Psychological Professions Network Alliance at the “Psychological Therapies in the NHS” Conference 2018

We were delighted to present two workshops at the March 2018 Psychological Therapies in the NHS conference in London. This gave an opportunity to describe the role of the Psychological Professions Networks in Kent, Surrey and Sussex, in the North West and the North East. We were pleased to distribute copies of our paper pdf Delivering the Expansion in the Psychological Professions (1.74 MB)  and to explain it’s recommendations. Useful discussions took place about how delegates might use this paper to influence their local workforce planners in Sustainability and Transformation Partnerships, each of which is developing a mental health workforce plan for a locality. There is a risk that the psychological professions are not fully considered in this planning unless the psychological professions can speak clearly and with one voice. We also reviewed potential new and expanded roles for psychological practitioners in delivering the Five Year forward View for Mental Health. Practitioner Psychologists for example are well placed to train as Approved Clinicians, to help address some of the workforce shortage in Psychiatry. In addition there are new roles for graduate psychologists beign developed, and existing psychological professionals will need to play a role in training and supervising this wider workforce.