The Division of Clinical Psychology (DCP) exists to promote the professional interests of Clinical Psychologists across the UK.
The DCP works closely with a number of organisations including the NHS, the government, and multiple professional bodies and groups in the voluntary sector, to promote and develop clinical psychology as a body of knowledge and skills.
For any queries regarding the work of the Division of Clinical Psychology please contact the Member Networks Team
We bear witness to the shocking and tragic news of the killing of George Floyd on 25 May 2020 while in police custody in Minneapolis. We mourn George Floyd and we should not forget the others who have died under similar circumstances.
We condemn the racial violence, discrimination and persistent structural racism that underpins society in the strongest terms, and stand with our colleagues and others in speaking out in support of the Black Lives Matter movement.
Read the full statement from the DCP Representative Assembly.
At the time of writing, the latest issue of Clinical Psychology Forum is devoted to psychology and the climate and environmental crisis.
We are hugely grateful to all the contributors, from across different domains of practice, who have stretched their thinking to accommodate our request to contribute in personal as well as intellectually informed ways, and we know that there is very much more to be said, written and explored from many other perspectives.
We are also grateful to our Southwest committee member colleagues for encouraging and supporting us in our determination to highlight climate and ecological concerns within our profession.
The DCP recognises how important good quality and timely communications are across the networks that make up the Division, with our members and, very importantly, with the wider public. We have been improving our systems over the last
2 years and have been very active during the pandemic through the work of Comms Covid Team.
We now wish to create a DCP Communications Subcommittee to work across all aspects with the DCP Comms Lead. We already work closely with the BPS Comms Team and cover diverse areas like publications, marketing, social media, Online community,
newsletters and bulletins, supporting Faculties and Branches and more. Getting communications right is an essential part of having an effective professional body for clinical psychologists.
We are looking to have a Subcommittee that is truly diverse In its composition and which has members at all levels of their careers. If you have an interest in any aspect of communications and in building the future of the DCP, we would
love to hear from you, even if you do not currently have experience in this field. The subcommittee will work as a dynamic and supportive team with shared learning and mentoring integral to its operation.
If you are interested, please complete a Statement of Interest Form.
Closing date for statements is Monday 5 October 2020 at 5pm.
Can you lead an editorial team of clinical psychologists?
We’re looking for a new editor to take over Clinical Psychology Forum, the monthly publication for members of our Division of Clinical Psychology (DCP).
CPF covers all subjects of interest to clinical psychologists, and the new editor will have the opportunity to continue widening its focus and cover new ground.
Recent special issues have tackled vital issues including the climate crisis and race in clinical psychology, and we want a new editor to continue with this contemporary focus.
If you’re passionate about communicating the work that clinical psychologists do and the difference that they make, we’d love to hear from you.
Our successful candidate will be a member of the DCP. We welcome applications from all practising clinical psychologists – if you’re not a member yet, why not join us today?
Salary = £17,760 to produce 12 issues of Clinical Psychology Forum.
Please apply with a covering letter and CV. If you are currently a member of DCP, please state your membership number.
Send your applications to [email protected]
The closing date for applications is 01 August 2020.
The British Psychological Society is striving, through the work of the diversity and inclusion taskforce and other initiatives, to build the BPS into an anti-racist and “inclusionist” organisation at every level.
Earlier this year, a group of trainee clinical psychologists met with the BPS to discuss racism, power and privilege within clinical psychology.
We are releasing a joint summary of this meeting to share our discussions and proposed future actions with the clinical psychology community.
We are delighted to announce that the British Psychological Society (BPS), Division of Clinical (DCP) Psychology grant funded 2 year project “Special measures?” - equality and diversity in feedback and outcome measures: progressing practice and practice-guidance on measures and methods for children and young people with learning disabilities (CYP-LD), their families and networks has commenced.
This project builds on previous collaborative work in this area, led by the LD Network of the DCP’s Children, Young People and their Families Faculty (CYPFF). It will progress the next phase of practice development to meet priorities identified by both clinical psychology and multidisciplinary networks including the DCP CYPF Faculty LD Network, CORC – Child Outcomes Research Consortium; Children and Young People's Improving Access to Psychological Therapies (CYP-IAPT) London and SE Collaborative and CYP-IAPT Outcomes and Evaluation Group.
In order to promote equality and diversity in gathering feedback/views and measuring outcomes measures and to progress/revise practice and practice-guidance, the project will:
CORC (Child Outcomes Research Consortium) will host and participate in the project. Jeni McElwee, Neil Phillips and Ro Rossiter, from the LD Network will be leading the project streams, with Professor Eric Emerson also collaborating. Jeni (Consultant Clinical Psychologist, Child and Adolescent Learning Disability Service and Child Development Advisor Service, Anuerin Bevan University Health Board) Child and Adolescent Learning Disability Service (CALDS) and Child Development Advisor Service/ Anuerin Bevan University Health Board/leads for Profound and Multiple LD participation & service users ; Neil (Service Lead/Clinical Psychologist, LD-CAMHS, Worcestershire Health & Care NHS Trust) leads for the survey update and analysis and Ro (Clinical Psychologist & Honorary Researcher, Tizard Centre, University of Kent) is the Project Manager. Eric (Emeritus Professor of Disability & Health Research, Lancaster University & University of Sydney) leads for interrogation of Millenium Childhood Cohort Survey data and any other relevant national databases.
We will collaborate with members across our Faculty, the Faculty for People with Intellectual Disabilities and Experts by Experience. Links will also be made with the Divisions of Educational and Child Psychology and Occupational Psychology. The project is multidisciplinary, investigate both collection and use of outcome measures and views across practice, service review and improvement, and cover all home nations.
The NHS plan, published on 7 January 2019, sets out key ambitions for the next 10 years.
In the following document Professor Tony Lavender, Chair of the DCP Workforce & Training Sub-Committee, provides commentary and feedback on the content of the plan's seven chapters.
The Health Education England Staff and Learners’ Mental Wellbeing Commission report pledges to provide better mental health and wellbeing support for NHS staff and learners as part of its ‘workforce implementation plan.
Dr Amra Rao, Chair of the DCP Leadership and Management Faculty, has summarised the key themes and implications of the report in the following document:
As we move closer to the date of Britain’s exit from the European Union, the uncertainty affecting EU psychologists who have moved to the UK and built their careers and lives becomes more acute.
At the Division of Clinical Psychology’s annual conference in Manchester earlier this year, Dr Annette Schlosser and Richard Pemberton hosted a workshop to consider the impact of Brexit, and associated disruption and anxiety, on psychologists.
Annette and Richard both spoke of their personal experience. Annette has always regarded herself as European and seen country boundaries as largely irrelevant up until the vote, which has had a significant impact on European people in the UK’s sense of belonging.
Richard mentioned his daughter, who is married to a Frenchman, and how he expected his grandchild to grow up in a confident, open and diverse international community, rather than a country scarred by division and nationalism.
With more than 30 people in attendance, including BPS chief executive Sarb Bajwa and president Kate Bullen, the workshop allowed members to discuss their experiences following the Brexit vote.
Attendees spoke of their hurt at having to apply for settled status in the UK, at a rise on racist and xenophobic attitudes, and at having to put future career plans on hold due to the continuing uncertainty.
They called on the DCP and BPS to create opportunities for solidarity, and to reach out to affected people to offer support in a difficult situation and gratitude for the important job that they do.
The economic impact on the psychological research community and on the NHS, where so many members work, also remains largely unclear, and it was suggested that the BPS can do more to investigate this.
It was also felt that a further workshop, held in London where at least 10 per cent of DCP members are affected in some way, would be beneficial.
This has now been arranged for Monday 18 March, and is free to attend for both BPS members and the general public.
Sarb Bajwa, chief executive of the BPS, addressed the workshop and the society’s ongoing work to strengthen international relationships in his monthly blog.
There is currently a consultation on the Clinical Associate Psychologist Degree Apprenticeship Standards.
Tony Lavender, chair of the DCP Workforce and Training Sub-Committee, and Gary Latchford, co-chair of the Group of Trainers in Clinical Psychology, have written a briefing paper on the DCP’s view of the issues that need to be addressed, which will inform Members when responding to the consultation.
I am entering the last three weeks in the role of Interim DCP Chair and I am pleased to tell you that we had very positive outcomes in the recent elections and, subject to ratification at the AGM, we will have a new Chair and a complete Committee taking the DCP forward. I will be remaining on as Vice Chair and am very much looking forward to building on the many achievements of 2018.
