Newsletter Editor: Rob Jones

r.s.jones@bangor.ac.uk

Welcome to the eighth edition of the Programme newsletter.

Once again we feature a range of articles that are central to the

Programme and its stakeholders. We say goodbye to Rebecca Williams

who left her post as Academic Tutor last September. In November,

we were joined by Sharon Mostyn-Williams as Research and Clinical

Secretary. There is a short report (below) on our Open meeting and

another in the series of “In my Day” articles. This time Caroline Eayrs

recalls her experiences of training in the 1970s in Birmingham. Richard

Hastings gives a short one-2-one interview and there is a welcome

page introducing the new first-year cohort.

As ever, I am always on the lookout for more features and articles

so if there is anything that you would like to see in future editions

then drop me a line and I’ll do my best to include it.

The format for last year’s Annual ProgrammeOpen Meeting differed slightly from previousyears in that it included research presentationsfrom the trainees who were still on theProgramme and those who had just graduated.The current trainees presented posters of theirSRRPs while the graduating trainees verballypresented their LSRP projects. In addition,invitations were extended to the new traineeintake and we were delighted that so many ofthem managed to attend for the day and getto know each other and their future colleaguesand Programme staff.

Our guest speaker was Professor Oliver Turnbull,Head of the School of Psychology at Bangorwho presented a fascinating and veryentertaining talk on the neurobiology of dreams.The day received very positive feedback andwas widely regarded as the most successfulOpen day in recent memory. It will be a hardact to follow, but plans are afoot for the nextone which will be held on 9th Sept 2010. Keepthe date free in your diaries!

Open Day 2009

Robin Owen presents his LSRP data

Oliver Turnbull presents his guest lecture

Cheers!The Programme Team raise their glasses andwish a fond farewell to Rebecca Williams

In September the team said goodbye toDr Rebecca Williams who left us to takeup a Consultant Post heading up theSpecialist Childrens’ Service in NorthWest Wales.

Rebecca joined the Programme inSeptember 2006 as Academic Tutor andquickly made herself invaluable on theTeam.

Together with Alan Dowey, Rebecca wasresponsible for co-ordinating the LearningDisability module and held overallresponsibility for co-ordinating the 2ndyear curriculum. She was also centrallyinvolved in overhauling the curriculumin terms of social inclusion and diversity.

Probably Rebecca’s most memorablecontribution to the Programme was herinterest in service user involvement.Rebecca was responsible for the

development of the service userconsultancy panel (known as the ‘peoplepanel’) which is now an established partof the Programme. She was also involvedin helping shape service user involvementin teaching and selection.

We wish Rebecca all the very best in hernew role. She will be sorely missed.

Beca Stilwell

Freya Spicer

Siwan Roberts

Lucy Marriott

Danielle Scanlon Samantha Charman

Peter Kinsella

Lisa Williams

Currently on placement withCarolien Lamers, Peterpreviously worked as anassistant psychologist in anumber of posts related to braininjury and as a mental healthadvocate.

Currently on placement withEleri Jones, Beca previouslygained clinical and researchexperience working with youngadults in a inpatient Brain Injuryservice and within the OAservice.

Currently on placement withLouise Barber and StuartPaynter, Lucy has previouslyworked as a research assistant,as an assistant psychologistand as an IAPT worker.

Currently on placement withBob Woods, Samanthapreviously worked within aCMHT, as well as with adultswith learning disabilities andchallenging behaviour.

Currently on placement withKim Moore, Lisa has previouslyworked as a practitioner withina specialist personality disorderservice and as a researchassociate in a high securehospital.

Currently on placement withRenee Rickard and KeithMathews, Freyapreviously worked ina psychiatric rehabilitationhospital in Blackburn.

Currently on placement withKristina Cole, Danielle previouslyworked as a Psychology Assistantfor Mersey Forensic PsychologyService based in Liverpool.

Currently on placement withKenny Midence, Siwan previouslyworked as an assistant in twoLearning Disability services, andalso as a research assistant ona longitudinal study exploringthe development of aggression.

The eight members of the 2009 cohort joined theprogramme on the 1st of October and began theirplacements in November so we thought it wouldbe nice to get to know them a bit.....

