Children’s cardiology and heart and lung transplantation psychology service

Our clinical psychologists work as part of the cardiology and heart and lung transplantation teams at the children’s heart unit.

We help children, young people and their families deal with a range of issues related to their health condition.

We help children, young people and their families with

Adjustment to diagnosis
Problems in school
Anxiety and low mood
Difficulties coping
Trauma symptoms
Worries or distress about treatments, procedures or staying in hospital
Treatment decision-making
Social and family relationships
Behaviour management issues
Concerns about the future

Clinical psychologists work closely with healthcare professionals in the Children’s Heart Unit.

Other professionals we work with include doctors, nurses, social workers, occupational therapists, play therapists and physiotherapists. The psychologists can see any child/young person who uses the service, or their parent or carer. We often meet with family members together.

How can I access the service?

You or your child or a family member can be referred to our service by other professionals working in cardiology and heart and lung transplantation services.

If you think you may benefit from support from our service, please speak to your doctor, nurse or social worker.

Who you might meet

Our team of friendly staff is made up of:

What we do

We help young people and their families with psychological issues or distress related to transplant, such as those listed above. This can be at any point in your transplant journey.

Clinical psychologists

Clinical psychologists provide the psychological assessment and support to children, young people and families. They also give advice and offer training to other members of the team regarding how best to support patients emotional wellbeing.

Our clinical psychologist that work in the cardiology and heart and lung transplant teams are:

Dr Katherine Barlow, Highly specialist clinical psychologist
Dr Matthew Selman, Specialist clinical psychologist
Dr Emily Bell, Consultant clinical psychologist

Administrative officer

Our team administrator deals with telephone enquiries and organises appointments, typing and sending out letters. If you call to the service they will be the ones to answer your call.

Trainee clinical psychologists

We often have trainee clinical psychologists working with the team. They can be at various stages in training and could work with patients and families, provide consultation to staff, and deliver teaching and training. They work under the supervision of a qualified clinical psychologist.

Assistant psychologists

Assistant psychologists work closely with the qualified clinical psychologists to provide assessment and therapy to children, young people and their families.

What we do

We help young people and their families with psychological difficulties related to a cardiac condition or a transplant, such as those listed above. We may support you at any point in your journey from diagnosis, through treatments or surgeries, or before a young person moves on to adult health care.

The psychologist will listen to the difficulties you are having and work with you to identify what could help.

We use a range of psychological approaches such as:

Cognitive Behaviour Therapy (CBT)
Family based therapies
Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT),
Eye Movement Desensitisation and Reprocessing (EMDR).

The psychologist will explain the approach and make sure you are happy with the care plan.

We can meet with families

As inpatients face to face at the Freeman hospital (on the ward 23, HDU or PICU).
As outpatients in face to face appointments (usually in clinic E) or on video calls.
We also sometimes make telephone appointments when needed.

When working with a child or young person or family, our appointments might include: