Dr Andrew Edmonds reports from the BPS Cognitive Section Conference

Dr Andrew Edmonds, Lecturer in Psychology at Staffordshire University, provides a short report from the BPS Cognitive Section Conference held in September 2015, in particular some new developments in his research area – facial recognition.

The highlight of this year’s Annual BPS Cognitive Section Conference – hosted by the University of Kent – was the fascinating sessions on face processing, superbly convened by my former mentor and co-author, Professor Bob Johnston. Two days of talks reflected on just how far research has come in the field over the last 40-50 years and highlighted some of the challenges still remaining. For example, research has shown that we are relatively poor at processing faces which are unfamiliar to us – such as picking a once-seen face out of a line-up, or even just determining that two simultaneously-presented faces are of the same person – but yet we are often very confident of our judgements in these situations. This has significant implications, not only suggesting that we are not always reliable eyewitnesses but that police officers and passport control officials may also make errors when performing their duties. Current research is therefore aiming to explore what factors affect our ability to perform these face matching tasks accurately – if we can identify these factors, this may help us to understand whether performance on these tasks can be improved and if so, how.

An example of why researching facial recognition and processing is important. The man on the right was convicted of an indecent assault based on the composite image on the left. This was a few years ago now but shows how inaccurate facial composites could lead to wrongful convictions of innocent individuals.

An example of why researching facial recognition and processing is important. The man on the right was correctly convicted of an indecent assault based on the composite image on the left – the development of more accurate facial processing software can have a significant impact on conviction of offenders.

Meanwhile, in the last 10-15 years huge amounts of progress have been made in the development of systems such as EvoFIT to help witnesses produce facial composites (likenesses of criminals) which can lead to the perpetrators of crimes being identified. Whilst identification of criminals from these images is still far from perfect, accuracy is now at such a level that researchers can begin to investigate what makes someone good at constructing an identifiable face composite (e.g. performing well on other face processing tasks, being able to refer to examples of the internal features of faces during composite construction etc.). Somewhat reassuringly, the early evidence suggests that being moderately intoxicated at the time of seeing the criminal does not significantly impair our ability to perfom this task – but the effects of hangovers have yet to be explored!

The conference was also an opportunity to renew old acquaintances and develop new ones, and I am excited by the prospect of collaborating with Dr Sarah Laurence from Keele University on some interesting new projects – we are both interested in how faces become familiar over time and what processes are involved in us learning a new face – so look out for more news on this in the future. I am really looking forward to welcoming Sarah to the university as part of the Visiting Speaker Series in November 2015, and hope to see you there too!


Dr Edmonds is a researcher and a member of the Cognitive Neuroscience Research Group part of the Staffordshire Centre for Psychological Research. For more information or details of the wide range of Psychology degrees on offer at Staffordshire University please visit our website and our courses page.

The School of Psychology, Sport and Exercise at Staffordshire University is a leading School in the UK for Psychology degrees and is situated in the heart of England.  We produce internationally recognized research which is driving knowledge in this area forward and we work with a variety of healthcare providers, charities, international sports teams and private sector organisations.

 

School of Psychology, Sport and Exercise’s Visiting Speaker Series 2015/16

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Dr Nichola Street

Dr Nichola Street announces a new edition of the Visiting Speaker Series in the School of Psychology, Sport & Exercise:

Each year the School holds a visiting speaker series hosting academics and practitioners working in a variety of settings around the UK. We encourage attendance from everyone with an interest in psychological research and practice and we hope to see students, staff and the general public attending and engaging with psychological research.

The series is held on Thursdays from 4-5pm on a (mostly) bi-weekly basis and begins next week on Thursday 1st October. In Semester 1 talks will be held in the Science Centre Lecture theatre R001 and Semester 2 in Ashley Lecture building LT2. To keep up to date with the schedule or for more information please visit the visiting speaker series webpage for information.

This year we have a great line up of speakers that show the current and up to date trends in a number of different areas within psychology. A wide range of topics will be covered by this year’s speakers including health psychology, face perception, forensic and investigative psychology, impact pathways in applying psychology as well as cognitive and experimental neuropsychology.

First Visiting Speaker: Dr Elena Hoicka, Thursday 1st October, 4pm

Visiting Speaker

Dr Elena Hoicka

Next week the series kicks off with Dr Elena Hoicka from University of Sheffield who will be coming to speak with us about her work in developmental psychology and particularly how ‘Toddlers think for themselves!’ the abstract for her talk below outlines the fascinating research she will be discussing.

