Health Psychology Services

At the forefront of delivering unique, quality, personalised healthcare services

An Introduction to Therapeutic Skills for Health Psychologists
Reviews: (…read more)
Led by: Dr Claire Hallas, C.Psychol. AFBPsS, Consultant Health Psychologist

Who is this course for?
Suitable for trainee and qualified Health Psychologists, wishing to develop their applied health psychology research/practice with individual clients.

What will be covered by the course?
Three main areas;
1. Personal and Interpersonal Issues in Health Psychology Therapeutic Practice:
-
Working as a Health Psychologist with individual clients: What do you need to know?
-
Differentiating therapeutic practice from research practice: How are they different? Accountability, roles, intervention delivery, outcomes measurement
-
Therapeutic roles: personal versus professional schemas and their impact on practice
-
Developing & maintaining the HP-client therapeutic alliance (TA):
-
How to develop a therapeutic alliance between health psychologist & patient/client? What are the components of a positive relationship and the professional boundaries of the TA? The client as expert in their health problem, therapist as expert in interventions and guiding therapy.
-
Professional behaviours and Interpersonal communication skills required for Health Psychology therapeutic practice: e.g. interpersonal perceptual and relational skills, therapist attitude and interpersonal knowledge.
2. Applying Technical Therapeutic Skills in Health Psychology Practice:
-
What foundation therapeutic skills do I need to help a client with physical health problems?
-
How do I ensure that I am client centred in my approach rather than ‘expert’ focused –ensuring I am not just gathering information on health outcomes but facilitating better health outcomes.
-
Applying technical therapeutic skills in practice:
-
How to change health related cognitions & behaviour within individual therapeutic practice? Using key technical skills such as:
-
Socratic Questioning
-
Guided Discovery
-
Collaboration
-
Negotiation
-
Technical therapeutic skills applied to Health Psychology contexts and case studies
-
3. Building your confidence and skills in therapeutic practice
-
Pre and post course self-assessment of skills and knowledge in individual client HP practice
-
Goals to achieve in your everyday practice following the course
-
First actions and challenges to implementing your goals
-
Review and development process for maintaining skills
Followed by course evaluation and feedback

How will this course help me?
We aim for attendees to gain a comprehensive understanding of the personal, professional and interpersonal skills required to deliver HP therapeutic practice (and/or applied intervention research) with individuals. Specifically to be able;
-
To describe the basic clinical framework for working in therapeutic practice with individual Health Psychology patients/clients.
-
To be self-aware of personal factors and schema that can impact upon therapy outcomes.
-
To identify the range of communication skills required for effective practice with individual patients/clients and their purpose within the therapeutic process.
-
To understand the key technical therapeutic skills (e.g. Socratic questioning and guided discovery, collaboration, negotiation) required to develop and maintain the health psychologist-patient/client therapeutic alliance and its impact on clinical outcomes.
-
To identify key changes in therapeutic working style that can be implemented within their current role.