There is still time to register for the DCP Conference 23 - 24 January in Manchester.
This year's theme is Identity - “Through the diversity of our work with others, our own experiences and through observing world events, those within and around the field of clinical psychology recognise the centrality of identity, in relation to well-being, recovery, promoting rights and resilience.”
I hope that as many of you as possible will be coming even if you can only attend for part of the conference. The programme looks excellent with significant Expert by Experience involvement and there will be both formal and informal opportunities to discuss key issues for the DCP in 2019.
There is also a very important free public lecture being given by Dr Alan Barrett, Clinical Lead for adults at the Manchester Resilience Hub - “What can Clinical psychology offer in response to mass fatality terror attacks? “ on Thursday 24 January 2019 at 14:10
I hope that you may be able to help publicise this on social media etc even if you are not able to attend yourself
This is mentioned in the blog posted on 10th October and we now have more detailed information on this provided for us by Ken Laidlaw
The Exeter course is a new training programme developed in response to local service need in Cornwall. The problem of recruiting to clinical psychology and meeting mental health needs in Cornwall was the driver for this development. Working alongside senior clinical psychology service leads they have developed a Clinical Associate Psychologist (CAP) training. The CAPs programme is being delivered in Cornwall where all trainees complete their placements. The training is at a masters level and takes place over 12 months. They recruited 15 trainees sponsored by Cornwall Partnership NHS Foundation trust, with these trainees receiving a salary at AfC band 5 and university fees paid on their behalf. They will be employed on AfC band 6. The CAPs course fills a skills gap between assistant psychologist and qualified clinical psychologists with 50 per cent of their training time spent on placement in Cornwall. Supervision is provided by clinical psychologists. After qualification CAPs can only work under the direct supervision of a clinical psychologist. In Cornwall this is resulting in new posts being created for clinical psychologists (2 new 8a CP posts are about to be advertised in Cornwall) to allow the growth of this new workforce. The CAPs are offered employment post-qualification and are asked to commit to working in Cornwall for 2 years after qualification. Clinical Associate Psychologists have been a feature of the applied psychology workforce in NHS Scotland since 2005.
The degree apprenticeship model is a means of providing funding for this new applied psychology workforce. A trailblazer group is set up for any Degree Apprenticeship and there must be a minimum of 10 employers representing a national spread. A minimum of 2 HEI's are required for a trailblazer group. The employers are in charge of this and in this particular case, the CEO of Cornwall, is the chair of the trailblazer group. An initial 23 employers from across NHS England, as well as the current chair of the NHS confederation and partners from the private sector have expressed interest in joining this group and 4 or 5 HEIs are expressing an interest too. Ken Laidlaw and Eugene Mullan have been working with the chair of the trailblazer group to ensure that the correct quality assurance to maintain the integrity of the CAPs training is in place. An occupational proposal for a new Degree Apprenticeship for CAPs was submitted on the 7th November, and they are waiting on feedback from the Institute for Apprenticeships as to whether the trailblazer group can proceed and whether the Institute recognises the CAPs as an occupation. They are in the process of setting standards for the draft occupational proposal. The standards, when agreed in draft form, will be publicly available on the Skills for Health (HASO) website for approximately 6 weeks as part of a consultation period.
This process gives people an opportunity to comment on this development.
Degree apprenticeships allow employers to use their apprenticeship levy to pay for this training so it is an initiative driven by service need and employers. The Degree Apprenticeship is about a job role. It is set at academic level 7 (11 in Scotland) meaning a masters level PG training. This level 7 is not to be confused with AfC levels. The Degree Apprenticeship for the CAPs would be a non-integrated degree meaning that an end-point assessment would be conducted separately from any academic or clinical assessments required by universities delivering this training – these are developed as the last stage in a Degree Apprenticeship. The Degree Apprenticeship, once developed, is freely available for any appropriate trainer and employer to deliver.
At the AGM the election results and new committee were announced and I am so pleased that Esther Cohen-Tovee has been able to return as Chair following the resolution of the funding issues that led to her having to step down prematurely at the 2018 AGM.
The new DCP Committee will be:
I would like to thank the people who are stepping down from the Committee:
The role will for a period of 1 year (until the next AGM) and there will be funding for the role at 0.5 days/week. The role will involve the following:
Experience of being a Faculty Chair within the past 5 years would be an advantage.
If you would like to undertake the Faculty Lead role on the DCP Committee please complete a Statement of Interest at Members Online Resource by Friday 8 February 2019. If you have any queries about the role please contact Helen Barnett.
Please consider whether you can take on this role, which is going to be key to our planned progress in 2019. It will provide you with great experience as well as an exciting DCP role.
I am writing this blog having just returned from a fantastic DCP Annual Conference in Manchester. It was on the theme of Identity and this proved to be such a good topic to build a conference around. There was so much synergy across the programme and you kept picking up the resonances across presentations whether these were on service user perspectives, therapeutic initiatives, theoretical discussions or others.
The conference has been building up the amount of content so-produced and/or led by people with lived experience of the psychological problems we are talking about and this conference had the most yet, which is a real cause for celebration though we can still do more. There was an important theme this year looking at the psychological wellbeing of clinical psychologists, with increasing recognition that many also have such lived experience and would identify as experts by experience receiving as well as providing services. We are beginning to explore the issues, dilemmas and concerns in this area and this will continue over the next year, as member wellbeing is one of the DCP’s priority areas.
Another recurring theme was inclusivity and diversity and the challenge faced by our profession as well as our services, particularly in these times where “othering”, discrimination and outright racism seem to be on the rise. Our discussions felt like a tonic in these troubled times but talk amongst ourselves alone will not have impact without actions and this is where the real challenge lies.
For me, having specialised in the field of children, young people and families, there is a particular delight in reconnecting with the lifespan and multi specialism components that are key to our profession. The contributions of the younger members are always invigorating and the sessions run by our Pre- Qualification Group, their Minorities group and others in the early stages of their career make me feel very optimistic that the future of the profession is in safe hand
I would like to thank the Conference Organising Committee and the BPS Conference Team for all their work putting together this conference. In particular thanks go to Laura Golding who is stepping down as chair of the conference Committee after three excellent conferences.
The public lecture this year reflected the venue of Manchester where the bombing of the Arena caused so much death, physical and psychological injury. The challenge to the services in supporting the acute medical staff, the children and young people and their families was met by the creation of the Manchester Resilience Hub led by clinical psychologists.
The powerful presentation by Dr Alan Barrett & Clare Jones gave us an exemplar of what needs to be done in such circumstances and advised us all to be involved in thinking and planning for what we could do in our local areas if faced with a disaster in future. This will not always be terrorism linked as the Grenfell fire showed and being prepared for the sudden intrusion of large scale trauma in our communities can only be positive, As Alan and Clare showed, the initial phase of managing death and physical injury in the first phase of response leads on to a very much longer phase of supporting to psychological wellbeing of those affected across the spectrum of involvement.
BPS have now appointed the new Senior Policy Advisor for Mental Health who will be working with us and other relevant Divisions to really strengthen the policy impacts the BPS can make. Although Sabrina Kamayah does not start in the role until March, she took annual leave from her current job to join us at conference; an indication of what I am sure is going to be a really positive relationship that will take what we are doing in terms of policy to another level.
Richard Pemberton and Annette Schlosser organised a meeting to start to explore the impact on our colleagues who have come from EU nations to live and work in the UK and the wider implications for the profession. It was an opportunity for people to share their stories and express their feeling resulting in a sense of fellowship being established. We also acknowledged how these experiences need to be seen in the context of the experiences of our colleagues form ethnic minorities. Notes on these and on ideas for doing more to help were taken and will be made available. Of course only a small number of those directly affected were at this meeting and we are exploring what else the DCP and the BPS can do to try to make a difference.
This has now been re-launched and is across the career span. It is free to all DCP members and more information will be on the DCP website shortly.
The Faculty is inviting feedback from members on how they can be supported in working with the commissioners so that an effective programme can be developed
As this really is my last Chairs Blog (though I may of course do a Vice Chairs Blog!) I would like to thank all my colleagues on the DCP Committee and our Networks for their support and energy over this last year and our colleagues in the BPS who worked so constructively with us to get where we are now.
I also want to thank you, the Membership, for sticking with us through the difficult times. I am sure that 2019 will be an exciting and positive year in the DCP. A key priority for us is to grow the membership so please encourage your friend and colleagues to join with us - strength lies in solidarity.
