Community Mental Health Transformation in England: The implications for clinical psychologists

Abstract

The Community Mental Health Transformation in England has introduced a range of opportunities for clinical psychologists. Whilst the focus to increase delivery of evidence based psychological therapies requires associated expertise to deliver, train and supervise these therapies, the opportunities go beyond therapy. Genuine transformation relies on local systems moving away from a bio-medically dominated approach to mental health service delivery, to provision underpinned by a more nuanced bio-psychosocial understanding of wellbeing and personal recovery. Clinical psychologists are ideally placed to support teams and services to offer true personalised care: offering expert advice to ensure care and support is formulation based and acknowledges the individual, systemic and structural elements that contribute to mental distress. Ultimately, the cultural change required to achieve the transformation described within national policy is dependent on leadership from those with appropriate expert knowledge and understanding of mental distress. Clinical psychologists should have these competences and can offer this leadership.