Psychology

John Atkinson – Senior Forensic Psychologist

Yorkshire and Humberside Personality Disorder Pathway

Contact: john.atkinson1@justice.gov.uk

What influenced you to become a forensic psychologist?

I did an undergraduate degree, and I didn’t really know what I wanted to do with it, and for a couple of years, I didn’t do much with it. At the time, my uncle was a governor in the prison service, and he said it was an interesting job with a good career path, and he really enjoyed it. So, it kind of went from there, and I started to look for jobs, and I began working in the prison service.

What do you do on a day-to-day basis?

I’ve had 11 years experience working in a psychiatric hospital with offenders with mental disorders, and I predominantly worked on ‘personality disorder’ wards.

Currently, I work for the NHS for the ‘personality disorders’ service. My work is in partnership with the probation service in Humberside, working with probation officers to support individuals who present significant interpersonal challenges and engage in risky behaviours. In these cases, probation practitioners contact me to have a consultation with an individual they are working with. We then come up with what we call a formulation about how that person ended up having personality difficulties and got involved in offending. Unfortunately, the factors that influence this tend to be quite similar and are things like social deprivation, separation, and abuse. I use my previous experience working with offenders to help probation practitioners better understand how to work with these individuals

Another part of my job is also being a clinical lead for a supported accommodation project within Humberside. Our aim is to help people and to reduce reoffending, and encourage integration back into the community. I advise with what approaches might work best, and we join up with all sorts of other agencies as well for support.

How has your career developed since becoming qualified?

Since I qualified in 2015, my career has developed quite a lot. I delivered group schema therapy (which is more like psychotherapy) and also group schema therapy in a psychiatric hospital. This enabled me to set up a private practice in the community over the last few years.

I loved working at the hospital, it was an interesting, exciting job, but after being there for 11 years, I felt I was ready for a change. I like my current role as I have a lot of time, flexibility, and independence to do what is in my expertise, and I am left to manage that myself, which is nice and freeing. It’s a very rewarding as the probation officers really appreciate my time, and I enjoy meeting lots of different people.

What is your favourite part of your job?

I would say meeting a variety of people and being able to build relationships with them. One of my main skills is being able to get on with people naturally and have common ground with them, which is why I think this job suits me. Establishing relationships with probation officers is very rewarding, and I enjoy being able to influence their work in a positive way.

What qualifications did you gain to get this role?

First, I completed my undergraduate forensic psychology degree and completed my master’s. Then there are 3 routes to apply and become a qualified forensic psychologist. I went down the route of completing a stage 2 qualification which is an independent route to becoming a forensic psychologist with the British psychological society (BPS). This involved undergoing supervised practice, where I completed a portfolio of work in a lot of different areas and was supervised every week. Then, when I completed and submitted all my work, I became a qualified forensic psychologist, and with this qualification, I got the title of chartered psychologist. When I completed this, it was very new, so it took a lot longer than anticipated, but now it is more streamlined and improved, so people are getting through it quicker.

The second route is to complete a doctorate in forensic psychology with a university, which takes about 2 years and consists of completing many placements throughout the year. This is similar to what I did as you interact with different client groups, submit evidence of work, and undergo supervision. This qualification is affiliated with the university, whereas the stage 2 qualification is not affiliated to any academic institution. After completing this, you also get the title of Dr.

The final route was developed by Cardiff university and is called the forensic psychology practitioner programme (PgD). For this route, you attend the university a few times a year. You have an academic supervisor who reviews your work, alongside an onsite supervisor for where you are working at the time. With this route, you do not get the chartership with BPS but are registered as a forensic psychologist with the health and care professions council and can work in lots of places.

Do you have any advice for anyone wanting to get into forensic psychology?

I would definitely say know where you want to be, get informed about the pathways and put a plan in place. Also, working in prisons and psychiatric hospitals can be quite daunting, so make sure it is the right thing for you. Getting experience is an important way to figure this out. A good way to do this is to be a support worker in a psychiatric hospital because undoubtedly, there will be offenders in the hospital, which gives it a forensic element. There will also be forensic psychologists working in a psychiatric hospital that you can learn from. This will allow you to see what it is like to work with people with mental health and offending difficulties.

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Lisa Maltman – Senior Forensic Psychologist

Leeds Personality Disorders Service

Contact: lisamaltman@nhs.net

What influenced you to become a forensic psychologist?

Initially, I thought it would be an exciting career as I was influenced by the sensationalized side of the work. I also have a strong belief that people deserve second chances, which is important in forensic psychology. However, what has kept me in this profession is my passion for justice, as people often come into lives of crime because of widespread systemic deprivation and poor life chances. Therefore, I believe it is the responsibility of the system to try and improve their futures and create opportunities so they can have a different life outcome.

What do you do on a day-to-day basis?

Every day is different, and I have a lot of responsibilities. I am the clinical lead at Southview PIPE approved premises, and we offer placements to men who screen into the offender personality disorder pathway and who are deemed at high risk of reoffending. My role involves helping the team to think psychologically about the work they do. So, at the referral stage, I assess someone’s suitability as to whether they are ready for a PIPE intervention, and then I help prepare the teams through the process of formulation. I might help the team to think about any problems that we are experiencing with a given resident or group of residents. Also, we think about people’s move on needs from a psychological point of view and reflect on people after they have moved on. For example, if someone has been suddenly recalled to prison, we need to think about what we have learned and how. Also, as a team, we think about people who have moved on successfully to discuss what we have learned about working with them.

How has your career developed since becoming qualified?

Initially, I continued working within an area that I was familiar with, which was forensic mental health, so I was in an inpatient setting. However, after a couple of years, I wanted to move away from the medical model as I wanted to experience working with people in the community, where people are seen more as citizens and not patients, and you get a more holistic view of somebody. A job came up, and I was offered a role doing community consultations and formulations, and I had an opportunity to do this in the women’s pathway. I had never worked with women before, so initially, this was quite daunting, but I think I adapted to it really well, and I enjoyed it.

I did that for two years until an opportunity came up for career progression. I worked as a senior psychologist in a women’s intervention for 3 years before the pipe clinical lead position became available. I went for that because it was an opportunity to work back with men again and to work in a residential setting which is something I am familiar with and offers lots of opportunities to engage with clients.

What is your favourite part of your job?

My favourite bit is when we use psychology as a team to understand the needs of a resident and put a plan in place. It doesn’t have to be a major intervention; it might be a small shift in how we think about things, but when we see our strategy has been effective, it is very rewarding.

What qualifications did you gain to get this role?

Initially, I completed an undergraduate degree in psychology, followed by a master’s in forensic psychology. Then I followed up by gaining experience working as a trainee forensic psychologist whilst completing my stage 2 certificate in forensic psychology with the British Psychological Society (BPS). This enabled me to become charted and registered with the health care and professions.

Do you have any advice for anyone wanting to get into forensic psychology?

I would definitely say know where you want to get be and get informed on the pathways to get there, and put a plan in place. Also, working in prisons and psychiatric hospitals can be quite daunting, so make sure it is the right thing for you. Getting experience is an important way to figure this out. A good way to do this is to be a support worker in a psychiatric hospital because undoubtedly, there will be offenders in the hospital, which gives it a forensic element. There will also be forensic psychologists working in a psychiatric hospital that you can learn from. This will allow you to see what it is like to work with people with mental health and offending difficulties.