Working with service users, carers and families
Psychologists work with service users, carers and families who are affected by mental health problems. People can be seen on their own, in family groups, or in groups with similar concerns.
During an assessment a psychologist will talk with someone who is experiencing mental health problems to help them understand the difficulties they're facing. By working together, the psychologist and the service user can get a better idea of what needs to be done to ease these difficulties.
Psychologists can offer a number of therapies as a way of treating mental health problems. These usually involve a person talking with a psychologist about the problems they're experiencing. This helps them to understand their problems and make changes for the better.
Psychologists can also offer advice, training and support to carers, families and other mental health staff.
Teaching, Supervision and and research
Many psychologists in our Trust also undertake teaching and research as part of their work.
Our service provides academic teaching to local universities. This includes professional training courses in psychology as well as other courses in pyschological skills. Many of our psychologists are lecturers or tutors on a part-time or honourary basis. We also supervise trainee psychologists, university students and staff from our Trust in using psychological skills and perspectives in their work.
It is part of a psychologist's job to carry out regular research. This is often on a specific topic or project. We also help other staff to carry out research, as well as supervising students. Research is fundamental to the development of innovationary practices, interventions and the delivery of quality services within the Trust and wider NHS.
Staff Support
We support staff in their day-to-day work by offering help, ideas and advice on using psychology. This can be for:
- issues relating to caring for service users
- making sure the care provided is the best possible
- developing services
- organising care, services and staff
Our Psychology Services are based on a series of professional principles. You can expect to see these in all of the work we do.
These principles are:
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Partnership - we work together with the people we see and the teams who also provide services to them.
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Client-centred - we make sure that the needs and views of the people we see are central to the work we do and that our work considers and supports diversity.
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Confidentiality - we make sure that personal information is kept confidential and is only shared with staff who need to know it.
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Equality of access- we ensure that, within available resources, people can access our service when they need to and that they have available to them the full range of psychological resources.
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Choice - there are lots of different ways we can support you and we aim to make sure you know about the options you have
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Quality – we ensure the best possible service through adherence to professional codes of conduct, ongoing training and regular supervision
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Skill development - we will help other people to use psychology through teaching and supervision
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Research - we will regularly carry out and help with research projects