‘Toddlers think for themselves!’

Social learning has been a large focus of early developmental psychology for the past two decades. While importantly revealing how culture is transmitted to young children, questions about how young children come up with their own ideas and learn for themselves have been largely ignored. In this talk, I will present research showing that toddlers can be creative and come up with their own ideas. I will focus on two streams of research – toddlers’ creation of their own novel jokes, and toddlers’ divergent thinking with novel objects. However, I will also demonstrate that social learning can be an important part of children’s independent learning and thought, suggesting both of these strands of learning are inter-connected.

New students, returning students, members of staff, and anyone with an interest in psychology are very welcome to come along! Hope to see you Thursday 1st Oct 4-5pm, R001 Science Centre for a chance to hear about the latest research in psychology.

For more information please contact the Visiting Speaker series organiser: Dr. Nikki Street  Tel: 01782 294672 Email: nichola.street@staffs.ac.uk


For more information or details of the wide range of Psychology degrees on offer at Staffordshire University please visit our website and our courses page.

The School of Psychology, Sport and Exercise at Staffordshire University is a leading School in the UK for Psychology degrees and is situated in the heart of England.  We produce internationally recognized research which is driving knowledge in this area forward and we work with a variety of healthcare providers, charities, international sports teams and private sector organisations.

Staffordshire University’s Psychology Department gives Year 12 students an insight into “Uni Life”

The Psychology Department at Staffordshire University took part in the “Uni Life Event” (23rd to 25th June) which offered year 12 students from the Midlands an opportunity to stay in the halls of residence at Staffordshire’s City Campus in Stoke-on-Trent, explore the state-of-the-art facilities and get hands-on experience of degree courses in subject workshops.

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Dr Claire Barlow giving her workshop on children’s drawings

Dr. Claire Barlow and Mel Hall, both lecturers in the Psychology Department at Staffs, ran a workshop about studying Psychology at Staffordshire University. In the session, they talked about the Psychology undergraduate degrees as well as running interactive activities on children’s drawing development, jury decision making and group behaviour.

CB Summer School 2Claire said “The session was really positively received by students, many of whom were introduced to Psychology for the first time. The activities gave students an opportunity to learn more about specialist and applied areas of Psychology and also an insight into studying for a Psychology degree at Staffordshire University”.

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Examples of different forms of drawing

Students who took part were asked for their feedback on the session, stating Psychology talks were very interesting and taught me lots about the teaching style at uni. The lectures were interesting’; ‘Psychology was interesting, I now know what I want to do at university’; ‘Sessions were interactive and I now feel more confident’ and Forensic Psychology suited my career aspirations and was really interesting.’


For more information or details of the wide range of Psychology related postgraduate degrees on offer at Staffordshire University please visit our website and our courses page.

The School of Psychology, Sport and Exercise at Staffordshire University is a leading School in the UK for Psychology degrees and is situated in the heart of England.  We produce internationally recognized research which is driving knowledge in this area forward and we work with a variety of healthcare providers, charities, international sports teams and private sector organisations.

Second Diabetes Training Day for Practice Nurses described as “Excellent”

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Dr Rachel Povey

Dr Rachel Povey, Senior Lecturer in Health Psychology, reports on a successful training event for nurses recently held at Staffordshire University:

On 22nd July 2015, Staffordshire University held a second successful training day for practice nurses on motivating dietary change for people with type 2 diabetes. The programme this year was attended by 14 practice nurses as well as the Senior Healthcare Professional Engagement Officer from Diabetes UK (Suj Ahmed). The training uses an innovative Resource Pack, originally developed by Dr Rachel Povey (course tutor), which is written specifically for practice nurses. Rachel and Lisa Cowap jointly developed the training programme in 2014, using examples from the pack to provide nurses with a range of psychological ‘tools’ which can be used to help motivate patients to make positive dietary changes in the self-management of their condition. This year’s programme was run by Rachel and Lisa, together with Sue Curtis, a Diabetes Specialist from Manchester Diabetes Centre.

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Dr Rachel Povey at the training event

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Lisa Cowap delivers her training session to the attendees

Suj Ahmed, Senior Healthcare Professional Engagement Officer from Diabetes UK stated that “The course is excellent. A good mixture of theory and practical experience for influencing behaviour change in diabetes patients by practice nurses”.He also conducted a straw poll during break discussions and reported that all attendees said they would definitely use some of the learning and techniques from the course to engage their patients to make dietary behaviour changes.

