DCP In Focus: October 2024
Welcome to the October edition of DCP In Focus.
28 October 2024
Welcome to the October edition of your update from the DCP
It is Black History Month and there is a short commentary from Sidrah Muntaha, EDI lead, below. Last year, she hosted a podcast on the topic of Saluting our Sisters and it is worth a look if you did not see it first time round.
There are also a number of opportunities to get involved with, from completing surveys to helping on committees. We hope you will get involved and if you want any more information on any of the items, please contact [email protected]. I am always pleased to receive any feedback or comments.
Julia Faulconbridge
DCP communications and publications lead
Faculty for Children, Young People and their Families Annual Conference
Date: 18 November, 9.30am – 4.30pm
Location: BPS London Office, 30 Tabernacle St, London, EC2A 4UE
Price: From £24
There are still tickets available for the FCYPF conference on the theme of, 'From shallow roots to developing fruits: working together to help children and families without permanent homes thrive and grow'.
The programme is now finalised and includes a diverse range of speakers and presentations:
- Bringing systemic perspectives to working with the emotional and mental health of needs of children looked after - research, theory and practice - Wendy Lobatto
- Systemic and narrative work with unaccompanied asylum-seeking children - Elisa Marcellino, Ana Draper and Samantha Thomson
- Manchester young care leavers' views on being in care and leaving care - Care Leavers Connected, a project of the Care Leaver's Association
- Young people facing homelessness - Kate Bond, Charlie Wilson and Angella Fosuaah
- Challenges for accessing and providing health care for Gypsy, Roma and Traveller communities - Tanya Blumenfeld
- When home hurts: Babies, children and families with extended hospital stays - Kirsty Abbas and Ellie Atkins
Tickets are discounted to just £24 for faculty members and you can book your ticket here.
BPS Psychology Careers Festival 2024
Date: 4 - 8 November
Location: Virtual
Price: From £7
Join the Careers Festival from 4 - 8 November for an unforgettable event diving into the world of psychology careers, from the traditional to the extraordinary. Whether you're just starting out or looking to pivot, this online event is packed with everything you need to carve out your path in psychology. Book tickets.
Making Sense of trauma-informed care for clinical psychologists
Date and time: 21 November, 9.30am – 4.30pm
Location: BPS Leicester Office, St Andrews House, 48 Princess Rd, Leicester, LE1 7DR
Price: From £15
Tickets are still available for the DCP East Midlands Branch trauma-informed care event. You'll hear from speaker Dr Angela Kennedy (consultant clinical psychologist) about the latest trauma-informed care models, and have opportunities to discuss with colleagues examples and ideas for best practice within the region. Book tickets.
Mental Health Data Science Webinars
The Data Science for Health Equity (DSxHE) group has announced a set of webinars showcasing some of the ways that data science can be used to identify healthcare inequalities and support mental health practice.
Thursday 31 October, 12-1pm GMT: Ellen Driessen (Radboud University)
Talk: Using data to personalise treatment for depression
Thursday 14 November, 12-1pm, Jae Won Suh (University College London)
Talk: Harnessing the potential of data linkage to improve mental health treatment
Thursday 21 November, 12-1pm, Kim de Jong (Leiden University)
Thursday 28 November, 12-1pm, Ciarán O'Driscoll (University College London)
Talk: How advances in data analytics can be used to support secondary care mental health services
Thursday 5 December, 12-1pm, Peter Fonagy (University College London)
Talk: How data can support children's mental health services
Black History Month 2024 - 'Reclaiming Narratives'
October has been Black History Month and the EDI sub-committee has been thinking about how we can keep in mind the experience of our black colleagues throughout the year. Although the current Health and Care Professions Council (HCPC) equalities data is not complete, it indicates that only 6 per cent of practitioner psychologists describe themselves as 'black' and perhaps as few as 1 per cent of clinical psychologists.