- Julia Faulconbridge (DCP Vice Chair)
As many of you will know, I was DCP Chair from May 2016 – January 2018, and have been re-elected to the role at the 2019 DCP AGM on 24 January. There has been a “sea change” in the intervening months, which has made it possible for me to come forward once again.
I would like to take this opportunity to pay tribute to Julia Faulconbridge for her leadership as interim DCP Chair during the past year and for the significant role she has played, in partnership with other DCP members and BPS employed colleagues, in developing a new model by which members (or their employers) can receive payment for services rendered to the British Psychological Society, in line with the Society's statutes. This gives us the ability to move forward towards achieving our core purpose and strategic aims, for the benefit of our members, those who use our services and the wider population.
Julia has skilfully and sensitively steered a course through a difficult period, in partnership with and supported by DCP and BPS colleagues. She has given a huge amount of time and energy to the role. She has been patient and steadfast but also flexible when appropriate to help us achieve good outcomes over the past twelve months. We are enormously grateful to Julia, and are delighted that she will be remaining on the DCP Exec committee as Vice Chair. I’m also very pleased to welcome former and new members to the Exec. (Julia announced the committee elections and membership in the March Chair’s Update and blog).
The DCP Executive committee, in partnership with colleagues representing our Faculties, Branches and other groups, and with our lead EbE (Expert by Experience) representatives have identified priorities for 2019, and these have been set out by Julia in a previous Chair’s update. I have mapped these (with a couple of additions) to our core purpose objectives, as follows:
| DCP Core Purpose Strategic Objectives | 2019 priorities |
|---|---|
| To promote the professional voice of Clinical Psychology To strive to improve the wellbeing of the whole population through working with relevant systems and organisations |
External facing campaigns and initiatives relating to the wellbeing of Children & Young People (BPS campaign), Prevention and Public Health, and the NHS Long Term Plan. Communications & social media strategy & action plan. |
| To work in partnership with Service Users, Carers, Professional Bodies, Voluntary Organisations and other key stakeholders | Campaigns as above. DCP Experts by Experience strategy review & actions. DCP Inclusivity Strategy review and actions. |
| To promote and develop the profession of Clinical Psychology To provide support to our members and promote member networks |
Professional Standards Unit to lead on co-production of impactful publications. Membership growth and support strategy including a focus on member wellbeing. Formation of Minorities subcommittee to support members from minority backgrounds. |
| To support safe, effective, high quality provision of Clinical Psychology | Governance guidance to be updated and gaps addressed. |
| Ensure effective and efficient functioning of the Executive and subsystems | New subcommittee structure. Support for joint work between Branches and Faculties. Action plans linked to priorities and core purpose objectives! |
| To promote and develop research and theory in relation to Clinical Psychology | Review DCP Grant scheme. |
We hope that these objectives fit with your approval, and are always keen to receive feedback. We are continuing to take stock of what has been achieved despite the difficult circumstances of recent years, and also those aspirations which have been put on hold. We have an opportunity to launch a new chapter in the narrative of the DCP, with robust and professional support from BPS employed colleagues, and in partnership with Experts by Experience and a wide range of other stakeholders. We need to rebuild the DCP and reach out to everyone who might benefit from joining us and everyone who may be interested in working with us. As the BPS develops a new role as a responsive and authoritative professional body, while retaining its role as a learned society, the DCP should be enabled to rise to the challenges and grasp the opportunities which arise both internally and externally. We can only do this, though, with the contribution at whatever level is possible from our members: we are the DCP, we are the BPS. Let’s work together to make a difference, and to ensure that our voices are heard.
For this update, I’m going to focus on national developments & opportunities, some of our progress towards the priority objectives we have set for this year, and contributions I’ve been making nationally and, unusually, internationally.
As you will be aware, this was published on 7 January 2019, following a period of engagement and consultation to which many BPS & DCP members contributed.
The NHS Long Term Plan sets out key ambitions for the next 10 years. It celebrates ‘the enduring success of the service and the shared commitment it represents’. It attempts to tackle issues of major concern, including funding, staffing, inequalities and pressures from a growing and ageing population. The Plan builds on previous policy work, in particular The NHS Five Year Forward View. Professor Tony Lavender has produced a very helpful summary.
In brief, the new model emphasises the importance of prevention and the development of community and primary care services. There will be funding for expanded community teams aligned to new primary care networks (populations 30K -50K). The networks will be expected to act proactively to improve the population’s health. The emphasis is to reduce pressure on emergency services and to get patients home sooner. Initiatives in digital care are intended to help access services and offer new advice and treatment options.
There is a strong emphasis on prevention and reducing health inequalities. Areas highlighted include smoking, obesity, alcohol, air pollution and anti- microbial resistance. The importance of addressing comorbidities is stressed. The issues of poverty (whilst mentioned) are inadequately addressed in our opinion. The lack of a social care plan (as pointed out by the Kings Fund) is a both a missed opportunity and is likely to make aspects of the Plan difficult to deliver.
The Plan acknowledges the scale of the workforce challenges. A new Workforce Implementation Plan will be produced (work is already underway, see below) and a National Workforce Group established. There is an emphasis on the need to expand staff numbers (through improved recruitment and retention) with sections addressing issues for nurses, midwives, AHPs, other staff and medics. It is most disappointing that there is no reference here to the psychological professions, and there is much work to do to ensure there is a strong presence in the workforce implementation plan.
The Long Term Plan emphasises the future centrality of the Integrated Care Systems (ICS) to be in place across England by April 2021. The emphasis is on CCGs, Trusts and Local Authorities collaborating (with shared duties) to produce high quality services for specific geographical areas. NHS England and NHS Improvement will increasingly work together to oversee implementation working through new Regional Boards (combining NHSE and NHSI). There is also an emphasis on moving from a competitive to a collaborative way of working. One indicator of this is reducing the role of the Competition & Marketing Authority (CMA) in NHS services procurement, and changing current procurement rules so that tendering is only required if there is reason to do so. This is to try to reduce costs associated with tendering/re-procurement, and is a very welcome move away from the “Lansley reforms” which have cost so much time and effort in competitive tendering and have resulted in barriers to collaboration and person-centred pathways across systems & providers.
NHS England has now launched engagement on proposals for possible legislative changes for the NHS to support the Long Term Plan, including a call for views on how targeted amendments to the law could help local and national health organisations work together more effectively to improve services.
There are limited places on engagement events that will take place in London on the 3 April and Leeds on the 16 April. To book a place email [email protected]
The Chair of NHS Improvement, Baroness Dido Harding, is leading the development of the plan, and there are five workstreams which are initally reporting to Julian Hartley, CEO of Leeds Teaching Hospitals, who is the Senior Responsible Officer for the workforce implementation plan. However, NHS Improvement and NHS England have subsequently appointed Prerana Issar to the role of Chief People Officer (a role announced in the NHS Long Term Plan). Prerana will take over responsibility for leading the development of the workforce implementation plan from Julian Hartley, and will be working closely with organisations across the NHS, including NHS England regional teams, local systems, national bodies and trade unions.
The five workstreams are:
We are linking in to the Future Clinical Workforce workstream’s group for AHPs & Psychological Professions, via the Health Education England (HEE) Task & Finish Group re. Psychological Professions & Mental Health initially.
The HEE Commission re NHS staff & learners’ wellbeing was led by Sir Keith Pearson, former Chair of Health Education England, and by Professor Simon Gregory, Director and Dean of Education and Quality, Midlands and East. The Commission put out an online engagement survey, and also gathered evidence from staff, relatives, professional bodies and other stakeholders. The DCP Leadership & Management Faculty has jointly led a significant programme of work around Psychological professions’ wellbeing, and Leadership & Management Faculty Chair Dr Amra Rao and I gave evidence last year to Sir Keith and colleagues, supported by Kathryn Scott, BPS Policy Director, as part of the Commission. The Commission report was published on 20 February.
Many of our recommendations including the whole person approach and elements of our “wellbeing dial” are incorporated. Amra has provided a very helpful summary of the report.
The Commission report’s recommendations include:
Some of the opportunities and challenges arising from the report include:
Tony Lavender & Gary Latchford have written a helpful briefing paper re. this, encouraging members to respond to the consultation (which closed on 20 March). The initiative is broadly welcomed but there remain a number of important issues to be addressed. The role of CAP could provide an important addition to the psychological workforce and make a valuable contribution to the delivery of mental health services. It should be noted however that the training model is different from that of the existing CAP (specific for working with adults or children) in Scotland, and there are a number of issues to be clarified in order to ensure that the potential of the new roles in England is realised in a safe and well governed way.
