‘Don’t feel that this is an alien environment to you’

At this year's European Congress of Psychology, hosted by the BPS in Brighton, Dr Lisa Cameron, Scottish National Party MP for East Kilbride, Strathaven and Lesmahagow, and the first applied psychologist to be elected as an MP, spoke about her political journey and the impact psychology can have on policymaking. 

Elected in 2015, Cameron said she was an 'accidental MP' – never having planned to be elected to parliament. She became engaged with politics, as many in Scotland did, around the time of the Scottish Independence Referendum and joined the SNP in 2014.

A clinical psychologist who has worked in addiction services and forensics, Cameron said she was taken aback not only to be chosen as the SNP candidate for the local area, having been assured it would be unlikely, but also to be elected in the 2015 general election. 'I'd worked in the NHS so I didn't often get time to come to London… I arrived at Heathrow and had to ask people how I could get to parliament. When I arrived at the parliament I was thinking "what on earth have I done? What about my patients?"'

Despite her initial trepidation, Cameron said she was well supported in learning how parliament works and found many of her skills as a psychologist were useful in the day-to-day work of an MP – working with constituents at surgeries, thinking in a solutions-focused way, helping people who may have safeguarding issues or mental health conditions. Cameron said she had a mission to represent her constituents while also advocating for psychology and psychologists – making it clear that the discipline can contribute a great deal including an evidence-based and biopsychosocial approach to policymaking.

One of her first activities was to reach out to the British Psychological Society to set up an All-Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) for Psychology – which continues to this day – and Cameron encouraged the conference audience to get in touch with any ideas for issues to discuss at the APPG.

Cameron thought, given her work as a psychologist, she may work in health – but was instead assigned to Foreign Affairs. 'I'd not really been to many places apart from Spain and Florida, so I thought maybe I'm not best suited to Foreign Affairs, but that's what happens in parliament, you have to expand your horizons a bit. I found myself in places I'd never have imagined being such as in Kenya and Nigeria where I had an armoured vehicle and bulletproof vest. But with these experiences, even though at first I thought "wow how can I contribute to that?", you find you use your training as a psychologist ­– your empathy for other people, your ability to connect with people in their situations and trauma. I met mothers who had lost their daughters to Boko Haram… I was able to think about how we as psychologists could not only influence policy in the UK but how we could think about our international aid policy.'

Cameron later moved onto the Health Select Committee and became chair of the APPG for disability. In 2016 she spoke to John Bercow – then-Speaker of the House of Commons – to ask whether they would be willing to run an internship to help people with disabilities get work experience in MP's offices.

'That scheme has been running since 2016, with cross-party support… we've made a difference to many, many people coming through who have worked in the parliament and around 90 per cent of them have gone on to permanent employment – either in the parliament, with charities, and in ministers' offices. It's given them the opportunity to crack that glass ceiling. Now we're expanding it – I've signed up a quarter of the parliament now to become disability-confident employers in their own constituencies, so that people who don't live in London who can't easily come to the parliament can get that experience working in their MP's offices.'

Cameron is proof that a psychological background and approach can make a huge difference in parliament, but how might other psychologists get involved? She suggested that psychologists could meet with their own MPs, and stay in touch with them, to raise issues – even if they are from an ideologically different party.

She suggested keeping an eye on select committee inquiries which psychologists could provide evidence to – including areas beyond health such as sustainability, innovation, science, and digital inclusion. She also pointed to the myriad APPGs which psychologists can ask to contribute to.

She has also been working with an intern who has been working with Speaker of the House Sir Lindsay Hoyle on a survey of staff wellbeing in parliament. Alongside BPS Head of Public Affairs Hannah Randle, Cameron has also been looking at ways to include psychological perspectives in debates – which often come about with only seven to 10 days' warning.

'We've made in-roads over the past eight years in terms of psychological best practise in the parliament and we have also made a difference to the parliament using our skills. You have great skills, an evidence base that's not often used,  you have empathy for the struggles that people are going through in our society today – the cost of living crisis and having come through the pandemic, you think about things in terms of psychological theories and first principles that perhaps are not issues that we consider enough in the parliament, and you can give that holistic approach to policymaking.'

Cameron ended with a plea to engage. 'Don't feel that this is an alien environment to you, and perhaps out in the audience today there's another accidental MP… although I'm the first applied psychologist in the House of Commons, I certainly do not want to be the last.'