Staff from the Clinical Psychology Team based at HMP Shotts have received a Big Shout Out for their innovative, creative and patient-centred approach and recognises the unique contribution our staff make on a daily basis.
In the challenging environment of a prison facility, where the complexities of mental health and well-being are compounded, the role of clinical psychologists becomes pivotal.
Dr. Fiona Mair, the lead for the Forensic Clinical Psychology Service at NHS Lanarkshire, shared insights into the team’s vital work at HMP Shotts. The team has been providing clinical psychology input in the prison since 2017, offering psychological therapies to inmates who require it and receiving referrals from colleagues within the mental health team and other areas of the prison.
What sets this team apart is not just their clinical expertise but the meaningful connections they have developed with Scottish Prison Service (SPS) colleagues.
Dr Mair said: “The visibility of the psychology staff in the prison and the sort of joint working or the relationships that psychology staff have established with SPS colleagues, Scottish Prison Service colleagues, has been noted as being really valuable and really beneficial to the staff who have sought support from the psychology team when working with some of the prisoners that they find more challenging.
“The psychology staff have been able to offer some support to SPS colleagues following some really difficult events that have taken place in the prison. I feel that that’s really essential to our role there.
“Our role within the prison isn’t just about seeing the guys that get referred for individual therapy, but it’s also about working systemically and thinking a bit about how can we make the environment as psychologically informed, as trauma informed as it can be. And that’s really key in terms of creating a safer experience for everybody.”
The team have provided support to Scottish Prison Service colleagues on an ongoing basis and following difficult situations within the prison.
Dr Abi McGinley, clinical psychologist based within HMP Shotts, said: “The main thing is relationships.
“We offered staff support sessions following really significantly difficult events. It is validation that this is a really difficult thing and this shouldn’t be expected as part of your job. This doesn’t have to be accepted and expected as part of your job. We give the validation that this is really difficult thing. And if staff need a space to sit and think about it and process it and think about it, that there is support there.
“I think that’s what staff found most valuable, just that we were there. And the acknowledgment that they do an incredibly difficult job and some of the things that they come across day to day as part of their job is way out with the norm of what humans’ experience day to day at work.
“We’re slightly neutral. We don’t work for SPS, but they have the relationship there with us. It’s not hierarchical, it’s just we sit alongside them and I think they found that quite useful as well.”
The Big Shout Out praises NHS Lanarkshire teams for taking an innovative, creative and patient-centred approach to working, and recognises the unique contribution staff make to overcoming the challenges faced across the entire healthcare system.
