This week’s activities (16th May - 20th May, 2016)

On Monday, I’ll be visiting the British Psychological Society office in Leicester to meet the staff and discuss my plans for my year as President.

On Tuesday, I have some NHS work scheduled, before I go down to London for an evening event discussing the portrayal of mental health on TV – I’m an audience member, rather than a panellist (unfortunately), but this is a timely debate given what many people regard as the relative disregard of social context at least some programming.

On Wednesday, after returning from London, I have a little more NHS business to attend to (as well as posting my regular BPS blog) and on Thursday I'll be meeting a colleague to receive advice on public relations and promotion (he’s a former advertising executive who now advises clinical psychology training programmes, and I think he'll have useful insights).

I am, as I write this, not 100% sure what I’m doing on Friday (20^th), but I hope to attend the BACP (British Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy) Research Conference in Brighton.

This week’s activities (9th May - 13th May, 2016)

This week will start off with a couple of teleconferences for the British Psychological Society (and so that I can get to a telephone and an office in London in time for a 9am telephone call, I’ll have to get up at 4:30am). Then it’s a busy day. The London Offices of the BPS are hosting two events; the Division of Clinical Psychology’s Representative Assembly, and a meeting of the Education and Public Engagement Board. I’ll also be meeting a colleague to review our strategy for publications aimed at the general public. Then, in the late afternoon, I’ll be attending (and, I think, speaking at) a reception at the House of Commons, celebrating 50 years of clinical psychology in the UK, hosted by Lisa Cameron MP (our first Clinical Psychologist MP). I am reliably informed that some of our political friends may make announcements of exciting future opportunities for psychology and public policy.

On Tuesday (10^th), I hope to meet a colleague from the world of theatre to talk about mental health on stage, and then I’ll dropping into the BPS Division of Clinical Psychology’s Annual General Meeting, and attempting to combine that with attendance at the BPS Research Board.

On Wednesday (11^th) I’m being interviewed by some US-based film-makers, investigating how attitudes towards psychological health are changing… and perhaps emerging from the dark ages. Then, I’ll be back in Parliament, chairing a meeting of the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Prescribed Drug Dependence. In the afternoon, I hope to have time to attend a meeting of the British Psychological Society’s Membership and Standards Board, before dashing back to Manchester (I’m supposed to be going out in the evening).

On Thursday and Friday, it’s university and NHS business – meetings with colleagues about app developments (I have a paper just on the cusp of publication describing one apparently helpful app, and another idea in development), PhD supervision (looking at the functions of, and alternatives to, psychiatric diagnosis), human rights in dementia, and NHS work (with public health colleagues) towards ‘psychologically informed environments'.

Finally, on Saturday, I’ll be in York, with colleagues concerned about cuts to mental health services in the city.

This week’s activities (2nd May - 6th May, 2016)

It’s a public holiday on Monday, so the week for me begins on Tuesday when I will be visiting what I should probably describe as a major broadcaster based in Salford to discuss psychological wellbeing in the workplace.

On Wednesday (the 4^th), I’ll be dealing with university business (and a little NHS work) before travelling to the British Psychological Society’s head office in Leicester to help update the Society’s website (a much needed task) on Thursday 5^th.

Friday 6^th will be focused on university business – student mental heath, supervising research students and grant management… with a little NHS work thrown into the mix.

This week’s activities (25th April – 29th April, 2016)

This Monday (the 25^th), I’ll be dealing with university business (including analysis of an undergraduate colleague’s research into the fundamental attributional error in our understanding of mental health problems and other people’s response to emotional stress), before heading off to Nottingham for the British Psychological Society’s annual conference, which opens on Tuesday. 

On the Wednesday, I hope – unless something dramatic and unexpected occurs – I’ll take up the reins as President of the Society at the A.G.M on Wednesday afternoon. Before then, I hope I’m going to be able to discuss our plans for policy and public engagement over the next year with our new Director of Policy and Communications at an open meeting (which we’ll have to slip into the programme somehow).

On Thursday 28^th, in my first day as President, I’ll be in London, at a meeting to discuss formulation as a core skill for workers in mental health care – perfectly timed, as Skills for Health are currently looking into exactly this issue. In the evening, I’m a panellist in a discussion about mental health… which I’d love to share in more detail, but unfortunately the Arts Club restricts such information to members.

On Friday 29^th, I’ll be representing the BPS at the launch of the ‘National Guideline Alliance’ led by the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists and coordinating the production of clinical guidelines on behalf of the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE). I’ll probably also be trying to catch up with lots of emails !

This week’s activities (18th April – 22nd April, 2016)

As usual for a Monday, I’m holding a regular teleconference about British Psychological Society business first thing (when I’ll catch up on Jamie’s rather distressing news), as well as a couple of other telephone and Skype calls; about BPS publications and public reports, and about a new All PartyParliamentary Group for Prescribed Drug Dependence, but spending the rest of the day on a combination of university and NHS business.

Tuesday is solely a university day, but on Wednesday 20^th, I am travelling to Teesside University for a celebration of the 20 year anniversary of their Doctorate in Clinical Psychology (DClinPsy) programme

On Thursday, I’ll be busy with university business, but in London; visiting the new economics foundation (they write their name in lowercase, I don’t know why) to discuss our joint interest in community wellbeing.

Then, on Friday, I’ll be meeting with the new BPS Policy and Communications Director to discuss our plans for BPS policy. For me, implementing the BPS ‘charitable object’ - “to promote the advancement and diffusion of a knowledge of psychology pure and applied” – that means a focus on social justice, wellbeing, health, mental health, education and criminal justice… for starters. Then, I’ll be having lunch with colleagues from psychotherapy organisations – BACP, UKCP, and BPC, before a meeting with colleagues from the Joanna Simpson Foundation.