Welcome to the First Year Cohort

After a meal in the Management Centre on CollegeRoad, the group wandered to the Terraceoverlooking the city and attempted to recreate thepose from a similar photograph taken 15 yearspreviously. Unfortunately Sam Morrow (nee Turner)was unable to join the group but she sent aphotograph and her very best wishes. The groupare (from left to right): Dave Dean, Sharon Pope,Huw Williams, Mike Jackson, Sara Philips, ColinClerkin and Sam Morrow (via Photoshop!). It wasa lovely reunion – here’s to 2024!

On warm Saturday last October, a small bandof clinical psychologists travelled from variousparts of the UK to Bangor University and weremet by Isabel Hargreaves, Sharon Fraser andRobert Jones. This was a 15-year reunion of theclass of ’94 – the first cohort to graduate fromBangor with the Doctoral qualification in clinicalpsychology. Only Isabel, Sharon and Robertremained from the Programme team who werethere during the years of their training (1991-1994) and we were delighted to accept theirkind invitation to join in the celebrations.

Hello - is that Sharon?

These days anyone who phones the Programmeand asks to speak to “Sharon” has to beprepared for further questioning! In additionto the Programme Manager, Sharon Fraser andAcademic Secretary, Sharon Owen, lastNovember we employed Sharon Mostyn-Williamsas Research and Cl inical Secretary.In addition to providing support to the Clinicaland Research Team and the People Panel,Sharon organises the Test Library and processesthe finances for the Programme.

Sharon was previously employed in thevoluntary sector where she worked for the last8 years in a crime reduction charity. We wishher a very warm welcome.

The first Doctoral cohortThe graduating class of 1994pay a return visit to Bangor

Welcome to Sharon Mostyn-Williams

After completing her undergraduate degree atPortsmouth Polytechnic (now the University ofPortsmouth) in 1975, Caroline worked as aPsychology Technician (the old term for AssistantPsychologist) for a year and then began herclinical training at Birmingham University in1976. Although at the time Birmingham offereda two-year Masters degree in Clinical Psychology,it also had the facility to allow students withMRC grants to remain for a further two yearsto complete a clinical PhD. Caroline was one oftwo students to go down this route. This meantthat although clinically qualified after the 2-yearMaster’s training, she remained as a student fora further two years and completed a doctoralthesis while on an extended specialist placement.

The model of training was that the researchundertaken for the Masters degree would formthe basis of further experiments leading to thePhD but Caroline decided on a more difficultpath. Having completed her Masters researchin the area of Neuropsychology (Memory inKorsakoffs Syndrome), Caroline decided tochange direction and research a new area forher PhD. Her extended placement was in anAMH setting and she did her PhD on aneducational model of anxiety management. Thiswork was based on using a behavioural approachto group therapy in psychiatric hospitaloutpatients settings and in general practice (atthe time group work was dominated by apsychodynamic perspective). This work formedthe basis of a journal article (Eayrs, Rowan &Harvey, 1984) and part of a book that shepublished with her supervisor (Rowan & Eayrs,1987).

“In My Day”

While training, Caroline’s placement experiencecomprised Adult Mental Health, Child Guidance,Criminology (social skills training with sexoffenders in Winson Green Prison in Birmingham)in addition to the two-year specialist placementin Adult Mental Health while completing herPhD research. Interestingly, she did not haveto complete a Learning Disability placementbecause of an early version of ‘accreditation ofprior learning’ as she had been previouslyemployed in a learning disability setting.

Due to embarking on a new topic, Carolinedidn’t finish her PhD in the two years allocatedbut worked on it for a further year (1981).However, as a qualified clinical psychologist,she was able to obtain employment and wishedto work in the local area. Her primary interestwas in Adult Mental Health but as there wereno jobs available in this specialism, she optedfor a ‘temporary’ job in Learning Disabilitiesuntil a job in her preferred specialism becameavailable. As with many other colleagues workingin LD, she became hooked and so Carolinebegan her 28 year history of working in theLearning Disability specialism. The history ofLD services themselves can be traced by lookingat the terminology changes over that time.From 1980 to 1984 she worked in Lea ‘mentalsubnormality’ hospital in Bromsgrove. Aftertaking a year out to travel in South America in1985, she then joined the Community ‘MentalHandicap’ Team in Salisbury as a PrincipalClinical Psychologist before coming to Wales in1987. Caroline worked as a joint appointmentas a Principal Clinical Psychologist in the thenClwyd Health Authority, and as a Lecturer inClinical Psychology at the University in Bangor.

Robert Jones Interviews CarolineEayrs about training in the ‘70s

“You could also follow your own interests to amuch greater degree than is the case today.”

