Maternity, neonatal and paediatric health psychology service

It is not unusual to go through a range of different thoughts and feelings about your own or your family’s health.

These can impact on mood, behaviour, wellbeing and quality of life.

What is the psychology service?

We are a team of clinical psychologists, psychological therapists and assistant psychologists who can offer psychological support for emotional or behavioural concerns that have resulted from a physical condition, injury or illness.

The psychology service is a confidential safe place where you can speak about your own health condition or your families.

You can share how you are feeling and explore coping strategies to help improve your own mood and wellbeing.

We can help you to support you families’ psychological health and quality of life. We do not prescribe medication or perform physical examinations.

We work closely with doctors, nurses, social workers, occupational therapists and physiotherapists.

Why people use the service?

There are many reasons why families might benefit from some support:

Managing emotions such as anxiety or low mood
Help with managing physical symptoms and pain
Dealing with treatment and procedures
Adjusting to a medical diagnosis
Dealing with uncertainty and bad news
Managing an illness in daily life including school
Support after a trauma
Relationships with family, friends and healthcare professionals
Helping children identify any difficulties with learning, memory or attention experienced as a direct result of a medical condition, injury or treatment

What will happen at your appointment?

If you or your family has been referred to psychology, you will be contacted and offered an appointment, either face to face, over the telephone or via ‘DrDoctor’, an online video appointment.

Some people attend for a one-off appointment and other young people and families might see us more often.

Your first appointment will be an assessment where you will be asked questions to find out a bit more about what the difficulties are and explore how we can help.

We will then create a plan going forward which may involve further appointments with ourselves, or we may refer you to another, more appropriate service. If it is your child that has been referred, then they will be given the opportunity to speak alone if they wish to do so.

We keep a written summary of discussions and all information is stored securely.

We only share what we have talked about with professionals involved in your care.

Where do we work?

The following is a list of services and areas where we currently work:

Complications of excess weight (CEW)
Cystic fibrosis
Diabetes
South Tees enhanced psychological support (STEPS) for maternity
Paediatric neuropsychology
Paediatric pain
Neonatal unit
Under five autism assessment

Important Information

It’s important to attend all your appointments with the psychology service. Failure to do so may result in discharge from the psychology service.

Whether you choose to engage with the psychology department or not is your choice. It will not affect the treatment which you receive from any other service.

Helpful information

We can offer an interpreter for planned appointments when required
Waiting times vary for individual appointments. Some health conditions also run group sessions which may have shorter waiting lists and run throughout the year
We are not a crisis service. If you need urgent psychological support for an adult or a child, please call the crisis team on 0800 0516171
If you would like to be seen by the psychology service, please speak to a member of the hospital team managing your health condition