Towards a 'new normal' and beyond

Whatever your coronavirus story – loss, Zoom, meetings, challenges, finding meaning in a simpler life – the chances are that psychology and psychologists have featured heavily. Early on as we adapted to remote working and pandemic life, juggling anxieties and hope, we decided to reflect that in a special summer edition. Around 160 psychologists have contributed to our theme of 'Towards a new normal, and beyond'.

The issue included some of our readers' artistic efforts dotted throughout. A lot of work went into how the magazine was presented, attempting to produce a genuine artefact of an unprecedented time. If you don't have a hard copy and would like to see how it looked, click here for a digital edition. [It's perhaps worth noting that we feel this is a good example of a proper print reading experience which works alongside the online presence… we still love magazines!]

Here, we pull together links to all the content, plus a few related bits which have appeared online. Also worth watching our webinar from 5 May - 'Towards the new normal and beyond'.

'We can support the engagement of the wider community to develop solutions…'
Ella Rhodes reports on the British Psychological Society's efforts to provide support and guidance around coronavirus.

From the Chief Executive, Summer 2020
Sarb Bajwa writes.

'The patients are just so sick…'
A Consultant Clinical Psychologist in Wales' largest Intensive Care Unit in Cardiff, Dr Julie Highfield led the BPS Covid-19 Coordinating Group's staff wellbeing work and has recently taken up a secondment with the Intensive Care Society as its National Project Director for Wellbeing. Ella Rhodes spoke to her.

What are the barriers to our profession, and how can we remove them?
We launch our latest Voices In Psychology programme

'A high stakes version of Groundhog Day'
Matthew Warren, editor of our Research Digest, with an update on the research response to Covid-19, and the issues raised.

A web of coronavirus perspectives
As lockdown began, The Psychologist team set to work collecting evidence-based perspectives on coronavirus and the pandemic response for our website. You can read them all here; in the summer edition, we included a 'highlights package'.

How I felt
Health Psychologist Karen Rodham gets creative during lockdown. [Illustration p,16]

'People are having a very different experience of death' 
Ella Rhodes hears from those working on bereavement during the pandemic and beyond.

'It's everyone, everywhere, everything… There's nothing that's untouched'
Dr Rowena Hill is a psychologist from Nottingham Trent University now seconded full-time to the cross-governmental C19 National Foresight Group. On 1 May, our editor Jon Sutton spoke with her from lockdown.

10 lessons for dealing with a pandemic
...from Jolanda Jetten, Stephen Reicher, Alex Haslam and Tegan Cruwys.

The psychology of physical distancing
As lockdown rules ease in the UK but distancing guidance remains in place, how can we use group norms to make distancing easier for people at mass gatherings? John Drury, Stephen Reicher and Nick Hopkins have some advice.

How do we ensure the responsible and practical use of PPE?
Sandra Lovell on the place of Personal Protective Equipment in safety controls for Covid-19.

'We will have to live with the risk of Covid-19… but Psychology has much to say about that risk'
Kavita Vedhara on the fascinating world of vaccine adjuvants and more.

Vaccinating against viruses of the mind
David Robson on psychological efforts to achieve 'herd immunity' against the spread of misinformation in pandemic times.

'We can come out of it poorer, but better'
Kim Stephenson and Pradnya Surana on the importance of reframing our relationship with money in pandemic times.

Bottling moments as a vaccine against inhumanity
Kevin Dutton on a creative collaboration with the cartoonist Rob Murray. [Illustration p.44]

Moral progress after Covid-19 
Roger Paxton thinks a better society is not just possible but likely.

'What is remarkable about what we've achieved is that it's unremarkable'
Carl Walker seeks to make sense of the mutual aid response to coronavirus, and how to sustain it in an era of entrenched inequality.

'Do not be silent in defending the social safety net'
Rebecca Graber on why (and how) to do community-oriented psychology research during Covid-19.

How will you help to sustain collective efficacy? 
Daniella Watson has personally and professionally been part of the collective response to Covid-19. [Both summarised on p.52]

'Nothing could be worse than a return to normality'
Can psychology save the world in a 'new normal'? Lee Rowland curates 10 quotes…

'We live in a volatile, uncertain, complex and ambiguous world'
New British Psychological Society President Dr Hazel McLaughlin follows up last month's interview with a focus on change and the future.

The ambiguous crossroad
Imogen Mathews reflects on the themes and evidence underlying her artwork. [Imogen's artwork 'Reformation of touch' is on p.58]

'The levers that government are pulling are psychological'
Our editor Jon Sutton hears from Kathryn Scott, Director of Policy for the British Psychological Society.

'We can only go forward from here'
The winning entries from a BPS Conference 2020 student competition, around the theme of Psychology of the Future: Changing Landscapes.

When the job hunts you
Linda Kaye on putting our online data to work.

'We now fit the system to the person'
As psychologists working clinical health, we have been close to the epicentre of the coronavirus pandemic and the lessons that are ours to seize and hold on to. We have dared to imagine a progressive (perhaps utopian?) future, written from the perspective of a new graduate, and we invite you come along with us…

Restoring and honouring community 
Sally Zlotowitz, with thanks to Ebinehita Iyere and Rachel McKail from MAC-UK.

Work, workers and workplaces
Roxane Gervais on flexibility and leadership.

What could Psychology look like?
Alison Clarke with a call to action.

Psychology as a thing of the past
Prof-bots or a psychologically informed future? You decide, says Angel Chater.

A rich visual language
Andréa Watts on taking a 'coaching through collage' tool online. [Andrea's collage is on p.82]

'What we feel within and dare make real…'
Alex Sayers on her social enterprise working with young care leavers.

'We have to remember to find the beauty in what's already at home with us' 
Keon West's photography from Instagram.

Featured job: IAPT Practitioner, The Forward Trust
We hear from Emma Coulson, Service Development Manager at The Forward Trust, about a new role in changing times…

'Trying to keep up the illusion of authority is decreasing trust' 
Gemma Milne looks at how hype can blinker our understanding of what's going on.

Close to home in the time of Covid-19
The second edition of Social Psychology and Everyday Life, by Darrin Hodgetts, Ottilie Stolte, Christopher Sonn, Neil Drew, Stuart Carr and Linda Waimarie Nikora, published by Red Globe Press/Macmillan Education, is out now. Ottilie (University of Waikato) and Darrin (Massey University Albany) reflect on aspects of the book that speak to the role of home in response to Covid-19.

'We need a certain amount of humility'
At the beginning of April, our editor Jon Sutton talked to Stuart Ritchie, a psychologist and a Lecturer in the Social, Genetic and Developmental Psychiatry Centre at King's College London, about concerns over coronavirus coverage and more.

Arts and culture in a 'new normal' 
Helen Johnson considers how psychologists can foster a relationship with the arts that nourishes all.

Global states of uncertainty
Tanya Bhavani on isolation-themed offerings from the Scottish Mental Health and Arts Festival.

Which utopia, whose future? 
Gavin Miller considers science fiction and psychology.

One thing I've learned about myself, or Psychology, during the pandemic…
For this edition, in place of our usual 'Member of the month', we thought we would put out a question on Twitter.

We hope you find plenty to engage and inform within the issue, and dip into all the extra content there is to explore here on our website. Please do engage with us on Twitter … as we continue to work remotely and return to 'normal' issues, any feedback is appreciated!