Caroline thinks that it was much easier to adopta trailblazing role in the mid eighties,particularlyin the backwater specialisms as there were alimited number of people with the initiative andcompetencies to engage in service developmentand strategic thinking and psychologists were bytheir very nature talented and motivated toimprove services. “Today, by contrast, the NHShas a great many managers and otherprofessionals who are themselves bright andtalented and see it as their job to improveservices.”

She remained in this post until 1994 when shereturned to full-time NHS work and took overfrom Judy Thomson as Head of Learning DisabilityClinical psychology. In 2006 she became Headof Psychology in the Conwy and Denbighshire

Trust.Asked to comment on the differences between‘then and now’ in terms of training, Carolinethinks that there was more variety and scopein the training placements that were availablealthough there were clear gaps in formal trainingsuch as Autism and Child Sexual Abuse.

Eayrs, C.B., Rowan, D and Harvey, P.G. (1984).Behavioural Group Training for AnxietyManagement. Behavioural Psychotherapy, 12,117-12.

Rowan, D., and Eayrs, C. (1987). Fears andanxieties. London: Longman.

“Today I think a RiskManager would havea heart attack if theysaw how little trainingwe got.”

“I recall little or nothing on Professional Issues

– you were simply expected to soak these up

as you went along. Today I think a risk manager

would probably have a heart attack if they saw

how little training we got.” “Perhaps the biggestdifference was at the stage of post-qualification.At that stage there was much more freedomto act and psychologists could, and did, makea huge difference to services”.

“Defining our ‘added-value’ is as importantas ever.”

“Finding a unique niche where we can again betrailblazers is much more difficult and yet definingour ‘added value’ as professionals is as importantas ever.”

Favourite Book?

I'm not sure if I should admitto this, given that it mightsuggest tendencies to live inplaces other than reality, butmy favourite book has to be theLord of the Rings (actually threebooks). It was a fantastic readwhen I read it for the first timeas a child, and I continued toget new things from the bookin the (at least) two additionaltimes that I have read it fromcover to cover. I’m impressedby the creativity and imaginationthat was behind the inventionof other worlds that seem toremain coherent and believablethroughout. I also enjoy theclassic theme of good vs. eviland the triumph of the smalland dedicated hobbits againstmassive odds.

On the neuropsychology assessment front, Frances is interested in assessmentof attention and executive function and screening assessments for people witha brain injury.

An interview withRichard Hastings

Favourite Film?

I will have to cheat with thisquestion and answer it adifferent way. I’m not a verybig film fan. Instead, I enjoy TV

some of the US imports like 24,The Sopranos, The Wire, andcurrently The Shield. If I had tochoose a favourite from these,it would probably be The Wire.This was a TV series focused onmultiple groups of charactersover the series that were made– the Police in Baltimore fightingdrugs, organized crime, andpolitical games; drug dealersand their gangs and families;the newspaper media; and localpoliticians. The characters arestrong, intriguing, mostlyflawed, and develop superblyover time. There are themesrelating to drugs, youth culture,declining industry (ship yards),politics, and media – many ofthe key issues of our age. Thepower of environments (physicaland social) over individuals andtheir behaviour is demonstratedvery clearly throughout.

Second, he “invented”Functional CommunicationTraining – showing that teachinga functionally equivalentcommunicative response toreplace challenging behaviourwas a very effectiveintervention. Third, he was atthe centre of the movement totake these behaviouraltechnologies to the masses andto make them palatable underthe label “Positive BehaviourSupport” which was aboutmaking big quality of lifeimprovements for people withsevere disabilities. Finally, hisresearch work was always highquality, smart, creative, anddriven by questions with hugeclinical importance. Ted sadlydied last year in a head-on carcrash with a drunk driver in NewYork State. His wife, who wasalso a clinical psychologist, alsodied a few days later as a resultof her injuries. One of theregrets of my life is thatalthough we correspondedseveral times, I never got to dojoint work with Ted. He was aman who made a difference.

Favourite Psychologist?

I was once asked this questionat an interview about 16 yearsago (I didn’t get the job), andgave the same answer then.Contrary to popular opinion, itwasn’t B. F. Skinner. Instead, Isaid and still say Edward G.(“Ted”) Carr. Ted’s work is greatand inspirational in at least fourways. First, he carried out oneof the first (maybe the first)research study using themethodology that Brian Iwataadapted as AnalogueAssessment – the gold standardclinical assessment tool forunderstanding the functions ofchallenging behavioursdisplayed by people withdisabilities.