The PPN South West works on a variety of projects in collaboration with NHS Trusts and third sector organisations across the region and beyond. In 2025 we are working to support the Psychological Professions in the context of a changing NHS landscape with the overall aim of maximising their benefit for the communities they serve.
We are leading a collaboration between senior psychological professions leads, trust workforce leads and NHS England in the South West on The Psychological Professions Career Framework project to develop an ‘integrated career framework’ for psychological professions. Building on previous work undertaken nationally and aiming to complement frameworks that are also in development by the British Psychological Society specifically for Psychologists, this project is aiming to produce a guidance document to support people wishing to enter careers in the psychological professions, to help guide psychological professions wishing to develop their careers and as a resource for workforce leads and planners across the South West. This guidance document will contain practical visual representations of common career pathways for all psychological professions and suggestions to support career development at each stage of the common pathway. In recognition that ‘real life’ careers rarely follow a linear route through frameworks such as this, the document will also include a selection of genuine examples of ‘squiggly careers’ of psychological professionals from across the region. The project aims to publish the document later in 2025. It is hoped that materials developed during this regional project will also form the basis of a national PPN resource to support career development for Psychological Professions.
The PPN South West is also conducting an evaluation of the regional impact of the national RISE Ethnic Minority Leadership Mentoring Scheme. This scheme is funded by NHS England as part of a strategy to tackle inequalities in the Psychological Professions, and aims to developing their leadership skills to redress some of the systemic inequalities which prevent ethnic minority Psychological Professionals from progressing into senior leadership roles. This evaluation aims to understand the impact of the scheme in the South West in terms of improving the leadership capabilities and career progression of the mentees, and to demonstrate this impact.
If you would like to know more about any of our work or get involved, please contact us at