April 2019 marks the start of a new 3-year cycle for CRGs. These groups, which lead NHSE’s specialised commissioning function, are recruiting clinicians of all disciplines as Chairs and as members. Tim Atkin has been a BPS representative on the Child & Adolescent Mental Health CRG since late 2016, and has written a helpful summary of why it’s worth applying for a role on a CRG; “a fantastic opportunity for psychologists to have real influence on the development of services for the future”.
The DCP Committee spent a productive two days in York in February, in which we reviewed the priorities against the Core Purpose Strategic Objectives (as set out in my last Update) and worked together to develop action plans and timescales. We will be working closely with BPS employed colleagues including Rachel Dufton, Kathryn Scott, Sabrina Kamiyah, Annjanette Wells, Helen Barnett, Karen Beamish/Sally Munn, Thomas Elton, Claire Tilley and Chief Executive Sarb Bajwa. Our DCP leads for our 2019 Priorities include Julia Faulconbridge, Richard Pemberton, Sheelagh Rodgers, Lawrence Moulin, Tony Lavender, Amra Rao, Jo Hemmingfield, Roman Razcka, Simon Gelsthorpe and myself.
We will keep you updated on our progress and opportunities to get involved & contribute via blogs, CPF, website, newsletters, emails and social media. Now would be a good time to check your account and make sure you have given the BPS permission to send you emails, updates, newsletters etc.! Also you can see the new look DCP webpages (in the same style as the updated BPS website), which will undergo further development over the coming months.
National Conference re. NHS Staff Wellbeing
One of my first engagements as DCP Chair was to speak at a Westminster Insight day conference in London re. NHS staff mental wellbeing on 31 January. I was very pleased to be able to speak about our partnership work in highlighting the wellbeing issues for the Psychological Professions, and to present with her permission the “wellbeing dial” in development by Amra Rao, which raised a great deal of interest among participants. It was good to contribute alongside a number of excellent speakers, and the feedback from the event was extremely positive.
International Conference re. models of Clinical Psychology in National Health Services
On 22 February I gave a presentation on behalf of myself & Gita Bhutani as invited BPS guest speakers at a conference in Lisbon (Gita was unable to attend in person). This strategic event had been planned to support the establishment of independent governance and leadership for Clinical Psychology services in the NHS in Portugal. The presentation and panel session went well, and we were delighted to hear the announcement of an independent structure for Clinical Psychology at the Santa Maria Hospital in Lisbon. It was very interesting to find out about how services are organised and delivered in Portugal, and to meet many very welcoming colleagues, including the current President of the European Federation of Psychologists Associations, Professor Telmo Mourinho Baptista, who is looking forward to attending the BPS annual conference in Harrogate. The picture below was taken before an unfortunate accident in the lecture theatre which resulted in about 9 stitches and no opportunity to look around Lisbon in the afternoon after all! Happily I’m now walking normally again.
- Esther Cohen-Tovee (DCP Chair)
Writing without the benefit of a crystal ball…
It's always challenging to write a Chair’s Update two months before it will be published in Clinical Psychology Forum; so much can change in a much shorter timeframe than that. My Updates are now also being published online much closer to the date I complete them and the benefit of an online platform is that I can correct mistakes (if I become aware of them of course!) and also amend in light of changes. For example, I’ve been able to update information regarding the leadership of the development of the NHS England (NHSE) workforce implementation plan, which changed after May CPF had gone to press.
But for this update I want to write about the impact of Brexit and the uncertainty around Brexit. And today, although a flexible extension to Article 50 until 31 October has been agreed, we still don’t know what the final outcome will be. It is possible that by the time you read this there may be greater clarity, and what that brings may have started to unfold.
But in some ways that doesn’t have to impact on what I want to say. Because what I most want to do is to emphasise how much we value our European colleagues, especially those living and working in the UK. And how much, as psychologists and as human beings, we value and respect all members of our communities, whatever their country of origin or heritage. We know that many people in the UK who moved here from elsewhere in Europe, including many clinical psychologists, are suffering from the uncertainty, which has been prolonged, but also from feelings of hurt, fear, even alienation, as was movingly described in our session at the annual DCP Conference in Manchester in January.
There have also been subsequent events (e.g. DCP London & DCP South East Coast event on 18 March). We are aware that for some people there is a sense of exclusion, as experienced by other groups which would identify as minority groups in the UK. We want to support all such groups, and to remember that, in the words of the
campaign for ending the distinction between people who have mental health difficulties and those who do not, ‘there is no them and us, there’s only us’
UK citizens are currently all European, and we will continue to live in Europe even if the UK leaves the EU. I will continue to be proud of being European, and to identify as such, and to do everything I can to support our colleagues and our wider communities, and I hope that you will too.
I also want to reflect on what we as psychologists can contribute at this difficult time. There have been some interesting articles attempting to understand how this situation has come about and what could help us move forwards. For example, much of Jay Watts’ piece in The Independent (March 2017)is still relevant, and Richard Pemberton has recently posted a blog and is pulling together an account of ‘the psychology at play in Brexit’.
I have also spent a lot of time focusing on trying to understand what has happened thus far, and trying to share evidence that might influence views, as many others are also doing. But I think we have other important roles to play. I have already noted the importance of supporting our colleagues from the EU and other countries, and striving to ensure we can all feel part of one community. How can we all work together to develop a new and inclusive narrative which works towards healing and rediscovering shared aspirations in a country and a society that has become so divided and at war with itself? How can we bring our clinical expertise to bear on this problem? I would suggest that we can use our skills in formulation to try to understand what has come about and why, being careful to use a range of lenses and to listen to a wide range of opinion and testimony, to ensure that we improve our understanding of those aspects which are perplexing, counter-intuitive and
sometimes extremely uncomfortable or distressing. We can draw on relevant theory and evidence, and we can draw on our wealth of experience in helping individuals and families move forwards from a range of traumatic experiences to create new narratives and a new sense of purpose and community. This will be needed whatever the outcome or status of Brexit.
Doctoral trainee salary support update
We have continued to focus on this issue as a key priority in the DCP Workforce and Training subcommittee. Trainee salary support (i.e. the funding from Health Education England (HEE) for trainees’ salaries) is being reviewed under the Education Funding Reform Programme in Health Education England for a number of professions, including clinical psychology. Members of the DCP Workforce and Training subcommittee have been in discussion with colleagues from HEE and
want to reassure members that no change will be implemented until there is agreement between NHSE and HEE. In particular, there needs to be consideration of how any developments in the profession are consistent with the NHS Long Term Plan. Further engagement is planned, including a consultation between
HEE, the DCP Workforce and Training Subcommittee and the Association of Clinical Psychologists. We will keep you informed of any updates.
Clinical associate psychologists
There has been a lot of discussion recently about associate psychologists in England, with some recognition of the potential for contribution to the wider psychological workforce, but also many concerns from clinical psychologists about the development. In March, a consultation started for new apprenticeship standards for clinical associate psychology training. Tony Lavender and Gary Latchford led the DCP response, which formed the major part of the submission by the BPS. We haven’t yet heard the outcome.
HEE Psychological Professions Task and Finish Group
I and some other members of our DCP Workforce and Training Subcommittee have contributed to the work of this group, which was chaired by Adrian Whittington and Kevin Mullins. With my HEE North East Psychological Professions Reference Group Chair hat on, I jointly led a scoping exercise on leadership developments for the Psychological Professions with Gita Bhutani (Chair of the HEE funded North West Psychological Professions Network). We discussed here and in other forums the urgent need to make the case for a lead role or roles for the psychological professions, ideally in NHS England, NHS Improvement, Health Education England and Public Health England; a Chief Psychological Professions Officer at NHS England being a key priority. Meanwhile, a case for a Chief Psychological Officer for Health and Social Care in Northern Ireland has been well received and is progressing.