The EDI sub-committee is actively considering how we can bring the voices of our black colleagues to the forefront of our EDI efforts without positioning them as advocates for whole communities. While keeping in mind intersectionality, we're particularly keen to see further efforts across higher education and NHS trusts to support black trainees and qualified clinical psychologists to progress in their careers and go onto leadership roles.
This year, the BPS is offering funding applications for Black and Asian psychologists and trainees to support their career development. We would also encourage you to watch a podcast that the EDI sub-committee produced for last year's Black History Month on 'Saluting our Sisters'.
Throughout the year, we would like to:
- Help you share examples of innovative adaptations to clinical care with black communities within the NHS and other organisations using community psychology models, African psychology approaches, narrative therapy or adapted forms of existing evidence-based models. We'll support new and original publications in this area by linking you up with our communications lead and colleagues in our publications team.
- Encourage you to share your original creative work (such as poetry, short stories and art) based on lived experiences as a clinical psychologist (or aspiring clinical psychologist) of African-Caribbean heritage. We welcome creative ways of sharing positive stories of resilience as a way of reclaiming a strength-based narrative. If you would like to share your creative work in future editions of DCP in Focus, please email Sidrah Muntaha.
The EDI sub-committee is working on several projects which would not be possible without the commitment of our members. If you would like to join our sub-committee with a specific area of EDI in mind, please do get in touch.
Take our short survey and have your say on the upcoming DCP EDI podcast
The DCP Equality, Diversity and Inclusion sub-committee is planning on launching a new podcast! They're keen to hear from as many members as possible to make sure the ethos and content of the podcast are as useful and interesting as possible.
Take this short survey and share your thoughts on format, dream podcast guests and let the team know if you would like to be interviewed!
Apply to join the Minorities sub-committee
The Minorities sub-committee is part of the EDI sub-committee, and it is looking for new members.mailto:[email protected] The group contributes towards a better understanding of the unique needs and experiences of marginalised groups within the profession, supports the personal and professional development of those who have chosen a career in clinical psychology and advises on issues of inclusivity and diversity across the profession.
If you have a protected characteristic and are interested in becoming a member and supporting the work of the Minorities sub-committee, please complete an expression of interest or email [email protected] if you have any questions about applying.
Alternative Handbook for 2024-25 published
At the start of the month, the Alternative Handbook, a guide to clinical psychology training courses for aspiring clinical psychology trainees, was published. It was produced in partnership with the BPS Research Team and the Division of Clinical Psychology's Pre-Qualification group and offers vital insights for prospective trainees.
The Pre-Qualification group want to extend a special thanks to David Hills from the BPS research team, for helping pull the guide together. You can take a look at the interactive handbook and get in touch with Ken Cheung, Chair of the Pre-Qualification group, at [email protected] if you have any questions or thoughts about the handbook.
Tell us why Clinical Psychology Matters
The BPS is working on a new programme of work called Psychology Matters, which aims to celebrate and highlight the power of psychology in transforming lives. We know the vital role of psychology in our society, and we want to share that with the world. And the best people to help us showcase psychology are our members.
To help shape this initiative, we want to hear your unique insight into why Psychology Matters. We're keen to hear from members of the Division of Clinical Psychology and hear about why you do what you do, the impact it has, and why it matters. Whatever your area of practice or work, we want to shine a light on it.
The BPS want to feature your stories and passion for clinical psychology, so that together we can tell the world how psychology changes lives. Take this short survey and tell us why you think psychology matters.
Report of the National Leadership and Transformation event
The Leadership and Management Faculty hosted the National Leadership and Transformation Event on 9 October at the BPS London offices. The event, chaired by Dr Amra Rao and led by Dr Jan Bostock and Dr Alex Stirzaker, focused on innovative practices and current evidence in mental health and community transformation. The event attracted mental health professionals from a wide range of services, colleagues from the training community, and policymakers from across the UK to share insights, network, and discuss pressing challenges in mental health services.
The event gave an overview of the evidence linking social determinants to mental health inequalities, accompanied by a thought-provoking video on NHS community mental health transformation three years on. Key topics discussed included the importance of compassionate and transformative leadership, professional vulnerability, the impact of service cultures, and drawing from existing resources within communities.
Influential ideas from scholars like Kimberlé Crenshaw, Hillary Cottam, and David Smail were integral to discussions on collaborative, values-led approaches to mental health. Some of the challenges identified included the competing and conflicting demands on services and professionals; lack of time or resources; overcoming feeling overwhelmed with the task; creating intersecting spaces across social, health, local governance bodies; challenging the targets-driven and medical NHS culture and commissioning practices; and the need for reviewing and expanding competences on already demanding and packed training courses.
Practical examples of community alliances and collaborative decision-making included:
- Open MH Somerset: A pioneering alliance between the NHS, voluntary organisations, social care and people with lived experiences of MH offering holistic care for all wellbeing needs including finance, housing, physical and mental health needs.
- NEST Framework, Wales - Child & Family Community Psychology: with 53 partnerships, highlighting the importance of preventative work embedded in policy. The framework provides a whole systems approach to mental health, with children and families at the centre.
- Grenfell Tower Psychology Response: A trauma-informed, co-produced response model with the community at the centre of various initiatives.
- Recovery College Collective (Recoco): A community-driven initiative in Newcastle fostering peer support, peer leadership and a focus on recovery focused practices.
The event underscored the importance of leadership in community transformation, emphasising collaborative leadership practices. Attendees explored frameworks for empowering communities through shared decision-making and tailored mental health services.
Register your interest to join the Leadership and Management Developmental Programme
The BPS Division of Clinical Psychology (DCP) Faculty of Leadership & Management is setting up its development programme for 2025 exclusively for clinical psychologists. The DCP Leadership & Management Faculty is committed to supporting the development of confident leaders, who can help steer the profession through any challenges.
Following the success of last year's programme, the faculty has opened up applications for the Leadership and Management Developmental Programme 2025.
Programme Content
This programme lasts for three full days and will offer a blend of conceptual, experiential, and reflective learning, which allows participants to explore and develop their leadership capabilities. The key aspects of the programme include:
- Leadership, authority and power
- Development of self-awareness and use of self in leadership and followership
- Models of organisations and change processes
- Inclusive leadership and management
- Working with conflicts and team dynamics
- Maximising impact and influence
- Sustaining self in leadership and management roles
You can find out more about the programme and fees, and apply to join by completing a short form.
Relaunch of DCP NE Branch for members in the North East and North Cumbria
We're really excited to be launching the DCP NE Branch and are currently exploring dates and possible venues for an in-person event in the New Year. The theme for the launch event will be around supporting and developing professional identity, linking in with personal identity, EDI, and the CHIME factors (Connectedness, Hope, Identity, Meaning and Empowerment), and we hope to see as many members as possible there!
However, there's still plenty of time to get involved to shape our launch event and any other events we organise in the future. We've had suggestions so far for events that focus on staff wellbeing, working with and addressing health equalities and systemic practice and influencing in complex systems. We think it makes sense to align events with the systems we work in, so we're reaching out to members and potential members to join us from across the NENC ICS area (North East and North Cumbria).
We're seeking expressions of interest to join our branch committee. As well as helping to organise events, there are a wide range of useful skills and experiences people might bring, but enthusiasm and a willingness to work together and co-produce are the most important!
Review of BPS Wales Conference
There was a very successful BPS Wales Conference which took place on the 28 September. Our BPS President, Roman Raczka, opened the day with a very welcome return to his undergraduate stomping ground of Cardiff.
We were delighted that the DCP PreQual group hosted a very well attended session which some senior members of the profession (Roman again, Lawence Moulin from West Mids and Liz Gregory) reflected on their clinical psychology careers, as well some very engaging speakers who presented on de-colonialising CBT practice, and relationally and trauma informed practice. We had almost 200 delegates and it was a fantastic day. Next year's BPS Wales Conference will be in Bangor.
Resources and publications
All DCP publications, as well as a wealth of other information from the Division, are available on our website. This is a quick way to find the wide variety of resources available, so please do take a look.