Evaluations of the programme from the nurses were also extremely positive, with a mean rating of 9.1/10, and some encouraging comments, including: “Excellent, should be attended by all Practice nurses” and “Handouts and materials provided are excellent and can be applied to practice.

For further information about Health Psychology courses and research at Staffordshire University please visit the following webpages:

Funded Bursary for a Trainee on the Professional Doctorate in Health Psychology at Staffordshire University

The Department of Psychology at Staffordshire University is delighted to announce its first funded student bursary for the highly successful Professional Doctorate in Health Psychology programme.

The bursary has been provided by Mid Yorks NHS Trust, is £13K per annum for two years, and will provide a placement for a full-time trainee at Pinderfields Hospital in Wakefield. The trainee will be working primarily with the Consultant Clinical Psychologist on the Paediatric Burns Unit, but opportunities to undertake clinical work with adults will also be available via input into other medical specialties (such as diabetes, chronic pain etc.).

Dr Dorothy Frizelle, Consultant Clinical Psychologist & Head of Service, Mid Yorkshire Hospitals NHS Trust stated: “This is a great opportunity for a health psychology trainee. This placement will provide the trainee with many opportunities to develop a health psychology skill set. This placement will also allow us to pioneer closer links between clinical and health psychology, and help to break down barriers

Further details about the bursary is available here. Please note that the closing date is noon on Thursday, 3rd September, 2015.

For further information about this exciting opportunity please contact Dr Rachel Povey (r.povey@staffs.ac.uk). Further details about Staffordshire University’s Centre for Health Psychology can be found here.

Other Postgraduate Funded Opportunities at Staffordshire University

Staffordshire University is also offering four fully funded PhD Studentships in Psychology, including several health psychology-related PhDs, click here for more information about these PhD opportunities.

Fully Funded PhDs in Psychology at Staffordshire University!

The Department of Psychology at Staffordshire University are pleased to be offering four fully funded PhD Studentships. These studentships will involve conducting a major research project (see below for details) as well as some light teaching duties.

Staffordshire University's £30 million Science Centre, home of the Psychology Department

Staffordshire University’s £30 million Science Centre, home of the Psychology Department

The studentships include a fee waiver, a tax-free stipend of £14,057, and six hours per week of teaching duties.

Interested parties are recommended to contact the respective Principal Supervisors for further details about their studentship. Further details about the application process for these PhD studentships is available here.

Please note that the closing date for applications is Monday 14th September 2015.


1. The design, development and evaluation of a diabetes prevention programme

Principal Supervisor: Dr Rachel Povey (email R.Povey@staffs.ac.uk).

Diabetes is a significant health issue within the UK, with over 3 million diagnosed and an estimated 590,000 as yet undiagnosed with Type 2 diabetes (Diabetes UK, 2015), costing the NHS approximately £10 billion per year. As Type 2 diabetes can be preventable, the NHS, Public Health England and Diabetes UK have recently launched a national Diabetes Prevention Programme, which will be piloted in seven sites around the UK.   The proposed PhD studentship has been developed through ongoing collaboration between PSE researchers and Public Health England (PHE). It will be supervised by Dr Rachel Povey, Dr Chris Gidlow and Dr Naomi Ellis and will involve the development, support and evaluation of aspects of the Diabetes Prevention Programme. Although this will be driven, in part, by the needs of PHE, the first months will be spent defining the PhD based on the available opportunities, in addition to the student’s own ideas, experience and expertise

Supervisory Team: Dr Rachel Povey, Dr Chris Gidlow & Dr Naomi Ellis.


2. Applying the social norms approach to improve dietary behaviours amongst high school students

Principal Supervisor: Dr Robert Dempsey (email Robert.Dempsey@staffs.ac.uk)

Rates of obesity and the consumption of unhealthy, “junk”, foods are rising amongst young adolescents. This PhD project will involve the development and evaluation of a social norms-informed intervention to promote healthy eating amongst high school children. The intervention will be based on the Social Norms Approach, an intervention strategy used to elicit positive behaviour and attitudinal change by challenging commonly held misperceptions of peer behaviours and attitudes. Social norms interventions have been primarily conducted in the USA and have focused on reducing substance use by university students, with few studies investigating the presence of normative misperceptions of healthy eating amongst young adolescents and whether these misperceptions can be challenged via normative feedback.

