Stanley Sue Distinguished Diversity Lecture Series

IN 2006, the Clinical Psychology Diversity Committee was established in order to develop more consistency within the clinical psychology department in terms of the amount of attention paid to diversity issues across courses, research programs, clinical settings, and individual students. Since then, the diversity committee has been heavily involved in the enhancement of efforts to recruit and retain ethnically and culturally diverse faculty and students (graduate and undergraduate) in both the psychology program, and university-wide. Additionally, we seek to expand links with external practicum placements that serve diverse populations, while also establishing working relationships with diversity related groups on campus. Lastly, we seek to educate and increase the awareness of diversity issues amongst our colleagues within the department and university-wide. Therefore, in order to address these objectives, the Clinical Psychology Diversity Committee\u27s major initiative has been to recruit prestigious speakers to educate and provide insight into the myriad of issues involving diversity in the mental health profession, including research, clinical practice, education, and recruitment

Clinical Psychologists Training and Supervising IAPT Therapists to Work with Long-term Conditions and Medically Unexplained Symptoms: A Service Development Project

An IAPT service and a clinical health psychology team piloted a service development providing Step 2 and Step 3 services for individuals with long-term health conditions. Results indicate that such services may be offered with access to specialist training and supervision

Service responses to survivors of sexual violence : perspectives of National Health Service and voluntary sector professionals on inter-agency working with survivors

The first chapter of this thesis critically reviews the existing literature on Restorative Justice (RJ) for crimes of sexual violence. It considers whether RJ has a contribution to make to the psychological wellbeing of survivors, provides clinicians working in the field of sexual violence with an insight into the potential strengths, weaknesses and gaps in the evidence base for RJ for sexual violence and makes recommendations for further research. The reviewed literature revealed some evidence that supports the use of RJ for crimes of sexual violence. In particular, survivors and professionals who had experienced RJ first-hand reported positive outcomes. However, due to the sensitive nature of sexual violence and the potential for re-traumatisation of the survivor, it was clear from the reviewed papers that RJ needed to be approached with caution. Indeed, where RJ was employed, extensive preparation was consistently identified as a key element to its success. The aim of the second chapter is to gain an in-depth understanding of the perspectives of staff on inter-agency responses to survivors of sexual violence. Professionals from the National Health Service and voluntary sector were interviewed using focus group methodology. Data from focus groups was analysed using thematic analysis. The results highlighted that individual and organisational barriers impacted on services' ability to work together and respond effectively to survivors. The final chapter provides a reflective account of the process of conducting a qualitative research study with professionals who work with survivors of sexual violence. Reflections focus on the impact of emotions on sexual violence research. The account considers both personal and epistemological factors relevant to the research process

Facilitating online discussion, tutoring and moderating skills in clinical psychology lecturers

The inclusion of online approaches in clinical psychology training has necessitated an examination of the skills required by trainers. This paper describes the development of a short tutorial to promote online discussion tutoring and moderation skills in clinical psychology lecturers

Sex Differences and Promotion Prospects in Clinical Psychology in Scotland

The following paper compares the gender bias in the Clinical Psychology profession in Scotland between 1990 and 1997. A larger proportion of females as compared with males are found both at the post-graduate training stage up until 1996 and at all levels of the profession, with the exception of B-grades where there were more males, in 1990. The study gives some evidence of a shift towards parity of the sexes between 1990 and 1996. A more equal ratio of males to female clinical psychology graduates is found in 1996 and a similar ratio of male to female B Grade clinical psychologists was found in 1997. However, the latter suggests that a disproportionate number of males hold B Grade posts when taken in the context of the demographics of the Scottish Clinical Psychology profession as a whole. A number of implications of these findings are discussed

Diversity learning through story and connection: ZHE:[noun] undefined

This is a pre-print of an article published in Clinical Psychology Forum. The definitive publisher-authenticated version for Nolte, L. & Kramo, K. (2016) Diversity learning through story and connection: ZHE:[noun] undefined, Clinical Psychology Forum, 283: 20-24 can be found here: http://shop.bps.org.uk/publications/publication-by-series/clinical-psychology-forum/clinical-psychology-forum-no-283-july-2016.htmlThis paper reports on a diversity theatre workshop at University of Hertfordshire Doctorate in Clinical Psychology Programme as an example of enabling, rigorous and adventurous diversity learning.Peer reviewedFinal Accepted Versio

Physiological reactivity to stress and parental support: Comparison of clinical and non-clinical adolescents

An Alarm Stress Task was developed to study affect regulation in the context of parent-child interactions in adolescents (mean age = 12.72, standard deviation = 2.06) with (n = 20) and without (n = 20) mental health problems. Changes in heart rate (HR), pre-ejection period (PEP) and respiratory sinus arrhythmia (RSA) were used as indicators of affect regulation. HR increased, and PEP and RSA decreased significantly in reaction to a suggested failure on a simple task, indicating that this procedure induced affective arousal in adolescents. During reunion with the parent, RSA increased significantly. Support seeking on reunion was associated with stronger parasympathetic reactivity during stress and reunion, consistent with the model that the parasympathetic system is involved when affect is regulated by social engagement. Quality of parent-adolescent interactive behaviour was overall lower in the clinical sample. Individual and relationship-based processes of affect regulation may be simultaneously assessed, highlighting the continuing importance of the parent-child relationship in adolescence for affect regulation and mental health. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd