Doctorate in Clinical PsychologyProgramme Newsletter

December 2017

Dear Colleagues

Welcome to the first edition of the Newcastle University DClinPsy programme newsletter.

The last 12 months have been a very busy time for the team, and have

seen substantial changes and reorganization across a few areas of the

programme. The newsletter seems a great opportunity for us to let you

know more about some of the changes that have taken place, and to

give you an idea about some of the work being done by staff, trainees

and stakeholders.

In this edition we will let you know about the reorganization of the staff

team, as we have welcomed some new people to the team. Nearly all of

the team practice clinically and also supervise or contribute to the

research component, embodying the scientist-practitioner ethos that we

aim to deliver through our training programme. We will give you a quick

reminder of the roles and key responsibilities of staff members of the

programme. We will also provide updates from different parts of the

programme, which will hopefully help you think about ways in which you

might want to get involved or contribute to our training programme.

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The programme at Newcastle is committed to an evidence based and

empirically grounded ethos, whilst enabling students to develop key

skills and qualities in collaboration, reflection and leadership. The

programme team see the provision of training as a collaborative

partnership between the Newcastle University, HENE and the NHS

trusts in the north-east and Cumbria. We are currently working together

with colleagues from local NHS trusts to develop ways in which this co-

production can be taken forward even further.

I hope that you enjoy reading the selection of articles from different

aspects of the course. We are very proud here at Newcastle of the great

work that our trainees are involved with in the region alongside their

supervisors. If you wish to contribute to future editions of the newsletter

or would like to include an article reporting on any interesting projects or

work being undertaken in your service by our trainees, please do get in

touch. On behalf of the Programme team, thank you for your interest in

and involvement with, the Newcastle DClinPsy Programme.

Best wishes,

Dr. Claire Lomax

Programme Director

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Programme team staff update

As we have had a few changes to the programme staffing over the last

few months, we thought it would be helpful to provide the full staff list

here to show the organisation of the team, and outline their key

responsibilities.

Dr. Claire Lomax (1.0 WTE) Programme Director

(claire.lomax@newcastle.ac.uk). Claire takes responsibility for the

overall organisation and management of the DClinPsy Programme. Key

duties involve ensuring that the programme maintains its professional

BPS accreditation and HCPC registration, and remains aligned with

university regulations. Claire also supervises research projects and

provides teaching around OCD and Hoarding Disorder.

Ms. Theresa Marrinan (1.0 WTE) Clinical Director and Deputy

Programme Director (theresa.marrinan@newcastle.ac.uk). Theresa

leads the clinical components of the programme, which includes

ensuring that the clinical training placements are fulfilling the programme

and professional requirements and overseeing the assessments of

clinical competence of the trainees, both in placement and in academic

settings. Theresa oversees the sourcing and allocation of clinical

placements, and is also lead on the programme for issues relating to

disability and adjustments.

Prof. Mark Freeston (0.4 WTE) Research Director

(mark.freeston@newcastle.ac.uk). Mark directs the research component

of the programme. He supervises research projects and teaches

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research methods in clinical psychology, with a particular interest in

“smallish-N” designs in clinical settings and Single Case Experimental

Design.

Dr. Anna Chaddock (0.5 WTE) Academic Director

(anna.chaddock1@newcastle.ac.uk). Anna oversees the academic

component of the course. This includes the teaching, timetabling,

personal tutor system, and the setting and marking of the academic

assessments. Our aims are to develop and maintain a curriculum which

is comprehensive, coherent across a trainee’s development and

progression of placements, but which also meets the requirements of our

regulating bodies. Anna leads on the Leadership; Health; Severe and

Enduring problems modules of the programme, and the CBT module

jointly with Theresa of the programme.

Dr. Fiona Gullon-Scott (0.8 WTE) Academic and research tutor

(fiona.gullon-scott@newcastle.ac.uk). Fiona leads on selection,

contributing to research teaching and also academic contributions to the

programme. Fiona leads on the Neuropsychology module, the Child and

Adolescent module, and jointly with Lucy on the Older Adult module on

the programme.

Dr. David O’Sullivan (0.4WTE) Clinical Tutor

(David.O’Sullivan@ntw.nhs.uk). David works with Theresa to ensure that

trainees and clinical placements are meeting the programme and

professional requirements and works with Theresa to allocate

placements. David organizes the supervisor workshops, and leads on

the LD and the Forensic components of the academic timetable.

Dr. Lucy Robinson (1.0 WTE) Academic and Research Tutor

(lucy.robinson@newcastle.ac.uk). Lucy contributes to the academic and

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research parts of the programme, carrying out teaching and supervision

of the research programme. Lucy shares oversight of the Older Adult

module, and is leads on the Service-Based Project.

Dr. Gary Robinson (0.2 WTE) Senior International Tutor

(gary.robinson@newcastle.ac.uk). Gary is responsible for the

recruitment and monitors the progress of international students to the

programme. He also contributes to the academic component through

teaching and assessments.

Dr. Jacqui Rodgers (0.4 WTE) Research Tutor

(jacqui.rodgers@newcastle.ac.uk). Jacqui works on the research module

of the programme, supervising trainee research and providing teaching

on research methodology and design, and also in her area of expertise

in neurodevelopmental disability, particularly research with children with

autism spectrum disorder (ASD).

Dr. Elizabeth Kennedy (0.5 WTE) (elizabeth.kennedy@ntw.nhs.uk) and

Dr. Jon McDonnell (jon.mcdonnell@ntw.nhs.uk) are the NTW NHS line

manager team and are responsible for managing the trainees’

employment issues. Liz and Jon work closely with the tutor team to

support the training and learning needs of the trainees.

We are also very pleased to let you know that we have appointed Alex

Reed to lead and oversee our Family Therapy module alongside

colleagues in the region. If you are interested in getting involved in some

of the teaching, and joining the systemic SIG please get in touch with

Alex (A.Reed2@newcastle.ac.uk)

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Clinical update

The past year has seen us make some significant changes to the clinical

aspect of the training. The first of these was to reallocate responsibility

for the organization of placements to the clinical team. This brings us in

line with other UK training programmes, and ensures we are responsible

for monitoring the quality of the training placements ensuring that BPS

accreditation requirements are followed and HCPC standards are

maintained. We will continue to work closely with senior colleagues in

the regions of the Northeast and Cumbria to source placements, and are

pleased that our trainees benefit from the diverse range of placements

and high levels of expertise in the region. The third year trainees have

recently embarked on their elective placements. We are now in the

process of collating the list of electives available for the coming year so if

you are interested in offering an elective please do get in touch.

A second major area of change has been concerned with the way we

monitor and evaluate the development of clinical skills in our trainees, in

line with BPS requirements. We have introduced more university-based

assessments to complement the evaluation of skills on placement.

These include a role-play exam in the early part of year one to assess

competencies in CBT and risk assessment skills, and the requirement

for trainees to submit a clinical recording of a CBT session within the first

two years of training. We are also asking supervisors and trainees to

submit evidence of observations of clinical sessions, using tailored

observation forms (e.g. generic skills, CBT, systemic). The aim is to

provide a framework for supervisors to give detailed feedback on

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trainees’ clinical skills. All of these new assessments are designed to

help course tutors monitor trainee development and aid clinical

supervisors in their role of evaluating clinical skills.

Finally, we are developing a portfolio of clinical skills which trainees will

be required to complete across the three years of the programme. This

will subsume much of the current placement paperwork, and enable us

to more closely monitor the development of clinical competencies across

training. This is also designed to help trainees on accreditation pathways

enabling them to gather evidence when applying for BABCP, Family

Therapy and Neuropsychology accreditation.

Updates and further details about these changes are provided in the

supervisor training workshops. The next Introductory Supervisors

workshop will be held in September 2018 (2 days) with a follow-up day in

March (2019). An email will be sent out early next year for new

supervisors who may be interested in applying.