Aims:

  • Conduct a systematic literature review of existing studies.
  • Develop a social norms-informed intervention which can be used in-class (using a cluster randomised controlled design) with input from children from the intervention site.
  • Investigate the extent of normative misperceptions of peer healthy eating behaviours and attitudes amongst high school students.
  • Conduct a small-scale study (a cluster randomised controlled trial) to investigate whether the social norms intervention has a significant impact on normative misperceptions and healthy eating behaviours and attitudes.
  • Evaluate the effectiveness and acceptability of the intervention (using both qualitative and quantitative methodologies).

The successful candidate will be expected to make an original contribution to the design of the project and be capable of working independently. This is an exciting project which is ideally suited for a bright, motivated and enthusiastic graduate with interests in health psychology, behaviour change and in evaluating the Social Norms Approach.

Supervisory Team: Dr Robert Dempsey, Dr Rachel Povey, & Prof Tony Stewart.


3. The role of attention and negative emotion in the production of false memories

Principal Supervisor: Dr. Louise Humphreys (email L.Humphreys@staffs.ac.uk)

Research suggests that memory is enhanced for emotionally negative events (Humphreys, Underwood, & Chapman, 2010), yet negative emotion can lead to heightened susceptibility to false memory (Porter et al., 2010). Whilst research has examined the role of attention in emotional memory (typically results show that emotional stimuli capture more attention than neutral stimuli and are preferentially attended to despite other task demands), few studies have addressed what role attention plays in emotional false memories. Van Damme and Smets (2013) is one of only a few studies that have examined this. They found that negative valence inhibited central false information but increased peripheral false information, suggesting that attention is drawn to emotionally arousing features (with fewer resources available for processing peripheral details). Based on these findings a measure of attention should show differences in attention allocation between central and peripheral details. However, to our knowledge no research has directly measured the role of attention in false memory production.

The role of attention in emotional false memory will be examined by 1) manipulating attention at study, and 2) measuring attention using eye-tracking methodology. This research has important implications for the courts, where false memories are a perennial problem. Presenters of fact (e.g., barristers, solicitors) as well as triers of fact (e.g., judges, jurors) need to become aware of factors that can influence people’s susceptibility to false memories. This research aims to examine attention to emotionally negative events, and how this impacts on people’s susceptibility to false memories.

Supervisory Team: Dr Louise Humphreys & Dr Sarah Krähenbühl


4. Portraits of Pain: The use of pain drawings to meaningfully communicate pain experiences

Principal Supervisor: Professor Karen Rodham (email: Karen.Rodham@staffs.ac.uk)

There is evidence that pain drawings may be a method by which people in pain can meaningfully communicate, understand and potentially alter their pain experiences. This study follows a protocol established and tested by Loduca and colleagues (2014) in Brazil, which incorporates pain portraits into the rehabilitation process. Understanding more about a person’s experience of pain will facilitate the development of more individualised and patient-centred treatment plans.

We are currently completing a feasibility study exploring how best to incorporate the Pain Portrait process into a UK NHS-based pain management programme. The PhD builds on this feasibility study.

Aim: To explore whether replicating and implementing the pain portrait process in clinic in the UK can:

  • help patients communicate and cope better with their pain;
  • help staff understand more about their patients’ pain experience
  • improve patient outcomes
  • provide insight into cultural (UK-Brazil) differences in pain experiences

Supervisory Team: Prof Karen Rodham, Dr Amy Burton and Prof Tony Stewart.


Further details about our courses in Psychology can be found here. Please click on the following links for further details of Staffordshire University’s research centres in Psychology, including our Centre for Health Psychology and Centre for Psychological Research.

100% Student Satisfaction on Staffordshire University’s MSc in Health Psychology!

MSc Health Psychology students at Staffordshire University are 100% satisfied with the quality of their course according to Post Graduate Taught Experience Survey (PTES) 2015 results. The Higher Education Authority’s annual Postgraduate Taught Experience Survey (PTES) is the only sector-wide survey to gain insight from taught postgraduate students about their learning and teaching experience.

    Dr Amy Burton and Dr Sarah Dean with some of our 2015 MSc Health Psychology Graduates

Dr Amy Burton and Dr Sarah Dean with some of our 2015 MSc Health Psychology Graduates

Staffordshire University is the home of Health Psychology with our MSc being the first programme of its kind in the UK to be accredited by the British Psychological Society (BPS). Our students have access to top of the range facilities including a dedicated base-room within the £30 million pound Science Centre, a thriving psychology visiting speaker programme and journal club, as well as high-level teaching from academics who are active researchers in the area of Health Psychology.

