Psychological services

Who we are

Psychological services offers a wide range of services to adults, young people, children and people with learning difficulties.

At EPUT, Psychological Services have evolved into one of six Clinical Care Units (CCU), offering specialised services in mental health, physical healthcare, and talking therapies across Essex. We work closely with multi-disciplinary teams to provide integrated care in community, inpatient, primary care, and specialist services.

We do more than direct treatments, supporting teaching, staff development, research, digital innovations, service design, clinical governance, safeguarding, and service user engagement. We are helping the Trust implement trauma-informed care and enhance service provision. We actively promote service user networks and other forms of user participation, collaborating with EPUT’s Patient Experience Team.

We believe in supporting diversity and inclusion, and initiating projects to encourage access to psychology provision. Whether it is through developing leaders, providing further clinical skills training, flexible working or remote working, we focus on the wellbeing and career development of all our Psychological Services staff.

In dementia and older people’s services, the CCU has formed integrated alliances with primary care and local authority colleagues to develop a system-wide approach. There are a number of pilot schemes delivering specialised dementia care for complex needs and community services, including enhanced diagnostics, intensive support seven days per week and improved communication with the acute sector.

The acute and crisis pathway is undergoing significant redesign with a focus on the avoidance of unnecessary admission to inpatient care and the introduction of home first (care at home) approaches. We have invested in new roles, such as Associate in Clinical Psychology (CAP) apprenticeships, to improve access and provision in Home treatment and urgent care.

The Psychological Services CCU is also leading on a Trust-wide trauma-informed “personality disorder” and complex needs strategy to integrate interventions for people presenting with complex needs throughout the services we provide. We have an Essex-wide specialist multidisciplinary team providing interventions for people with the most complex needs. The team also facilitates the complex needs knowledge and skills training programme, and provides care coordination, consultation and supervision.

Within this integrated model, interventions are provided throughout and across services, rather than through a specialist referral pathway. This is supported by the development of complex needs leads throughout all our services.

Find more information about the different services we provide on our Psychological Services Information page.