The NHS Long Term Plan – Delivering effective psychological care
An exciting event has been planned by the DCP London and DCP South East Coast branches which takes place on 17 June at the Coin Street Neighbourhood Centre in
London. It is the first of a series of DCP England NHS Long Term Plan events that will be held across England to share information and drill down into the implications of
the Plan, and the ways we can contribute to improving services and improving the experience and outcomes for people who use them. The event is open to all, subject to availability of places
Book onto NHS Long term plan event
The objectives of the event are:
Speakers include Professor Jim McManus Director of Public Health for Hertfordshire, Jacqui Dyer, Equalities Lead for NHSE, Black Thrive London, Tom Johnson NHSE
Programme Lead, Tim Kendall, NHSE Clinical Director for Mental Health, Adrian Whittington, Ste Weatherhead, Tony Lavender, Richard Pemberton, Natalie Kemp, Roman
Raczka and me.
The programme for 17 June looks excellent and I look forward to meeting many of you there.
Dr Esther Cohen-Tovée
Chair, Division of Clinical Psychology
This was the theme of the BPS 2019 annual conference which took place in May in Harrogate, and is of course an issue which is of significant concern to many of us. I was very pleased to be able to attend and got a great deal from the two days, particularly the first day which included a large number of excellent external keynotes and a diverse panel session. It was the first time I have had the privilege of hearing the fantastic Professor Kate Pickett (co-author of “The Spirit Level” and the recently published “The Inner Level”) speak, and I was also very impressed by Liz Sayce from the Commission for Equality in Mental Health. Professor Elder Shamir from the US also gave an impressive talk about psychology and policy in relation to scarcity. The second day opened with a keynote from Sir Mark Walport, CE of UK Research & Innovation, which brings together all the UK Research Councils plus research funding provided through business. In terms of attracting research funding and bringing psychological knowledge and research to bear on policy, Sir Mark helpfully highlighted the Government’s Areas of Research Interest which are published on-line.
Attending the BPS conference also provided a welcome opportunity to catch up with President Kate Bullen, Vice President Nicola Gale, President Elect David Murphy and CE Sarb Bajwa. At the Awards ceremony in Harrogate’s beautiful Royal Hall, introduced by Nicola and led by Kate, two members of the DCP were awarded the BPS Professional Practice Board lifetime achievement award; Professor Mike Berger and (in absentia) Professor Philippa Garety. Many congratulations to them both.
During the BPS conference the Division & Special Group Chairs had a meeting with Diane Ashby, the BPS’s recently appointed Change Programme Director. Diane updated us on the review process to date, and the Target Operating Model which is in development. The work needed to develop a business case for a significant programme of change has been approved, and a series of workshops are underway. I will have the opportunity to participate in one of these on behalf of the DCP at a BPS Senate meeting which will take place on the 19 July. Members of the DCP committee have already had a number of opportunities to describe the issues as we see them and to put forward our views of how the BPS could change and develop, to meet the needs of members and deliver impact externally to make a significant difference for the people we serve and the wider population. This will require a bold programme of modernisation and culture change for all of us. I think we are up for this! In the DCP committee we are already experiencing significant change in terms of engagement and involvement and greater transparency.
Working in partnership with Experts by Experience
We are enormously grateful to all the Service User and Carer representatives, our Experts by Experience (EbEs), who work with us at local, Faculty, Nation and UK level, and those who have participated in our EbE network events. We have been on a journey of coproducing a Strategy for some time now, and a lot of progress has been made, but in order to move forwards we need a BPS framework to support this including good practice standards, supportive processes, and remuneration framework. We have initiated a process which would entail national benchmarking and external EbE advice, and hope to be able to develop and obtain approval for a BPS policy / practice guidance and framework in the near future. Meanwhile we are establishing an EbE Sub- Committee of the DCP committee, building on and incorporating our active, creative and productive EbE strategy steering group. We are also working with BPS Director of Communications Rachel Dufton and BPS Policy Director Kathryn Scott to develop a more robust approach to coproduction of future DCP publications.
All our DCP committee members, representatives of all of our Faculties and Branches, and Expert by Experience representatives, are invited to meet together twice a year at our Representative Assembly meetings. We usually have a two-day meeting in the summer and a shorter meeting in January linked to the DCP Annual Conference. One of the benefits of being a member of the Representative Assembly is the offer of a DCP centrally funded place at the Conference, by the way. Our summer Representative Assembly takes place on 16-17 July this year, and topics we plan to focus on include:
Some of you may remember that, during a live-streamed panel session on the future of Clinical Psychology representation which took place during my previous period in the role of DCP Chair, I called for the establishment of a Chief Psychological Professions Officer. The need for such a role, particularly for England where there is a well-established support infrastructure for every other professional group, has been recognised by a number of leaders within our profession. As part of the recent HEE (Health Education England) Psychological Professions Roles Task & Finish Group, a number of us started to map out the rationale for and benefits of the establishment of a CPPO, and have formally proposed that a piece of work is undertaken to identify the leadership needs in England for the Psychological professions at local, regional and national level (mapping on to provider organisations, wider systems such as the STPs / ICSs (Sustainability & Transformation Partnerships / Integrated Care Systems), and national ALBs (Arm’s Length Bodies; NHSE/I, HEE & PHE). This is work that needs to be done in partnership with a wide range of stakeholders, particularly representatives of the other relevant professional bodies, and initial meetings have been convened to explore the possibilities of collaborative working.
The DCP Leadership & Management Faculty have developed a leadership programme (Clinical Psychologists as Leaders – CPL) aimed at supporting the leadership development of clinical psychologists across the whole career span. The two main components of CPL are:
The development of the programme is ongoing, and currently includes:
The DCP Leadership & Management Faculty has been working to raise awareness of the importance of psychological professions workforce wellbeing in a joint project with the New Savoy Conference running since 2014. A charter for wellbeing and resilience was launched in 2016, followed by the formation of a Collaborative Learning Network and a Psychological Practitioners’ Annual Wellbeing Survey.
Last year’s survey highlighted concerns indicating that the NHS Long Term Plan aspirations and local STP/ICS priorities for mental health services will be undeliverable unless wellbeing, capacity and retention issues are urgently addressed. The results of the fifth annual wellbeing survey, presented at the New Savoy Conference National Assembly in March 2019, indicate we have yet to turn the tide of concern around wellbeing.
Clinical psychologists in the UK work predominantly in the NHS and NHS commissioned services, with smaller numbers in the community & voluntary sector, private sector/independent practice, or some combination of all these. The largest number of NHS clinical psychologists in the UK work in England in line with population demographics of the four nations. The NHS Long Term Plan for England set out a clear growth agenda to build on the Five Year Forward View and Five Year Forward View for Mental Health, and we have therefore been looking forward to seeing the interim NHS People Plan, which was published on 3 June.
Along with this document an annexe was published with specific details re the AHP and Psychological Professions workforce. This was especially welcome as, disappointingly, there was no reference to psychologists or psychological workforce in the main document.
The Annexe includes the announcement of the creation of a national psychological professions workforce programme which will set out the necessary actions to complete implementation of the expansion requirements in Stepping Forward to 2020/21: The mental health workforce plan for England. It has also identified four new themes for action to deliver the even faster expansion of psychological professions required by the NHS Long Term Plan:
I and other DCP and BPS representatives are members of the new national psychological professions workforce group which will take forward these workstreams. I am also jointly leading the leadership workstream with Gita Bhutani. An opportunity for everyone to contribute to these strategic developments and our national voice will be launched shortly by the Psychological Professions Network (PPN). Mirroring the development of the national AHP strategy AHPs into Action, this will be called Psychological Professions into Action and the process will be supported by Clever Together. Just prior to publication of the Interim People Plan, psychologists were added to the shortage occupation list (migration). While this recognition of national vacancies, the importance of filling these roles, and the opportunity to employ people from around the world who can contribute on so many levels to our profession in the UK is very welcome, it would also be good to see this used as a rationale to increase clinical psychology training places in the UK, which have been static since 2011.
Representatives of the profession of clinical psychology, the psychological workforce, and clinical psychology training courses have been in dialogue for some time with Health Education England about the future funding of training in clinical psychology. On behalf of the BPS & DCP (and also wearing two other ‘hats’ viz. Director of AHPs & Psychological Services in a large NHS Foundation Trust, and chair of a regional Psychological Professions Network aligned to Health Education England in the North-East and our local Integrated Care System), I participated recently in a very constructive meeting with Hazel Smith, HEE lead for education funding reform programme, along with other representative colleagues from BPS, ACP-UK and UK Clinical Psychology Training courses. Although no decisions have yet been made, I am hopeful that we can reach agreement through wider consultation on a way forward which will ensure security of supply of the clinical psychology workforce, an equitable process, and flexibility to increase training places as and when the requisite funding can be identified.