Our MSc continues to hold an excellent reputation nationally and is going from strength to strength. In the recent PTES poll overall satisfaction was 100% with all students surveyed indicating that they would recommend studying at Staffordshire to a friend or relative. In particular students were 100% satisfied with the quality of learning and teaching on the MSc including support, staff enthusiasm, and intellectual stimulation and 100% satisfied with their skill development feeling that the course helped to prepare them for future careers.

Dr Amy Burton, Course Director for the MSc Health Psychology, comments “I have been Course Director for two years now and really enjoy meeting our new students and hearing about their research interests and ideas. The MSc is the first step towards becoming a Health Psychologist and many of our graduates go on to become experts in their field, working in academia, research and clinical practice. I am delighted with our PTES results. Our academic team work hard to ensure that our students get the best out of the course and these results show that we are succeeding in our goal to provide a stimulating and rewarding experience”.

For more information or details of the wide range of Psychology related postgraduate degrees on offer at Staffordshire University please visit our website and our courses page.

The School of Psychology, Sport and Exercise at Staffordshire University is a leading School in the UK for Psychology degrees and is situated in the heart of England.  We produce internationally recognized research which is driving knowledge in this area forward and we work with a variety of healthcare providers, charities, international sports teams and private sector organisations.

 

Psychology Students Highly Satisfied at Staffordshire University!

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Our graduating Psychology Class of 2015.

Undergraduate Psychology students at Staffordshire University have given some of the highest ever satisfaction ratings for their degree courses as part of the 2015 National Student Survey (NSS). The NSS is an annual survey completed by all final year students studying degrees at UK Universities and gives an insight into students’ experiences at University.

Some of Staffordshire University’s flagship Psychologynss degrees gained extremely high satisfaction ratings on the NSS. The BSc Psychology and Child Development degree received a fantastic 100% satisfaction score, and our BSc Psychology degree scored a brilliant satisfaction rating of 98%.

These exceptionally high student satisfaction scores across courses demonstrates a very strong focus on students’ experiences when studying for Psychology degrees at Staffordshire University and the commitment of our academic Psychology staff in providing the best experience for students.

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Judy David

Judy David, Academic Group Lead for Undergraduate Psychology, comments: “I am delighted our students are highly satisfied with their experience here. We have some exceptional Psychology courses at Staffordshire, designed to give students fascinating insights into Psychology as well as prepare them well for their future. Our academic staff team is well known for being friendly, approachable and supportive and many of our staff are involved in world leading research. So we really can offer our students one of the best experiences possible, and it is lovely to have that recognised in a national survey.”

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Dr Peter Jones

Head of School of Psychology, Sport and Exercise, Dr Peter Jones comments “These results are even better than last year and clearly show at Staffordshire University we have some of the best psychology degrees not only the heart of England but in the whole of the UK. I think this is not just because we have great facilities but because our academic, technical and support teams are brilliant at creating a great student experience. We pride ourselves on developing people and transforming their lives.”

For more information or details of the wide range of Psychology related undergraduate and postgraduate degrees on offer at Staffordshire University please visit our website and our courses page.

The School of Psychology, Sport and Exercise at Staffordshire University is a leading University School in the UK for Psychology degrees and is situated in the heart of England. We produce internationally recognized research which is driving knowledge in this area forward and we work with a variety of healthcare providers, charities, international sports teams and private sector organisations.

Nichola Street Joins the Psychology Department at Staffordshire University.

The Psychology Academic team are pleased to welcome Nichola Street who joined the University as a Lecturer in Psychology in August 2015. Nichola introduces herself below:

I am delighted to be joining the team at Staffordshire University as a Lecturer in Psychology. My first week here was full of happy, friendly faces and learning my way around the building and campus!

NStreet Aug 15To give you a bit of background to my journey here, I began studying psychology at high school, and was hooked on the subject from the beginning. I went on to complete my undergraduate degree in Applied Psychology and PG Cert in Counselling and Psychotherapy at Liverpool John Moores University.

