Psychology Matters: Highlighting our work

We've been doing more campaigning work as a society recently, and have had real success in promoting what we do through our campaigns on funding for NHS Mental Health and Wellbeing Hubs, and supporting children in the SEND system.

Psychology Matters has a much wider scope, and gives people a flavour of the incredible power of psychology in all areas of life, sharing some of the fascinating stories that lie behind our members' work, and shining a light on how psychology helps to tackle some of the biggest issues we face today.

As psychologists we can work in any one of an array of different areas. I have spent most of my career as a practising clinical psychologist, and have seen the impact that psychology has on people and the world around us, while our colleagues in research and academia give us new understanding that can transform lives.

This is work that we need to be shouting about, and Psychology Matters aims to do just that. We began with our UK General Election Manifesto last year, and since then, the programme has grown to encompass four workstreams.

These focus on psychology's role in creating effective government policy, early intervention and prevention, and how psychology helps to shape healthy and productive workplaces. Each of these areas address both the current challenges and opportunities of our discipline. 

Our careers workstream is also key, allowing us to share our own journeys and inspire and support the next generation to choosy psychology and navigate their own paths through it.

I've really enjoyed reading the inspiring insights and stories from our members that have featured on the website so far. This month's feature story for the Psychology informed policy workstream was an interview with Dr Lynne Taylor, the Scottish Government's Principal Psychology Advisor.  

We also published Psychology Matters interviews with social psychologist Dr Daniel Jolley, PhD researcher Oindrilla Ghosh, chair of the Division of Health Psychology Scotland Heather Connolly, and featured the career story of trauma psychologist Thomas Peyton-Lander, who works in blue light services.  You can also read my own Psychology Matters Q&A.

There is much more still to come from this programme, and we need your help to continue sharing inspiring stories about psychology. You can complete our Q&A or tell us more about your career on our Psychology Matters website. 

Everyone working in psychology has a story to tell, and we want to use them to spread the word about what we do and inspire the next generation.