What do we need to do to ensure the future of our profession? Depending on career stage, here are a few suggestions:
If you are wondering how to progress to the next stage in your own career, there many useful resources as well as our mentorship scheme.
We could also make our profession more visible by seeking more opportunities to contribute through the media.
Our system of National Assessors (NAs) has been in place for many years to ensure consistency in quality standards of the Consultant grades. The use of external assessors is good practice for all senior appointments across disciplines including management posts. There needs to be sufficient external assessor capacity for this model to work, and currently our system is failing due to overall insufficient capacity, low numbers in a many specialties and sparse geographical spread. In my own Trust recently, we have been unable to identify a NA closer than 90 miles away, and even they were not able to make themselves available. I think we need to look into making use of technology to support the system, but most of all we need people to come forwards. Being an NA is good CPD for consultant clinical psychologists; there is always something we can learn from each other’s services, from other panel members and from the candidates being interviewed. We are also currently lacking a lead NA to liaise with our PSU (Professional Standards Unit) and to coordinate training & development updates for the NAs (who are expected to attend just one such event each year).
The NHS LTP is now the key driver for service transformation and workforce development in England. We are organising a series of events around the country to help us develop our understanding and thinking about how we can contribute effectively. The first of these took place on 17 June in London. It was coproduced and co-chaired with Experts by Experience, and we were delighted to welcome BPS Chief Executive Sarb Bajwa who opened the event. We heard from a range of inspirational speakers including Jim McManus, Jacqui Dyer, Ste Weatherhead, Tom Johnson and Adrian Whittington. The morning was co-chaired by Roman Raczka and Natalie Kemp, and the afternoon by Richard Pemberton and Jo Hemmingfield, all of whom did a sterling job.
A very constructive workshop session re. key workforce impacts was led by Adrian Whittington and Tony Lavender, and I gave an introductory talk re. the LTP and Clinical Psychology and the Psychological Professions contribution, in terms of opportunities such as extending co-production and partnership working, psychologically-led service redesign, involvement in Primary Care networks, improving outcomes through innovations in technology, improving outcomes through 0 to 25 services, and improving outcomes through prevention. Adrian and I also spoke about opportunities for workforce expansion and the process of making a case for the estab- lishment of a Chief Psychological Professions Officer (CPPO). Jim McManus, Public Health Director and a psychologist by background, encouraged us to seize the opportunity to contribute to whole person and whole popu- lation wellbeing as part of the next wave of public health & prevention developments. Jacqui Dyer MBE, Expert by Experience, Councillor and Vice-Chair of England’s Mental Health Taskforce, spoke very movingly about her own lived experience and her work with Black Thrive in Lambeth. While welcoming what psychologists offer at service and system change levels, Jacqui also challenged us to improve the diversity of our workforce ad our cultural competence. Tom Johnson and Ste Weatherhead spoke about the barriers to healthcare access faced by homeless people particularly those who also have cognitive impairments due to brain injury, and challenged us to take action.
Clinical Psychologists in the UK work predominantly in the NHS and NHS commissioned services, with smaller numbers in the community & voluntary sector, private sector/independent practice, or some combination of all these. The largest number of NHS clinical psychologists in the UK work in England in line with population demographics of the four nations. The NHS Long Term Plan for England set out a clear growth agenda to build on the Five Year Forward View and Five Year Forward View for Mental Health, and we have therefore been looking forward to seeing the interim NHS People Plan, which was published on 3 June.
Along with this document an annexe was published with specific details re the AHP and Psychological Professions workforce. This was especially welcome as, disappointingly, there was no reference to psychologists or psychological workforce in the main document. The annexe includes the announcement of the creation of a national psychological professions workforce programme which will set out the necessary actions to complete implementation of the expansion requirements in Stepping Forward to 2020/21: The mental health workforce plan for England.
It has also identified four new themes for action to deliver the even faster expansion of psychological professions required by the NHS Long Term Plan:
I and other DCP and BPS representatives are members of the new national psychological professions workforce group which will take forward these workstreams. I am also jointly leading the leadership workstream with Gita Bhutani.
An opportunity for everyone to contribute to these strategic developments and our national voice will be launched shortly by the Psychological Professions Network (PPN). Mirroring the development of the national AHP strategy AHPs into Action, this will be called Psychological Professions into Action and the process will be supported by Clever Together.
Just prior to publication of the Interim People Plan, psychologists were added to the shortage occupation list (migration). While this recognition of national vacancies, the importance of filling these roles, and the opportunity to employ people from around
the world who can contribute on so many levels to our profession in the UK is very welcome, it would also be good to see this used as a rationale to increase clinical psychology training places in the UK, which have been static since 2011.
Representatives of the profession of clinical psychology, the psychological workforce, and clinical psychology training courses have been in dialogue for some time with Health Education England about the future funding of training in clinical psychology. On behalf of the BPS & DCP (and also wearing two other ‘hats’ viz. Director of AHPs & Psychological Services in a large NHS Foundation Trust, and chair of a regional Psychological Professions Network aligned to Health Education England in the North-East and our local Integrated Care System), I participated recently in a very constructive meeting with Hazel Smith, HEE lead for education funding reform programme, along with other representative colleagues from BPS, ACP-UK and UK Clinical Psychology Training courses. Although no decisions have yet been made, I am hopeful that we can reach agreement through wider consultation on a way forward which will ensure security of supply of the clinical psychology workforce, an equitable process, and flexibility to increase training places as and when the requisite funding can be identified.
What do we need to do to ensure the future of our profession? Depending on career stage, here are a few suggestions:
If you are wondering how to progress to the next stage in your own career, many useful resources as well as our mentorship scheme can be accessed on our Leadership and Management Faculty website:
We could also make our profession more visible by seeking more opportunities to contribute through the media.
Our system of National Assessors (NAs) has been in place for many years to ensure consistency in quality standards of the Consultant grades. The use of external assessors is good practice for all senior appointments across disciplines including management posts. There needs to be sufficient external assessor capacity for this model to work, and currently our system is failing due to overall insufficient capacity, low numbers in a many specialties and sparse geographical spread. In my own Trust recently, we have been unable to identify a NA closer than 90 miles away, and even they were not able to make themselves available. I think we need to look into making use of technology to support the system, but most of all we need people to come forwards. Being an NA is good CPD for consultant clinical psychologists; there is always something we can learn from each other’s services, from other panel members and from the candidates being interviewed. We are also currently lacking a lead NA to liaise with our PSU (Professional Standards Unit) and to coordinate training & development updates for the NAs (who are expected to attend just one such event each year).
The NHS LTP is now the key driver for service transformation and workforce development in England. We are organising a series of events around the country to help us develop our understanding and thinking about how we can contribute effectively. The first of these took place on 17 June in London. It was coproduced and co-chaired with Experts by Experience, and we were delighted to welcome BPS Chief Executive Sarb Bajwa who opened the event. We heard from a range of inspirational speakers including Jim McManus, Jacqui Dyer, Ste Weatherhead, Tom Johnson and Adrian Whittington. The morning was co-chaired by Roman Raczka and Natalie Kemp, and the afternoon by Richard Pemberton and JoHemmingfield, all of whom did a sterling job.
A very constructive workshop session re. key workforce impacts was led by Adrian Whittington and Tony Lavender, and I gave an introductory talk re. the LTP and Clinical Psychology and the Psychological Professions contribution, in terms of opportunities such as extending co-production and partnership working, psychologically-led service redesign, involvement in Primary Care networks, improving outcomes through innovations in technology, improving outcomes through 0 to 25 services, and improving outcomes through prevention. Adrian and I also spoke about opportunities for workforce expansion and the process of making a case for the establishment of a Chief Psychological Professions Officer (CPPO). Jim McManus, Public Health Director and a psychologist by background, encouraged us to seize the opportunity to contribute to whole person and whole population wellbeing as part of the next wave of public health & prevention developments. Jacqui Dyer MBE, Expert by Experience, Councillor and Vice-Chair of England’s Mental Health Taskforce, spoke very movingly about her own lived experience and her work with Black Thrive in Lambeth. While welcoming what psychologists offer at service and system change levels, Jacqui also challenged us to improve the diversity of our workforce and our cultural competence. Tom Johnson and Ste Weatherhead spoke about the barriers to healthcare access faced by homeless people particularly those who also have cognitive impairments due to brain injury, and challenged us to take action – more information and resources are available at Neuro triage.
