DCP In Focus

Welcome to the November edition of the DCP newsletter.

We held a very well-attended and successful virtual conference in October. The programme was a mix of keynote speakers, including our award winners, together with submitted symposia and talks. 

The problem was choosing which sessions to attend! We were also very pleased that there were some a lot of high quality posters submitted.

This was the final conference organised by the conference co-chairs Sarah Butchard and Rachel Glynn-Williams, and the sucsess of this and the other conferences they have been involved with is testament to their dedication and hard work.

On behalf of everyone I would like to thank them for their invaluable contributions over the last few years.

Julia Faulconbridge

Special General Meeting

Following a call for nominations to elect a new chair elect to the DCP executive committee, a DCP Special General Meeting will be held on Monday 7 November at 12pm to ratify this decision.

To join the meeting please visit the details on our website.

GTiCP AGM

The Annual General Meeting for the DCP GTiCP AGM will be held on Monday 7 November at 1pm via Zoom to find out more please visit the website.

Opportunities

Would you like to become actively involved in the work of the DCP?

Many people feel that becoming involved in the work of the DCP or taking on a formal role is not something that are capable of – that it is only senior people who can do this. Nothing could be further from the truth and we truly welcome psychologists at all stages of their career becoming part of our work. Indeed, the input of  younger psychologists is essential to us. If you have even a little time to spare then:

• Volunteering for a role with us helps demonstrate leadership and management of project - it is fantastic experience and will make a difference to you in building your career
• It provides you with opportunities to develop and influence government policy - really making a difference to the lives of our population
• It is a great source of CPD and helps to give you a national perspective and awareness of national issues, making a difference to your research and practice
• It provides a source of peer networks and CPD that is hard to find elsewhere, making a difference to your wellbeing

Some current opportunities to get involved in the work of the DCP, or the wider BPS, are listed below. In addition, all the DCP Branches across the UK and all Faculties welcome people who want to get involved and this can be a good way to get started on a path of greater involvement.

Membership and professional development lead

The executive committee is looking to appoint a membership and professional development lead on a co-opted basis until our next AGM, held in spring next year. If you might be interested in standing for this role at the AGM, this is an opportunity to try it out and see how it works for you.

This is a diverse role which has responsibilities across our membership, events and professional development offerings, and where you can really make a difference on behalf of DCP members.

It involves developing and supporting our membership and CPD and events sub-committees, working to develop a strategy for our events, maintaining and developing DCP member benefits and working with our experts-by-experience sub-group.

It's a position that offers fantastic professional development opportunities and the chance to help us to keep improving our offer to clinical psychologists. If you're interested in finding out more, a full role description is available on the BPS website, or you can get in touch with Julia Faulconbridge. Applications are open until 25 November.

Treasurer

Following seven years as DCP treasurer, Simon Gelsthorpe has informed the executive that he won't be seeking a further term of office, so we will be seeking a new treasurer during the early part of next year.

The treasurer has three key tasks within the DCP - reporting to the executive on our financial position, chairing the finance sub-committee, and chairing the reimbursement panel.

Simon has kindly offered to speak to anyone who might be interested in the role ahead of us seeking statements of interest next year - if this could be you, please drop him an email.

Communications sub-committee   

Effective communications are essential for the DCP to be an effective organisation for our members, for the people we work with and for the wider public.

We already have a communications sub-committee and want to expand the number of people to increase what we can achieve. We are looking for people with commitment, energy and new, creative ideas to help us move forward and would love to welcome you to our group. More information is available online.

Equality, diversity and inclusion sub-committee

This new EDI sub-committee will take an intersectional approach to promote EDI within clinical psychology through:

• Actively engaging with members using creative methods of communication
• Developing training events to encourage a reflective approach to considering difference and diversity
• Challenging conscious and unconscious bias/discrimination in the curriculum & in the wider profession

We welcome applications from members who are passionate about this area and are able to commit to a minimum of two hours a month to attend committee meetings as well as contribute to wider strategic initiatives.

This sub-committee will support the EDI lead in working with the DCP exec and with the BPS to improve access, representation and inclusion within clinical psychology. More information on its work and how to apply to join is available on our website.

BPS Member Board

The Member Board acts as a strategic advisory board, focusing on member strategies and initiatives. Would you welcome the opportunity to influence and contribute to plans to update and enhance the society's revised member value proposition focusing on nurturing, developing and supporting members through their journey, and ensuring the membership benefits and services are attractive to all membership grades? Find out more on the BPS website.

Applications open for new appointed trustee roles

We are pleased to announce that applications for three new appointed trustees of the BPS are now open.

The three new roles were introduced following changes to our Charter and Statutes after a successful member vote earlier this year and will cover three specific areas to bring the necessary skills and experience needed to the Board of Trustees to ensure the society is well-led, well-run, and delivers maximum value for members in line with our Royal Charter.

These areas are:

• Finance/Audit/Risk Management
• HR/People and Culture
• Business Leader/Growth

As recently approved in the new Charter, the society will consider applications from both members and non-members, with the aim of securing a wide-range of candidates with the necessary skills, expertise and experience to take up these important roles. Applications close on 20 November - for more information visit our website.

News

Consultation on gender dysphoria services

The BPS will be responding to the NHS England consultation on the interim service specification for specialist gender dysphoria services for children and young people, which follows the announcement earlier this year that the Tavistock Centre will be closed and replaced by regional services.

This will inform the interim service specification, which will be operational for a limited time period until the new service specification is formed in 2023/24.

If you are interested in contributing to our submission, please send your comments to Hannah Randle by 12pm on 18 November using our response form. Please ensure that comments are based on published evidence or relevant clinical experience.

Workforce and training

National clinical lead for psychological professions appointed

The BPS has sent its congratulations to chartered member Dr Adrian Whittington, who has been appointed as national clinical lead for psychological professions at NHS England and Health Education England.

The national clinical lead for psychological professions at NHS England and Health Education England will work to grow and develop the psychological professions across care pathways, aligned to policy, evidence, and the needs of service users, carers and families.

Tony Lavender said:

"The DCP and wider BPS has played an active role in lobbying for the creation of the post with NHSE/I/HEE over many years.

We have worked proactively with the other psychological profession's organisation in developing a collective, coherent, and consistent voice.

We are delighted that a permanent national clinical lead for psychological professions has been established and that Dr Adrian Whittington has been appointed as first in the role."

You can read the BPS's full reaction to the appointment online.

Power Threat Meaning Framework update

The Power Threat Meaning Framework (PTMF) continues to develop and to grow in impact with the support of the PTMF sub-committee of the DCP. The PTMF generates important questions about mental health assumptions and practices that resonate with people providing and using services. More broadly, the PTMF helps to inform how systems and services need to change in order to promote wellbeing and social justice.

It is being presented in diverse settings, formal and informal, in the UK and internationally. In 2022, conference presentations and training took place in person in Lithuania, the Yukon NW Canada, Minneapolis at the American Psychological Association and in Copenhagen. In the UK we presented at the Royal College of Psychiatrists conference on spirituality; and at DCP and ACP webinars to introduce the PTMF and how it can be applied.

Online conferences, training and podcasts have have been delivered in the UK, Spain, Brazil, Melbourne, Greece, Australia, USA, Ireland, and N Ireland. Ongoing clinical supervision drawing on the PTMF is effective in NHS inpatient and primary care settings as well as in voluntary sector services. Research interest and activity is increasing, especially among trainee clinical psychologists.  

Creative developments from lived experience practitioners are particularly valuable and have enabled a helpful pattern about surviving spiritual crisis, training to peers in recovery colleges, videos and the outline of a peer-led course. Lived experience expertise has been central in focusing the PTMF to further understand and address issues such as racism, intersectionality, domestic abuse and sexual violence against women and girls. 

Lived experience practitioners have also led work with commissioners, mental health service providers, universities, professional associations, local authorities and organisational wellbeing.

The PTMF has significant strategic potential, and has been applied to illustrating the impact of the climate change crisis.

The Power Threat Meaning Framework is being translated into Norwegian, Japanese, Swedish and Danish, and there is an Italian translation of the straight talking introduction to the PTMF.

Jan Bostock

Climate and environment update

We're continuing our regular thread, asking: what can we do about addressing climate and ecological harm? 

This time it concerns linking our actions to policy, in our place of work and in civic society. It's easy to feel overwhelmed by the rising tide of concern and realising the enormity of what we are up against. We need the strong and consistent voices of those who care, reminding us of sources of hope and action.  

Even if we cannot fully stem the tide of climate damage, it's important for us to convey that the necessary actions for mitigation and adaptation are also those that tend to make us happier and healthier in any case, both individually and systemically. Overall, climate activists - and economists - are calling for a cultural shift towards much greater valuing of nature, relationships, fairness, and kindness to one another.

Greta Thunberg's new edited book addresses this need for cultural shift. It is called, with characteristic directness, The Climate Book, and was published on Thursday 27 October 2022. It brings inspiration and wisdom from a huge range of contributors (see online for how the book took shape). This review in the New Scientist by Rowan Cooper gives a flavour, and this great interview, with Greta Thunberg and climate scientist Kevin Anderson, is well worth a watch on YouTube.

If you want to get involved in climate care in our own discipline, here is a possible place: the BPS is forming a Climate and Environment Action Coordinating Committee that will bring together representatives from across the BPS. The Climate and Environmental Action Coordinating Group (CEAC) is responsible for setting the direction, objectives and work plans for psychologically informed climate and environment work, coordinating and supporting the work of networks, divisions and sections in this field. 

Ryan Kemp is the sustainability champion on the DCP executive and will be chairing a group within the DCP to support the CEAC through the skills and expertise we have in the clinical division. Please contact Ryan if you have any ideas or suggestions to share.

Tony Wainwright

New guidance from the Intensive Care Society

The Intensive Care Society has launched new guidance on 'Integrated practitioner psychologists', which has been endorsed by the BPS.

You can find out more about the guidance, and give it a read, in the ICS website.

BPS updates

Media and communications

Our work on the cost of living crisis earlier in the month performed well in the media, with 172 pieces of coverage gained, including in the Independent, Daily Mail, Evening Standard and I Paper. Activity across social media to mark World Mental Health Day also performed strongly, reaching more than 10,000 people on Facebook, and gaining more than 7,000 impressions on Twitter.

The statistics from the YouGov survey were also used in a number of briefings to MPs and Lords, with Baroness Tyler referencing them in a debate in the House of Lords about the cost of living crisis. Lord Hendy also directly quoted chief executive Sarb Bajwa from the press release. We will continue to raise this issue with MPs/Lords and have referenced the need for benefits to be uprated in-line with inflation in our statement reacting to Rishi Sunak becoming prime minister, and are thinking about the next external media opportunities for this.

HCPC fee consultation - share your views

The BPS is seeking member expertise and input into its response to the HCPC's consultation on proposed fee increases. If you haven't yet seen, HCPC is currently undertaking a consultation to increase its fees. The proposed increase for HCPC registrants will be £19.62, taking the fee to £117.74.

If you're a registrant with HCPC, you can share your views via our five-minute survey which will help shape our response – we believe the rise of almost 20 per cent to registration fees, which is almost double the current rate of inflation, is significant and is coming at a time when we know our members are being faced with the wider cost of living crisis.

You can also share your views by completing the consultation response form on the website by 14 November.

Developing chemsex intervention services: Guidance for psychological care provision – consultation

The BPS is consulting on a new document from the DCP HIV and Sexual Health faculty about the potential roles and responsibilities that practitioner psychologists could play in the establishment, delivery, and evaluation of services for men who engage in chemsex.

It provides an overview of the relevant chemsex literature and how psychologists can meet the varying needs of this population, both directly and indirectly. The paper is also based on interviews with people with lived experience of chemsex and service providers.

We are interested to hear from anyone with an interest in the area who has comments on any of the sections and who can offer their expertise on this document. Please send us your comments by 4 January 2023. More information can be found via the BPS website.

Alternative Handbook 2023

The DCP Pre-Qualification Group represents the interests of aspiring clinical psychologists and trainee clinical psychologists.

Each year trainees are asked for their views on various aspects of their course, and the results are compiled into The Alternative Handbook.

Choosing which courses to apply for to undertake professional clinical training is one of the most important decisions in the journey towards becoming a clinical psychologist. There are many factors which may influence this decision, all of which will shape the experiences of a trainee clinical psychologist.

While the Clearing House and individual course websites contain vital information, The Alternative Handbook describes the selection procedures, course content, location, theoretical orientations, staff research interests, placement opportunities and support structures available.

Current trainees from across all year groups describe their experience of being a trainee on their course, to help new applicants understand the flavour of each course before they apply.

In light of the Covid-19 pandemic, current trainees also answered questions on how their course responded and supported them throughout the pandemic.

You can access The Alternative Handbook 2023 via the BPS shop.

Upcoming events

Our Faculty of Forensic Clinical Psychology is holding an autumn event on current perspectives in risk assessment from 10 to 11 November.

The next Faculty for the Psychology of Older People online event on 18 November reflects on its recent webinar series.

Our Faculty of Psychosis and Complex Mental Health is looking at psychopathology from a cybernetic perspective on 23 November.

Our Northern Ireland Branch is hosting an event on psychological safety in challenging times on 24 and 25 November.