A day in the life - Psychology
My name is Dr Ronan Conway, Senior Clinical Psychologist, with Tusla. I am working with Tusla as part of a new multidisciplinary team in the Midlands called the Area Based Therapy Team.
I work with children in care aged 0-18 years. I apply psychological thinking through assessment, formulation, and intervention with children and the key support people around them. Psychologists in Tusla support children, families and their support networks in the therapy room, in the classroom, through assessments, and during consultations, support meetings and trainings. The central mechanism of change is providing a reflective space to identify, understand and meet the needs of children and their support networks. This in turn supports a shared understanding of the needs of children and young people in care, and supports their social and emotional well-being, their sense of self, their feeling of belonging, and their hope for the future.
The following is a “day in my life” as my role as a Psychologist within Tusla:
I start my day with a greeting to my office colleagues, a quick check of my emails, and a review of my “to-do” list. My first appointment is in relation to a 3-year-old boy who will soon be moving from a short-term foster placement to a long-term foster placement. With the support of the Speech and Language Therapist on the team, we are working with the social work team to develop a shared understanding of his social, emotional and developmental needs at this time of change. We discuss and formulate the needs of the different perspectives involved, including the child, the current carers, the new foster-carers, and the social work team. We discuss and collaboratively problem-solve about worries that the young boy may experience change as rejection, identifying supports and communication strategies for the network. With these shared understandings and reflections, the team plan to move forward with transition planning.
Following this, I am meeting a 16-year old boy in residential care to offer direct psychological intervention. I have worked together with this young man to create a “Therapeutic Plan” that identifies his needs. Today, we are using a narrative therapy approach to explore and understand his family relationships, and develop a narrative about why he is in care. We plan on using insights to inform residential staff’s understanding of his needs, in order to improve his experience of care.
In the afternoon, myself and the Occupational Therapist on the team are meeting with foster-carers. These foster-carers are concerned about the sleep-related behaviours of siblings, a 3-year-old and a 2-year-old, who have recently been placed with them. We discuss the behaviours through a trauma-informed lens, working together to explore how best to support both the children and the carers at night-time. It is a privilege to meet and work with foster carers, as their openness and willingness to support vulnerable children is inspiring.
At the end of my day, I update my notes and take time to respond to emails. I check where I am tomorrow – it’s a school visit in the morning to share trauma-informed approaches in the classroom and a meeting with foster-carers in the afternoon. Every day is different and rewarding. I finish my day with a sense of purpose, enormous gratitude for the team around me, and a respect for the families and young people that I’m privileged to work with.
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My name is Aaron Swift and I hold two roles in Tusla the first is as a Senior Counselling Psychologist for the ACTS team where I work with children who are either in or at risk of special care or detention and the second as a Principal Specialist working with children with a history of sexually harmful behaviour. I have always enjoyed the opportunity to work with these populations as they are all too often children with significant need who are almost impossible to engage in mainstream services.
The role is very varied with assessment of neurodevelopmental needs, mental health interventions, forensic work, research, and service development all as standard parts of the working week. I value the opportunity to engage children in creative ways based on an approach of how to engage as opposed to if they will engage. This means I meet children through group work, in residential units, children’s detention, schools, and around the dinner table. With such a wide variety of work it’s great to know that there is a wealth of experience to call on through not only the Psychology Service within Tusla but also Residential Social Care Workers, Occupational Therapists, Speech and Language Therapists and Social Workers.
My day today started with a multi-disciplinary team meeting, we look at the new referrals, discuss several ‘red flag’ cases where there are more pressing concerns with input from the whole team. There are two outstanding reports due soon and initial assessments, so the team prioritises tasks between them for the next week. We keep the team meeting tight and then get on with our mornings. Afterwards I receive a call from a young person in the community. He’s frustrated with a part of his support plan and wants me to advocate for changes, I explain the reasons I agree with the plan, and he remains frustrated. After the call I note how normal struggle between independence and support is for teenagers. He’s doing really well, and his residential team are very skilled at working through these moments, I note to call him tomorrow for a brief repair ahead of meeting him next week.
Next is arranging client sessions for children in detention. Engagement with hard-to-reach children takes a little planning. Chatting with care staff I get an understanding of each child. Some will be met in their units in surroundings where they feel comfortable, some will decline if the session clashes with PE in school, some need movement to regulate so meeting outside and kicking a ball works. A few minutes preparation will pay great dividends.
Lunch is a sandwich from a training initiative where young people are working as part of a work skills program in an onsite coffee shop. Its wonderfully normal with banter, well-made coffee, and a decent toasted sandwich.
Then client sessions through the afternoon, at the end of the day I write up a biography of myself and honestly there’s nothing more uncomfortable. It’s for a conference where I will stand alongside some talented colleagues presenting research on a program for neurodivergent children on sexually healthy behaviours. It’s another example of the innovative practice that impresses me throughout Tusla.