Introduction: Chronic Pain is increasingly affecting young people, their quality of life and wellbeing including education, social life and mental health. Current Western approaches to psychological support for Chronic Pain often focus on 'pain management' and learning skills and strategies from professionals, making use of Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT), Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) and psychoeducation approaches in individual and group interventions. As a Paediatric Psychology service, we have trialled groups running over multiple weeks informed by these approaches and experienced low attendance rates.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThere is growing evidence for the benefits of therapeutic groups for children and young people living with chronic health conditions. As a paediatric health service, we regularly run 12 different groups, most of which are informed by a Narrative Therapy approach, with new groups routinely created to respond to the changing needs of children and young people. In this paper, we describe how we have stayed connected to our vision and values in developing and delivering group interventions, sharing our process which integrates different methods of participation and involvement to ensure young people's voices are centred.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFClin Child Psychol Psychiatry
January 2023
Introduction And Aims: The Beads of Life (BOL) approach uses a narratively informed methodology 'to enable children and young people to make sense of their cancer journey in ways that make them stronger'. We will share feedback from BOL groups and reflect on changes made over time.
Method: Between 2014 and 2019, we have run 14 groups.
Assistant Psychologist (AP) and Honorary Assistant Psychologist (HAP) roles provide an opportunity to gain the experience needed to progress onto the Clinical Psychology doctorate, making them very competitive to obtain. Nationally, there have been reports that people fulfilling these roles can face a number of challenges including poorly defined job descriptions, difficulty developing a voice within hierarchical organisation structures and balancing competing demands on time. This paper tells the story of a peer reflective group set up for APs and HAPs in the paediatric health psychology team, to provide a supportive space for aspiring psychologists to meet together.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFIntroduction And Aims: Treatment for childhood and adolescent brain tumours is often intensive, with significant neurocognitive and psycho-social late effects (Zeltzer et al., 2009). This feasibility Study aimed to inform the development of a cognitive rehabilitation and psycho-social group intervention for Teenage and Young Adult (TYA) survivors of brain tumours.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe impact of COVID-19 has challenged the long accepted 'norm' in delivery of psychological therapy. Public policies designed to reduce transmission have made it extremely difficult to meet with service-users safely in the traditional face-to-face context. E-therapies have existed in theory and practice since technological progress has made them possible.
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