What we do in the Psychological Services department

We might arrange to meet with you at an out-patient appointment; when you come to see your doctor in clinic, or if you are staying in hospital we can come and visit you on the ward.We might arrange to meet with you at an out-patient appointment; when you come to see your doctor in clinic, or if you are staying in hospital we can come and visit you on the ward.

We might talk about:

• Worries about being ill, or feeling worried about what might happen to you
• Being in hospital
• Having injections or operations
• Talking with your friends about your health – it can be hard to know what to say
• Helping if you have a lot of pain
• Worried about feeling “different” from other children – if you are missing out on school, feeling worried about a scar, looking a bit different from other children or how to manage bullies
• Help with coping at school

We also try to help by meeting with parents and brothers and sisters too.

The aim of our first meeting will be for us to get to know you a little, to understand how things are going, and to see if there is anything that we can work on together that could make things better. We can then make a plan about when and where to meet next.

We might talk to you on your own or choose to have someone with you. Sometimes we might talk to you for a bit and then talk to your family too. Our meetings usually last for about an hour.

You don’t have to talk if you don’t want to. Nobody will laugh or think you are silly and you can talk about whatever is important to you. Our talks can be private. Your psychologist will ask you what you want to tell other people. We tell your doctor here that we’ve seen you – but we don’t tell others what you’ve said without talking to you first.

With your permission, it may also be helpful for us to talk with the people who support you locally, for example, your school, GP, community nurse, social worker, or health visitor.

Rarely there may be an emergency situation, when we may ask advice from our colleagues in liaison psychiatry and work closely with them to make a plan.