The supervisor refresher workshops have been revamped and will now

be held one month prior to each placement commencing, with all

supervisors offering a placement being invited. This means that they will

usually be held in September and April. These sessions will cover a

general update of changes to the course broadly and any relevant

issues in particular to clinical supervisors such as the assessments and

measurement of trainee competencies. We will also try and cover one or

two key areas of importance and interest that are identified by clinicians

in the field, which may include inviting key speakers to attend. David

organises the workshop programme, so please get in touch with him if

you want some more information about this or have any suggestions, at

David.O’Sullivan@ntw.nhs.uk

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Academic update

In the last year we have made some changes to how we structure the

teaching, in line with the broad areas of specialist teaching provided by

our NHS colleagues, and by the programme team. We are committed to

providing an excellent training programme, from the teaching to the

clinical placement experience. Wherever possible content of the

teaching modules runs alongside the clinical placement experience of

the training, to ensure the best possible learning experience for our

trainees.

We have designated programme tutors to oversee each of these

modules, as shown in the list of roles given above. If you would like to

contact the module lead please do get in touch at their email address as

above, or if you are interested in finding out more about teaching

opportunities, please contact Anna (anna.Chaddock@ncl.ac.uk ).

We are developing a more comprehensive leadership course which will

be integrated throughout all three years of training, the emphasis being

on enabling trainees to develop the leadership competencies appropriate

to their stage in training. As part of this, we have recently introduced an

innovative teaching method through a self-directed teaching block, which

encourages trainees to take the initiative, to be responsible for their

learning, and to drive their learning experience.

Also on our agenda is increasing the opportunities for reflection

throughout the programme, and this year we are piloting new reflective

practice groups with the second and third year cohorts.

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Foundation course in Neuropsychology

The BPS Membership Standards Board has given approval for the plans

for additional routes to access the Specialist Register of Clinical

Neuropsychologists. This means that a variety of routes, including

training within DClin courses coupled with post qualification training

components, will give access to QiCN equivalent status. Issues for

approval going forward include accreditation of post-qualification courses

and linked DClin components. Bristol University, who are developing a

Foundation Course for post-DClin, and with whom we are liaising, are

now in a position to apply for accreditation once they have students

enrolled (which started this October). Effectively this means that DClin

courses are now in a position to work practically on recruiting students

on these pathways and pursuing accreditation as it develops. Here at

Newcastle we have drafted the pathway and it began this year with our

current first year cohort. Please get in touch with Fiona (fiona.gullon-

scott@newcastle.ac.uk) if you would like to find out more about this

initiative.

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Research update

Consistent with our aim to train competent scientist-practitioners,

developing our trainees’ skills in how to interpret evidence and research,

and also to contribute to the evidence base, is a key part of the

programme. Research projects are supervised by members of the

programme team and by external supervisors, with particular expertise in

anxiety disorders, psychosis, autism, and health psychology. Our annual

project conference was very well attended in June and we were pleased

to welcome Dr Mikle South from Brigham Young University, Utah, USA

as our keynote speaker. Dr. South spoke on ‘Blooming and Buzzing

Revisited: Uncertainty and Anxiety in ASD’. Trainees and staff regularly

attend national (and where possible) international conferences to

disseminate their findings, with four trainees from the 2014 cohort

presenting their data at BABCP symposia in 2017.

We will try and outline an example of the research staff and students are

undertaking on the programme to give an idea of the work being done,

and to highlight opportunities to collaborate in the future! Lucy Robinson

kindly agreed to let us know about a recent trip she made to a research

summer school and has inspired her (and us!) with a different approach

to understanding and researching psychological disorders.

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A letter from Amsterdam (for work!)