I had discovered a love of research during my degree and I started my PhD at Aberystwyth University in 2010 under the supervision of Dr Alex Forsythe. My PhD examined perceptions of visual beauty, focusing on the role that individual difference plays in aesthetic responses to natural shapes (fractals). I’d always been fascinated by the draw and hypnotic qualities of nature, and wanted to explore some of the factors that made these scenes so appealing to so many people. I transferred my PhD studies to University of Liverpool to complete my thesis. During the final year of my PhD I also worked as a Research Fellow at University of Salford with Dr Sarah Norgate (lead) on an EPSRC Digital Economy/ Energy 6th Sense Transport research in collaboration with Lancaster University and 3 other UK universities investigating travel behaviour. Our particular focus was the concept of ‘Walking School Buses’ and exploring how to reduce barriers to uptake with the support of a smartphone application ‘goWSB’. Most recently, over the last year, I have been working at University of Liverpool as a Lecturer in the School of Psychology. My role at Liverpool involved coordination for the international psychology module and working on the Online MSc Programmes in a Quality Assurance position. My time at Liverpool taught me many things but one stands outs, that there is an international need for psychological studies and education which should be encouraged as much as possible as psychologists often hold the key to helping tackle global issues in this increasingly global world.

My research focuses on some key underlying questions, namely how the environment in which we spend time can impact our behaviour and wellbeing. I enjoy interdisciplinary working and am currently collaborating with artists and scientists from a number of disciplines to explore this question further. The team and expertise here at Staffordshire is something that attracted me to the university. I was also drawn to the teaching and student-focus here at Staffordshire as I see supporting the next generation of psychologists is such an important task. Alongside my teaching, I’m excited to be taking on some public engagement responsibilities including organising the ‘Weird and Wonderful Psychology’ event to be held later in the year. I enjoy creative and collaborative events and find them very inspiring, so I am hoping to bring some of this passion to the students and wider Stoke population about the wonderful subject that is psychology!

Finally if you like social media, please follow me on twitter @NikkiCMJones, I try to tweet regularly mainly work and research related content alongside some personal stuff (mostly expect pictures of art/animals/food & drink!) and always appreciate making new connections. I’m looking forward to getting stuck into teaching and meeting more of the students and staff here at Staffordshire, so far so good and I’m very glad to be new to the team!

Annual Staffordshire Clinical Psychology Trainee Conference a Success!

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Trainees at the 2015 Conference

Ruth Graham, a current trainee Clinical Psychologist at Staffordshire University, reports on a success conference for trainees hosted at the University in the Summer of 2015.

The Clinical Psychology Trainee Conference took place in June and was deemed a great success. This year marked a new turn for the conference, as two trainees designed and ran the day. Following last year’s successful conference about service user involvement, trainees were keen to lead the way in being open and honest about the personal and professional challenges faced by psychologists.

The theme for the conference was ‘Creating Breathing Space’ and it was designed with the intention of being an experiential breathing space on the day, as well as figuring out new ways to find breathing space within trainees’ personal and professional lives.

Trainees writing their personal reflections about the challenges of accessing self care in their personal lives.

Trainees writing their personal reflections about the challenges of accessing self care in their personal lives.

The morning included some action participatory research that allowed for group discussions and individual reflections on the challenges to accessing self care across different areas, such as university, year groups, the NHS, the therapy room, personal life and the world. This was then followed by a brilliant and well received talk on video by Professor Delia Cushway, a consultant clinical psychologist who has spent much of her career exploring trainee and professional stress amongst psychologists.

The trainees listening to Professor Delia Cushway.

The trainees listening to Professor Delia Cushway’s video talk.

The afternoon was filled with a variety of workshops that had different takes on breathing space. They included art therapy – where therapeutic slime was met with varying reactions!

A space for mindfulness was a welcome relief amidst a busy day, whilst Konnektiv Arts, a community drama company, offered thoughtful discussion on the presentation of mental health. Neuro-circus added a fun and different approach to self-care as many tried out their balance and juggling skills.

Trainees gathered together at the end in order to offer final reflections and comments on breathing space and how it can be found and fought for in the workplace. Creative reflections led to a tie dye ripple effect wall hanging that reflected the collective impact of individual steps to find breathing space.

The ripple effect and two trainees who have enjoyed the day.

The ripple effect and two trainees who have enjoyed the day.

Overall the day was a great success, with trainees enjoying being together and having the space to look after themselves, both in the moment and going forward. Look out for a more in-depth presentation and experience of the conference in the exhibition room in The Science Centre, 28th September to 2nd October!

For more information about courses in Psychology and Clinical Psychology at Staffordshire University please visit our course pages here.