FPOP Awards 2025 open for applications

Early stage Career

• An assistant, trainee clinical psychologist, or qualified clinical psychologist up to 3 years post qualification 

Working with older people

• Holding a post within an older adult service (inpatient, community, memory clinic or physical health), or during their training is undertaking clinical placements or research
• Working clinically with clients aged over 65 using a range of assessment and intervention methodologies to address clinical issues, presentations or complexity that are common in older people

An active member of an FPOP geographical group

• Regular attendee, contributor or committee member in a local group

Demonstrating commitment and enthusiasm in their role

• An enthusiastic proponent of working with older people, demonstrating passion and professionalism

Commitment to older people's needs

• Shows an outstanding commitment to or creative verve for working with older people and has successfully implemented innovative work as a result of this
• This work can be at an individual, group, service, consultative or community level. It will be assessed with reference to whether the person is an assistant, trainee or qualified practitioner

An advocate of older people's psychology

• Sharing and encouraging others to share their enthusiasm for older adult work, for example by:
• Demonstrating leadership and innovation in their service with plans to develop this beyond their team
• Providing clinical supervision re therapeutic interventions and encouragement in their use to psychologists and wider members of the multidisciplinary team
• Developing the culture of age-blind clinical services to be more older adult appropriate
• Actively seeking the input of older people and their families into wider service issues
• Encouraging the local community to be more older adult friendly
• Engaging sectors of the public in discussion about older people

Una Holden qualified as a Clinical Psychologist in Liverpool and worked in Lancashire before spending some years in the United States of America at the Missouri Institute of Psychology. She returned to work at St James University Hospital, Leeds, leading on developments in services for older people and neuropsychology.

She published extensively and was shortlisted for the 1996 Seebohm Trophy (which promotes the well-being and understanding of older people) for the book Ageing, neuropsychology and the new dementias. Joint publications with both Bob Woods and Graham Stokes are texts that still underpin current best practice.

Una was one of the founder members of PSIGE (now the Faculty of the Psychology of Older People) and was the first Chair. She was always a lively presence, running Reality Orientation (RO) and neuropsychology workshops, both at PSIGE conferences and for mental health practitioners over many years.

Among her many roles was being clinical tutor on the Plymouth Clinical Psychology Course in the early 1980s, and Principal Clinical Psychologist for Plymouth Health District. She then moved to Cumbria to head the Older People's Clinical Psychology Service. From there she retired to Spain, and for a number of years, until her health failed, returned to PSIGE conferences and contributed to newsletters. She died in 2013. 

Una was a huge inspiration to many psychologists from the 1980s-generation of 'single handed' older adult psychologists trying to make a case for the specialty. She was a powerful advocate for the application and development of clinical psychology for older people and in dementia care and continues to be remembered by many FPOP/PSIGE members for the difference she made.

Mid Career stage

• More than 10 years after qualification

Working with older people

• Holding a post within an older adult service (inpatient, community, memory clinic or physical health)

An active member of an FPOP geographical group

• Regular attendee, contributor or committee member in a local group

Demonstrating commitment and enthusiasm in their role

• Evidence of mentoring and supervising others
• Developing new ideas within services
• Instigating and following up projects.

Commitment to older people's needs

• Going above and beyond the work through links with older adult agencies, voluntary roles or personal links

A known advocate of older people's psychology

• Offering talks to team members, teaching on the DClinPsy Course, engaged in FPOP work

A team worker

• Demonstrating good working relationships within services and FPOP

Belinda Downes, known as Bill, was a clinical psychologist, based in Birmingham. As a fairly new graduate, Bill came to work in the service as a researcher on The Birmingham Stroke Counselling Project.

Following her training on the Plymouth course, she returned as a qualified clinical psychologist to work in the older adult services, moving into a specialist post for older people with physical health problems. It was during her work in this post that Bill developed the breast cancer that eventually stole her life in her mid-40s. 

Bill generously left £2000 in her will to Jan Oyebode (who had been head of older adult psychology in the Trust during much of Bill's career) to be used for the benefit of clinical psychology with older people.

Jan has agreed with FPOP to use £200 of this money year-on-year to recognise the contribution of a mid-career clinical psychologist to work with older people.

In 2015 the first Bill Downes Award was received by Reinhard Guss, Consultant Clinical Psychologist in east Kent, FPOP Dementia Workstream Lead, and past Chair of FPOP. 

Late Career stage

• More than 20 years after qualification

Working with older people

• Holding a post within an older adult service (inpatient, community, memory clinic or physical health)
• Outstanding and widely recognised contribution to the development of older adult psychology
• Significant impact on the knowledge, policy and/or practice of older adult psychology
• Significant innovation in developing clinical psychological knowledge, policy and/or practice, in older adult psychology.

An active member of an FPOP geographical group

• Regular attendee, contributor or committee member in a local group

Demonstrating commitment and enthusiasm in their role

• Inspiring and positive role model for older adults and older adult psychologists
• Developing new ideas within services
• Instigating and following up projects.

Commitment to older people's needs

• Going above and beyond the work through links with older adult agencies, voluntary roles or personal links

A known advocate of older people's psychology

• Offering talks to team members, teaching on the DClinPsy Course, engaged in FPOP work
• High number of research and/or professional and/or policy publications in high-quality outputs which have a significant impact
• Providing leadership and management that has enhanced the development of older adult psychology

A team worker

• Demonstrating good working relationships within services and FPOP