In April this year I started a journey with the statistical software package

R that led me somewhere absolutely fascinating – I’m not sure many

people say that about statistical software packages, but here at ‘geek

central’ it’s a perfectly reasonable statement to make. And the absolutely

fascinating place is not Amsterdam (although it is undoubtedly

interesting); it’s more of a conceptual place that has given me a whole

new way to research ‘mental disorders’. Stick with me, we’ll get there

soon…

I had started to grapple with R (free open-source command-line based

software) as it promised me I could do more interesting things than

SPSS will allow. And as I was following a tutorial paper by Costantini et

al1 about how to estimate psychological networks, something amazing

happened. I produced this:

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This is a graph that shows us the relationships between symptoms

throughout time for a single individual with anxiety and depression. The

circles are the variables – or nodes – of the network and the arrows

connecting them show dynamic positive (green) and negative (red)

relationships between these nodes. The loops on the circles show us

that this variable is correlated with itself throughout time.

In psychology we often complain that things are much more complex

than simple t-tests and correlations allow us to show and each person is

unique – no one model is sufficient to capture everyone’s experience.

And here we have a technique that allows us to visualise and

characterise this complexity and do it on an individual-by-individual

basis. Seriously?

That knocked my socks off! And I seized the chance to spend a week at

the end of August at the University of Amsterdam’s Psychological

Networks Analysis Summer School. Obviously it was a real chore to go –

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who wants to go to mainland Europe in the summer after all? With all

their warm, mild weather, beautiful scenery and things like the

Rijksmuseum? I guess somebody has to take the hit…

The summer school was amazing – very inspiring, taught by a diverse

mix of phenomenally bright people and I came away thoroughly

enthused. Rather than conceptualising all the symptoms of something

like ‘depression’ as the result of some common cause that we have tried

exceptionally hard to find but nonetheless still alludes us (figure a), we

can instead start to view people’s experiences as networks of related

and mutually-casual elements (figure b). The interactions between these

elements (such as insomnia causes tiredness, which reduces

concentration and engagement, which triggers withdrawal, etc.)

constitutes the outward picture of the global ‘disorder’, but nothing

further in terms of additional unseen causes or latent variables is

needed. And we can collect data throughout time on a single person and

build up a picture of their individual network of difficulties.

a b

So here I am, now in that absolutely fascinating place, and trying to find

ways to collect data for individualised modelling. I’ve been lucky enough

to have access to a dataset that has allowed me to visualise the dynamic

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relationships between a patient’s behaviours and emotions throughout

and beyond their treatment with CBT (see dynamic network online here:

https://osf.io/6cp3y/ ), so I’m pretty excited about what we can start to

find out from here – does CBT work how we think it does? How much

variability is there between people and can we use that to target

treatment better? What changes first in therapy, is that the same

between medications and talking approaches? What doesn’t change in

therapy and does that leave someone vulnerable to relapse? Can we

spot this in advance and save someone years of a relapsing condition??

The doors are open to lots of exciting questions. Thank you Amsterdam

– it’s time to get working!

1 Costantini et al (2015) State of the aRt personality research: A tutorial

on network analysis of personality data in R. Journal of Research in

Personality 54:13-29.

Figures reproduced from Fried (2015) Problematic assumptions have

slowed down depression research: why symptoms, not syndromes are

the way forward. Frontiers in Psychology, 6:309 23 March 2015

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Service Based Research

The Service Development Project now has a new name - the Service-

Based Project (SBP) - to reflect a few changes. The project retains the

requirement of addressing an applied clinical question or issue, but this

can refer to any aspect of service delivery (not specifically development).

Additionally, suitable projects would normally relate to clinical

psychology practice in some way, but this is no longer a requirement -

they can include evaluations or audits of non-psychological interventions

or practices (such as Occupational Therapy, Music Therapy etc). Part of

the aim of the SBP is to demonstrate the full skill set of psychologists by

applying structured research methods and appropriate theory to real

clinical problems and this can be achieved by broadening out the scope

beyond clinical psychology practice alone. Topics that continue to make

good projects for students involve evaluations of interventions and

needs assessments of staff or service users. Lucy is building up a

portfolio of projects for students who cannot find a suitable SBP on their

placement - please get in touch with her if you think you have a suitable

project or you want to find out more information

(Lucy.Robinson2@ncl.ac.uk).