I was priviledged a few weeks ago to attend a special screening, in fact the UK première, of this moving film; the inspiring true story of how Eleanor Riese (played by Helena Bonham Carter) and human rights lawyer Colette Hughes (played by Hilary Swank) fought for Eleanor’s right to refuse levels of medication that she believed weren’t in her best interests, after experiencing forcible restraint, seclusion and medication given by injection without her consent, in a hospital in San Francisco. The joint efforts of Eleanor Riese, Colette Hughes and Morton Cohen (a senior lawyer) eventually resulted in change to the law in California.
The screening of the film was followed by a panel session with Helena Bonham Carter CBE, Mark Bruce Rosin (writer and producer), Colette Hughes (the human rights lawyer depicted in the film), Norman Lamb MP, and Professor Peter Kinderman, University of Liverpool. The panel session was chaired by Dr Sara Tai, University of Manchester. The event was jointly organ- ised by the University of Westminster, the BPS, the University of Liverpool and the University of Manchester.
Eleanor Riese was a person of great courage, an Expert by Experience who stood up for the rights of herself and others. She suffered from a number of physical health problems, including seizures and kidney problems, as well as receiving a diagnosis of paranoid schizophrenia. She also suffered significant side effects of the medications she was prescribed, some of which she took willingly, others administered forcibly. She was also a somewhat quirky character! Helena Bonham Carter’s portrayal of Eleanor was carefully researched and came across as wonderfully authentic. Watching the film was a very moving experience, and I was very fortunate to meet both Colette Hughes and Helena Bonham Carter during the course of the evening. They were both keen to understand the position of people in the UK with mental health problems in relation to the right to refuse medication where the person has capacity to make a judgement. Sadly, I had to explain that forcible use of restraint, seclusion and medication are still part of peoples’ experience when detained under a section of the Mental Health Act which includes compulsory treatment.
It is good to know that there are many initiatives in place to try to minimise such practices, including use of psychological approaches such as positive behaviour support and trauma informed care. In the NHS Foundation Trust in which I work, we have an umbrella approach called ‘Talk 1st’ which is part of our ‘positive and safe’ framework, within which a wide range of guidance, training, strategies and safeguards have been developed. Use of seclusion and restraint are carefully monitored and there is a continuous drive to reduce these wherever possible.
However, there is still a long way to go. I believe that we all have a role to play, working in part- nership with people who use mental health and learning disability services and with our colleagues across professions to ensure human rights and the impact of such traumatic experiences are highlighted and understood. We need to consider, co-produce and co-create our own service/ organisation’s steps to change. For Eleanor, the 55 steps to the courtroom, in a building with no lift, represented the lack of respect for her disabilities and her rights, but also her courage and determination to seek change on behalf of herself and others.
We held a very constructive and productive DCP representative assembly in July, where most of the chairs of our member network groups and the members of the DCP Executive Committee met together with Expert by Experience (EbE) representatives and BPS colleagues. We held a series of workshop sessions which were co-produced as far as possible, and we agreed on a number of actions to take forward, building on the progress already made. These sessions and action points are listed in the table at the end of the column (see p.44).
We also had a DCP & PQT event re the NHS LTP in York in July, another event is planned for 13 September in Bristol, and later in the year in the Midlands. Each event is building on the previous one, the first being the London workshop which took place in June (see previous Chair’s updates).
I have been very pleased to be able to share my thoughts at these events and to listen to perspectives and ideas from a wide range of DCP members, other colleagues and Experts by Experience. We are building up a greater depth and breadth of understanding and vision for how we can take up the opportunities in the NHS LTP to work together to achieve significant improvements in healthcare and wellbeing. This entails increasing the wider understanding and visibility of what we have to offer as Clinical Psychologists and as part of the wider Psychological Professions workforce.
While I am very proud to be a clinical psychologist and I am honoured to be able to represent our profession at a national and sometimes an international level, there are a few things about our profession that I’m not proud of. Chief among these are the continued lack of representativeness of the diversity of the populations which we serve, and the perceptions found by our Minorities in Clinical Psychology training group from their recent survey, that in the minds of some people there is a ‘template’ for getting a place on clinical psychology training in the UK, such that people who don’t fit the ‘template’ are discouraged from applying. Moreover, research by BPS President David Murphy has shown that the key barrier to increasing diversity of ethnic background in clinical psychology training is at the short-listing stage. David has posted a summary of these findings on Twitter (you can follow him at @ClinPsychDavid) see #DiversityClinPsy. While applications reflect the ethnic background diversity of the UK population, success rates (in acquiring a training place) are currently twice as high for white applicants as for those from BAME backgrounds and three times as high as those for black applicants. David goes on to say that while one in five white applicants are short-listed for interview, one in nine Asian and one in thirteen black applicants are short-listed (2016–2018 Clearing House data). However, success rates at interview are similar for all groups. There are some great initiatives to support and encourage people from diverse backgrounds to apply and to gain a training place, notably mentorship schemes and outreach schemes. However, we need to go further than this to ensure the selection process takes account of social advantage issues and focuses on future potential. We also need to ensure that how we present ourselves as a profession reflects diversity – across all the protected characteristics – and that we uphold principles of diversity in all aspects of our professional lives. The DCP is working on developing
formal guidance on this, having recently seen excellent guidance produced by the Royal College of Psychiatrists. In a similar vein, we need to ensure that people aspiring to become clinical psychologists, or those already qualified, who have lived experience of mental health issues are welcomed and supported, and that the value of their lived experience is recognised. I have been very concerned to hear that there is a strong sense of stigma within the profession, despite the fact that lived experience is cited as desirable in nationally produced job descriptions. The DCP has provided financial support to a project aiming to encourage and support disclosure of mental health issues (HOP – Honest, Open & Proud), but again we need to go further, and a DCP position statement is being developed in partnership with service user experts by experience and clinical psychologists with lived experience.
Our DCP Executive Committee EbE subcommittee is being developed, incorporating and building on the very productive EbE strategy steering group. We have co-produced and jointly led a number of excellent events since launching our wider EbE network in 2016. The use of creative arts and media in these events has been a very productive approach, and ensures the events are enjoyable as well as having a serious purpose. This year we are planning an event at the Centre for Life in Newcastle upon Tyne (date to be confirmed). We are focusing on Community and Prevention as underpinning themes linked to NHS Long Term Plan priorities with a creative theme running throughout the event. Please look out for further details, we hope the event will be well attended by both service user and carer experts by experience and clinical psychologists, including clinical psychologists with lived experience of mental health issues.
Another forthcoming event I would like to highlight is a leadership summit which is being organised by the DCP Leadership & Management (L&M) Faculty. This event is titled ‘New Directions amd Building for the Future for Psychological Professionals’ and takes place on 9 December at the BPS London Office. Linked with the work of our workforce and training subcommittee, we have been considering how we can further support our members in terms of leadership development. Building on our existing resources and mentorship scheme, we are convening a series of leadership events and masterclasses, to complement leadership development opportunities available within NHS provider organisations and across the NHS more broadly, recognising the benefits of participating in leadership development on a multidisciplinary basis.
The Leadership & Management Faculty has been very active for some years in the field of psychological workforce wellbeing. On behalf of the DCP, we put forward a symposium to the First official European Congress on Clinical Psychology and Psychological Treatment of EACLIPT (European Association of Clinical Psychology and Psychological Treatment; www.eaclipt.org/conference), ‘No Health without Mental Health – European clinical psychology takes responsibility’. This was accepted, so the L&M Faculty Chair, Amra Rao, DCP Wales Chair Adrian Neal and I will be First official European Congress on Clinical Psychology and Psychological Treatment of EACLIPT to be held
in Dresden, Germany, 31 October to 2 November 2019 presenting in Dresden on 2 November. Our symposium is titled ‘Ensuring effective treatment with a whole system approach to psychological workforce wellbeing – Lessons from the UK’, and we are looking forward to sharing our work in this field with European colleagues and learning
from them.
We know that human activity is changing the climate, and that this is already leading to widespread and harmful consequences, and that these will get worse. Accurate data is available at www.climateactiontracker.org showing where we are heading. We discussed this at our recent DCP Representative Assembly, where the DCP SW Branch emergency motion regarding climate change was accepted. DCP SW are in the process of planning a webinar to scope all the psychology links to climate crisis action and link all the key players. Annie Mitchell and Tony Wainwright have also put forward a symposium for the DCP 2020 annual conference on the climate, which will be a great opportunity to learn from key presenters and reflect together on how we can work together pro-actively. We understand that the BPS is also engaged in international discussions with other professional bodies for psychology on making climate change a shared policy priority.
