into psychological services. My hope is that, as the field evolves, these technologies are developed and implemented in ways that genuinely support clinicians and, in turn, enhance outcomes for clients

My dissertation research investigates the attitudes of psychology professionals toward generative AI tools. The project is divided into two studies: the first examines key factors that influence clinicians' intentions to adopt these technologies, with a particular focus on threats to professional identity. The second explores clinicians' experience using generative AI as a psychological formulation assistant, exploring the barriers and facilitators to developing and adopting such a tool.

Remy Michelson 

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Heidi Health Demo - how you can adopt and integrate Heidi into your workflow effectively.

Biography: Remy Michelson is part of the commercial team at Heidi Health, the AI medical scribe company, where he leads community and mental health operations across the UK. Based in London, Remy works closely with NHS trusts, mental health services, and community health organisations to support the safe and effective adoption of AI tools in clinical workflows.

Prior to joining Heidi, Remy worked as a Lawyer at a technology company and a global law firm. During his time in private practice, he was part of the firm's Pro Bono team, providing legal support to community legal centres with a focus on clients experiencing mental health-related legal challenges. Alongside his legal career, Remy has been deeply engaged with mental health and disability advocacy. He has volunteered with and supported fundraising for a not-profit dedicated to creating inclusive social opportunities for young people with disabilities and has also worked a support worker for individuals with disabilities.

Remy brings a unique perspective to the integration of AI in mental healthcare - combining legal, commercial, and frontline experience to help healthcare organisations navigate change, improve documentation, and deliver better care outcomes across the community and mental health landscape.

Helen Pote

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Helen is Professor of Clinical Psychology and Director of Clinical Programmes for Psychological Practitioners at Royal Holloway. She has over 25 years' experience of training psychologists and working as a clinical psychologist with children and families across health, education and research settings. Helen's research focuses on practitioners' digital competences, alongside the development and evaluation of digital and immersive interventions to support mental health for young people, families and schools. She developed MindAid - a mental health literacy app for teachers and young people and has worked closely with several digital companies to support development of digital mental health solutions.  Helen chairs the Committee for Digital Healthcare, Division of Clinical Psychology, British Psychological Society and is a Board member for the London Psychological Professions Network. She delivers psychological assessments and therapy online using CBT and systemic models.