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Admissions update

We received a high number of applications in 2016/2017, over 400,

which saw an increase in 12% in applications to the Newcastle

programme which was excellent news as it was above the national

average. Across the UK there were 3932 applications for NHS places,

which is in line with the previous 5 years of applications (between 3, 600

and 4, 000). At Newcastle there were 14 funded places for the 2017

entry.

Admissions committee constitutes a range of NHS clinical psychologists,

programme team and experts by experience who are constantly

developing and evaluating the selection and admissions process. In the

course of the admissions process feedback is collected from our

interviewees and this was very positive – acknowledging that though a

very stressful experience the interviewers and programme team had

done everything possible to put them at their ease! An open day was

held in early November which was well-attended and we hope helpful in

ensuring that applicants understand the process and the requirements of

applying to, and training at, Newcastle.

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Service user and carer involvement group

We have tried to incorporate much stronger and systematic input from

experts by experience into the programme. As key stakeholders in the

programme, it is essential that their input shapes the training

programme. Fiona Gullon-Scott took the lead in starting the

conversations about developing a group or committee that could feed

into the programme structures. From this initial start, stakeholders met

and agreed to form a group, which they have called the Knowledge and

Experience Exchange Network (KEEN) for the DClinPsy programme.

KEEN is a committee that meets regularly at Broadacre House, with the

focus of growing the involvement and input of experts by

experience/service users within the Doctorate program. The committee

welcomes representation from experts by experience, clinicians,

students and programme staff. As the group is relatively new we are at

an exciting stage of development with lots of scope for creative ideas to

grow various strands of knowledge and experience exchange within the

course. To realise the potential of such a committee and give a

meaningful voice, involvement and contribution of experts by experience

to the development of our clinical training and the future of clinical

psychology more generally, we are encourage you to get involved.

Third year trainee Lauren Mawn at Newcastle is the chair and has the

student liaison role currently, and the programme liaison member is

Fiona Gullon-Scott. If you know of any experts by experience from local

services who may be interested, please highlight this opportunity and get

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in touch if you have any questions (l.mawn2@newcastle.ac.uk or

fiona.gullon-scott@newcastle.ac.uk)

We are lucky enough to work closely with colleagues at Launchpad in

delivering the programme, and persuaded Steve O’Driscoll (very

recognisable to all our recent interviewee candidates!) to let us know

about a very well-deserved recognition for his hard work in the field of

mental health advocacy. Steve kindly wrote a piece for us about his

experience, along with a photo of him next to a famous face!

Hi everyone its Steve O`Driscoll here you may remember me from

the interview panel for your place on the course and I would like to

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share with everyone a once in a lifetime experience I had on October

10th this year.

I was invited by William, Harry and Kate to attend an event at

Buckingham Palace as a thank you for all the work and support I have

given to people over the last few years in the world of Mental

Health. I also had the honour of meeting Stephen Fry, Ruby Wax,

Esther Rantzen, Angela Ripon, Professor Green and Alisdair Campbell

and chatting to them over a glass of Elderflower Cordial (a glass of

Bubbly was on offer but alas I don’t drink alcohol). It was also the

first time that Kate had appeared in public with the Royal “bump”.

That was not the only amazing thing that happened on that

wonderful day. On the way back to Newcastle we were given a free

upgrade and put in 1st Class, so we were in my eyes treat like Royalty.

It just proves to me that although you may think that all you do at

your workplace goes un-noticed there is always someone who really

appreciates the time and effort you put into everything you do.

It was the wonderful Angela Slater (Regional Co-ordinator for Time

To Change) that put my name forward to attend the event at the

Palace.

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Introduction to trainee cohorts

We would like to introduce you to our cohorts and thought the best way

to do this would be by including photographs of our current years (which

were taken in the recent chilly weather!). Obviously some of you will

know or recognise some of the trainees pictured, but here are some

lovely group pictures of the current cohorts so you can put names to

faces in the future.

