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charliepsych.bsky.social
Clinical psychologist in an acute hospital. NHS. Person-centred care. Relationships & dialogue in healthcare. I'm a dad. Twins🤍🤍 Living in Bristol #SpacesForListening
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When people cant get the help they need with chronic health conditions you can really see lives start to fall apart. Prolonged time off work, job insecurity, money worries, relationship strain, worsening health, massive impact on mental wellbeing... Because people couldnt get the help they needed.

submitted 1 day ago • 1 comment

NHS Trusts having to reduce staff & services obvsly sends a new wave of demoralisation through the workforce. And it's important to recognise we're not starting from fresh here. The workforce is already exhausted, hanging on by threads. There will be more stress, more sickness, more disengagement.

submitted 2 days ago • 1 comment

When you're trying to care for someone who's in a totally overwhelming situation, it's enough to be there alongside & 'in it', in the struggle with the person. This might not seem like much, & it's not giving solutions or fixing anything. But if it's genuine, it's worth loads.

submitted 3 days ago • 2 comments

It feels to me like big organisational decisions get made at a conceptual, mechanical level, with a detachment from the real human impact of the decisions. I imagine decisions are made with care, but it's important that people affected by decisions FEEL that care. And too often that is not the case.

submitted 4 days ago • 0 comments

We have a strong sense of appreciation for each other in the team, it feels so important. Everyone's got so much going on, & yet it's a foundation of strength to come back to- the strength that comes from the care between us. I really value it.

submitted 4 days ago • 0 comments

We know collaboration is important in bringing diverse views & experiences to complex situations. We know the importance of 'creating conditions' where people can speak freely & listen to each other. How many of us can honesty say we regularly experience this, or participate in this kind of space?

submitted 5 days ago • 2 comments

If we think in terms of a health & wellbeing ecosystem, then of course access to good quality hospitals & services is hugely important. And so is access to environments & ways of living that create & support health.

submitted 6 days ago • 0 comments

It's hard to know where anyone is in terms of 'recovery' from the pandemic. So much is different now, how do you ever get a sense of how you really are in yourself? We know things can't ever be back to normal. But the disturbed state of the world makes any sense of recovery seem pretty distant.

submitted 6 days ago • 3 comments

I've crossed a threshold where I'm now definitely 'into' garden centres...

submitted 7 days ago • 4 comments

Is it possible to operate in senior leadership roles in the NHS while also being meaningfully connected to what's really going on at a clinical level? Seems to me there's always a gap- different ways of seeing & understanding. Maybe this is ok, & realistic, but do we need to be more honest about it?

submitted 7 days ago • 2 comments

When do we ever see role-modelling of good listening on our screens? We don't. What's role-modelled is- getting your point across, talking over another person, winning an argument, being 'charismatic', grabbing attention by exaggerating... And yet it's good listening that we so desperately need.

submitted 8 days ago • 1 comment

I've met today with patients, psychologists, directors, doctors, a room full of nurses... When we get past these labels & meet each other as people it is honestly a qualitatively different experience. We can totally value our diverse skills & views. But meet as people first- the human connection.

submitted 8 days ago • 0 comments

Different conversations open up when we talk about the 'health & wellbeing ecosystem', rather than just healthcare services & social care. Ofc we need resourced public services, but in a health & wellbeing ecosystem, 'services' are only a part of the picture, & it's so important to understand this.

submitted 9 days ago • 0 comments

I was chatting with a colleague from the voluntary sector- "I'm giving up on 'system change'. It's the language of the system. People I know just get on with it, trying to live decent lives & helping each other where we can. We're not waiting around for 'system change'." There's so much in this...

submitted 9 days ago • 2 comments

It's not really an engagement event if an excessively 'positive' vibe silences people from speaking truthfully about anxieties & concerns.

submitted 11 days ago • 1 comment

When we think about how to get more listening, compassionate care into healthcare, more 'be with' rather than 'do to' etc it's rarely a knowledge deficit. It's not about sitting through more presentations & training. The recurrent theme I hear is "how can we do these things when we're so stretched?"

submitted 11 days ago • 1 comment

Was good today to hold in mind & appreciate people who put in efforts behind the scenes to create opportunities for people to come together- gatherers, convenors, people who 'hold space'. There's unseen care & skill in this, & it's important to appreciate it.

submitted 11 days ago • 0 comments

We've done a collaboration project bringing together teams from the 2 local hospitals. And we've 'delivered' what we set out to. But what about the feel of it, what's it been like? We should capture this somehow, eg involve a qualitative researcher or anthropologist. There'd be such rich learning.

submitted 12 days ago • 0 comments

It's such a relief & a joy to see my son reading a few words. I'm so proud of him. He's 10 & he's really not wanted to engage with reading up until now. He picked up a random puzzle book & just wanted to read the instructions on each page for himself. You just never know what's round the corner eh😃

submitted 12 days ago • 2 comments

A lot of our clinical psychology work is about creating a space for people to become more aware of the patterns they get into. There's no judgement or advice about making changes. Having increased awareness about patterns can open up new possibilities & understandings, which we can explore together.

submitted 12 days ago • 0 comments

Someone once told me after being off work with burnout that they only started to feel like themselves again after about 3 months off, & then it took another 3 months to get some spark back. If theyd only taken a few days or a week off theyd have never found this out. Always stays with me does this.

submitted 13 days ago • 2 comments