We have put out a call for articles for Clinical Psychology Forum on climate change, and practitioner psychologists have also initiated an open letter re climate change, see tinyurl.com/psych-climate, which at the time of writing has reached approximately 1000 signatures. This has exceeded the target of 3.5 per cent of practitioner psychologists – 3.5 per cent engagement has been found in social science research by Erica Chenoweth to be a tipping point to progressive change. Erica Chenoweth is the co-author of Why Civil Resistance Works: The strategic logic of nonviolent conflict:
So there are a number of opportunities for all DCP members: clinical psychologists, trainees, assistants, affiliates and other BPS members to be pro-active individually and collectively in bringing psychological knowledge, expertise and energy to bear on the climate crisis. We can all also play our part in terms of the day-to-day choices we make. However, inevitably there are difficult decisions to be made, and trade-offs between (e.g. travelling by air vs. withdrawing from opportunities to participate in international events!)
The Minorities group is expanding to cover all career stages and to become a subcommittee of the DCP Executive. Co-chairs Runa Dawood and Vasiliki Stamatopoulou have provided an update on the current tasks of the group as follows:
We are fortunate to have a great group of people working together on our DCP Executive Committee, as well as our wider group of committed and enthusiastic people leading Faculties and Branches. It’s time to say thank you and goodbye to some, and to welcome others. Our DCP Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland Chairs are all coming to the end of their three year tenure during November. We are very grateful to Alison McMullan (Scotland), Adrian Neal (Wales) and Petra Corr (Northern Ireland) for their highly valued contributions in their Nation Chair roles and as members of the Executive Committee. It has been a pleasure to work with them all, and on a personal note I have really appreciated their support and advice. Our incoming nation chairs are Alison Robertson (Scotland), Elanor Maybury and Bethan Philips (Wales) and Professor Nichola Rooney (Northern Ireland).
We are delighted to welcome them as they take up their new roles, and we look forward to working with them as members of the DCP Executive Committee. Our GTiCP (Group of Trainers in Clinical Psychology) co-chairs, Jan Hughes and Gary Latchford, also reach the end of their three-year term in November. During a period where the future funding model for clinical psychology training has been the subject of some debate and deliberation, it has been extremely helpful to have Jan and Gary’s expertise and leadership as part of our Exec team. We are very grateful to them both for everything they have contributed, and
I don’t know what the Exec will do without Gary’s national expertise when it comes to finding a good pub for a drink after a long day of meetings!
Our incoming GTiCP Chair is Laura Golding, a former Chair of the DCP Conference organising committee. We are very pleased to welcome Laura into her new role and onto the DCP Executive Committee, and look forward to working with her. We recently agreed to establish a new role on the DCP Executive committee; Faculties lead. Amra Rao (DCP Leadership & Management Faculty Chair) and Linda Wilkinson (DCP Faculty for Psychosis & Complex Mental Health Chair) have taken this role on jointly, which is very much appreciated. This role will facilitate communication and some joint working among Faculties and improve two-way communication between Faculties and the Executive.
So, many thanks to everyone who is moving on from a DCP role and an enthusiastic welcome to those taking up new roles. We are trying to make it easier for members to know who their representatives are, so as well as the list at the back of Forum, we are updating information on the website, to include a bit more information about us all, as well as some photos. I have also taken on an additional new role myself – I am now a BPS Trustee, one of four people elected by the Representative Council (i.e. the Chairs of all the BPS member networks). I am hoping to be able to play a part in supporting the BPS Change programme with a particular focus on members’ needs and aspirations, and the principles of co-production.
Here are a few of my engagements to give a bit of a flavour of the Chair’s role, as well as some of the other BPS work I am doing. The role of DCP Chair Elect will be going out for nominations in November, with a start date of 23 January after the 2020 AGM. I would be delighted to speak informally with anyone who may be interested in being nominated for the role.
We hope that as many people as possible will participate in our annual conference in January, and particularly look forward to welcoming Experts by Experience as presenters
and participants, building on our efforts to increase coproduction across the DCP. We have an interesting programme planned, covering academic and professional streams, and including a CYPF stream, which is of course open to all participants. Speakers include Dave Harper, Reader in Clinical Psychology at the University of East London (UEL), Sara Meddings, psychology and psychological therapies consultant lead for recovery and wellbeing at Sussex Partnership NHS Foundation Trust, and Emma Watson, Peer Support Development Lead for Nottingham NHS Trust.
We are reviewing our approach to conferences and CPD events for the future and welcome feedback from members.
Last month I took the opportunity to thank a number of members of the DCP Exec committee who had reached the end of their terms and to welcome their successors. I should have included our DCP Pre-Qualification Group (PQG) co-chairs, who also sit on the DCP Exec. We would like to say a huge thank you to Alice McNamara and Sandy Metwally who have recently stepped down from their roles as co-chairs of the DCP PQG. Alice and Sandy have been fantastic co-chairs and we and the PQG are very grateful for their commitment, enthusiasm and leadership of the PQG over the past couple of years. They will be missed as valued members of the committee, but we hope to see them both at future events and wish them the best of luck in their future careers. We are very pleased to welcome Katie Knott and Leanna Ong who have been selected as the new co-chairs of the PQG. They are passionate for the PQG to continue supporting all members’ journeys whilst reaching out to new members to widen participation. Anyone interested in getting involved with the PQG can contact Katie and Leanna on [email protected]
The DCP has continued to support member events around England to reflect on the implications and opportunities arising from the NHS LTP. I have recently contributed to events in Bristol and Oxford. The opportunities for increasing the Clinical Psychology and wider psychological workforce are becoming clearer and the combination of more clinical capacity and new service models provide hope that we may be able to make a significant impact for and with the people who use our services to improve outcomes and wellbeing. The Community Mental Health Framework published at the end of September heralds significant service redesign for community mental health services, building on the transformation agenda of the LTP. The importance of local links with Primary Care Networks and local/regional links with STPs/ ICSs and ICPs calls for local and regional leadership, which we can support through DCP branches.
I was also very pleased to be invited to the DCP Scotland AGM in Edinburgh, to speak about ‘Clinical Psychologists – Therapists, Academics, Managers or Change Agents? Are we Fit for Purpose?’ Our professional identity and our ability to respond as the environment in which we work changes
are key priorities for clinical psychologists and aspirant clinical psychologists, and are fundamentally important from a service user perspective as well. While service users may be more familiar with our therapeutic roles, as we increase and expand our reach into academic, leadership and management roles, we can empower service users by inviting them to work with us in genuine partnerships. There are growing examples of co-produced research which ensures that research questions can be user-led, and in any change endeavour, the process and outcomes will always be sub-optimal if users of services and their families have not been engaged on a partnership basis.
Alison Robertson, our new DCP-S Chair, recently officiated on behalf of the DCP & BPS at a celebration of the first APPTS accreditation of a university counselling service in Scotland at St Andrew’s University. APPTS is an accreditation programme for adult community psychological services, delivered in partnership between the BPS and the RCPsych’s CCQI. It was launched in 2014, and the 4th edition of the APPTS standards, which cover the CQC five domains of Safe, Caring, Effective, Responsive & Well Led, will be published shortly. The standards undergo regular review through service, service user and stakeholder feedback. APPTS offers a great opportunity
to services to have their good practice formally recognised, to identify improvement areas and implement change, and to participate in shared learning and development with other services from across the UK.
The BPS Senate took place in October, unfortunately though I made it to Leicester I missed nearly
all of the Senate due to illness. The Senate covered:
The DCP had contributed to two of the three campaign topics which were shortlisted, including the eventual winning campaign ‘From Poverty to Flourishing’. We are looking forward to contributing to taking this campaign forward in the new year.
As the holiday season approaches, many of us are preoccupied with planning and preparations as well as trying to complete a month’s work in three working weeks. Others may be required to be at work over the holiday period to provide crucial cover for services at what can be a very difficult time for many people. However, whether looking forward to a faith-based celebration, getting together with family and friends, or an opportunity for some down time, I hope that everyone will be able to find that balance between busyness and relaxation which supports their own wellbeing.
Season’s greetings to all, and very best wishes for the year ahead.
Esther