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First year cohort (2017-2020)

From top left to right: Renske Herrema, Chloe Geagan, Jade Bamford,

Alice Bentley, Rachel Opit, Louise Prentice, Claire Mayer

From bottom left to right: Lauren Smith, Rhiannah McCabe, Alexandra

Williams, Stuart Rae, Barbara Medea, Kara Crossley, Joanna Glen-

Davison

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Second ye ar cohort (2016-2019)

Top left to right: Rebecca McElroy, Jessica Maxwell, Nahida Hussain,

Naoimh Fox, Emma Grisdale, Archibald Leung

Middle left to right: Tom Sharp, Alan Galvin, Rowan Tinlin, Neil Murphy,

Kirstin Farquhar, Kyle Dunn

Bottom left to right: Mithila Mahesh, Morag Ritchie, Zoe Gotts, Emma

Lawson, Ceara Bergin

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Third year cohort (2015-2018)

From top left to right: Kara McTiernan, Kay Rooney, Jade Ingram, Faye

Banks

From middle left to right: Lauren Mawn, Ruth Struthers, Joanne Christie,

Claire Mason, Hannah Puddephatt

From bottom left to right: Tom Laverick, Patrick Welsh, Paul Watson

(On annual leave so not in picture: Hannah Harvey)

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Publication list (2016-2017)

Aynsworth, C., Collerton, D. & Dudley, R. (in press). Measures of Visual

Hallucinations: Review and recommendations. Clinical Psychology

Review, 57, 164-182.

Aynsworth, C., Nemat, N., Collerton, D., Smailes, D. & Dudley, R. (in

press). Reality monitoring performance and the role of visual imagery in

visual hallucinations, Behaviour Research and Therapy, 97, 15-122.

Bottesi, G., Ghisi, M., Carraro, E., Barclay, N., Payne, R., Freeston, M.H.

(2016). Revising the intolerance of uncertainty model of generalized

anxiety disorder: Evidence from UK and Italian undergraduate samples,

Frontiers in Psychology, 7, art. # 1723

Joyce, C., Honey, E., Leekam, S., Barrett, S, Rodgers, J. (2017).

Anxiety, Intolerance of Uncertainty and Restricted and Repetitive

Behaviour: Insights directly from young people with ASD. Journal of

Autism and Developmental Disorders, doi:10.1007/s10803-017-3027-2

Lai, S., Bruce, V., Collerton, D. (2016). Visual hallucinations in older

people: Appraisals but not content or phenomenology influence distress.

Behavioural and Cognitive Psychotherapy, 44(6)705-710.

Lough, E., Rodgers, J., Janes, E., Little, K. & Riby, D. M. (2016). Parent

insights into atypicalities of social approach behaviour in Williams

syndrome. Journal of Intellectual Disability Research, 60(11), 1097-

1109.

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McKie, A., Askew, K. & Dudley, R. (2016). An experimental investigation

into the role of ruminative and mindful self-focus in paranoia. Journal of

Behavior Therapy and Experimental Psychiatry, 54,170-177.

Pepperdine, E., Lomax, C., Freeston, M. (accepted with revisions).

Disentangling Intolerance of Uncertainty and threat appraisal in everyday

situations. Journal of Anxiety Disorders

Redhead, A., Jordan, G., Ferrier, I. N., & Meyer, T. D. (2016) Automatic

processing of emotional stimuli in euthymic patients with bipolar

disorder. Journal of Affective Disorders, 203, 339-346.

Rodgers, J., Hodgson, A., Shields, K., Wright, C., Honey, E., & Freeston,

M. (2016). Towards a Treatment for Intolerance of Uncertainty in Young

People with Autism Spectrum Disorder: Development of the Coping with

Uncertainty in Everyday Situations (CUES©) Programme. Journal of

Autism and Developmental Disorders, doi:10.1007/s10803-016-2924-0.

Watts, S. J., Rodgers, J. & Riby, D. M. (2016). A systematic review of

the evidence for hyporesponsivity in ASD. Review Journal of Autism and

Developmental Disorders, 3(4), 285-301.

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