Children or young people with medical conditions or symptoms (and their families) can experience a number of challenges when trying to adjust and cope.
The Medical Paediatric Psychology service can provide support when a medical condition is impacting the mental health of the child, young person or family.
We see young people and families who have lots of different health conditions, including:
- Diabetes
- Cystic Fibrosis and respiratory conditions
- Arthritis and rheumatoid conditions
- Pain
- Epilepsy
Psychologists have knowledge and experience of child development, behaviour and emotions. This allows them to work with children, young people and families to overcome problems and challenges.
What we can do
We can:
- conduct psychological assessments which will help us to better understand any difficulties or challenges
- support young people and families to adjust to a new diagnosis
- discuss strategies to try to reduce a young person’s experience of anxiety or low mood in relation to their physical health
- help prepare young people and families for medical procedures or surgeries
- support young people with needle phobias to tolerate injections or help prepare them for blood tests
- support young people to adhere to their treatment regime, and support them to take medication if they find this challenging
If it is relevant to a young person’s medical diagnosis, we can also conduct a neuropsychological assessment. This can help others understand your child or young person’s strengths and difficulties.
What we cannot do
- Clinical Psychologists are not able to prescribe or make recommendations about medication.
- Our service does not provide neurodevelopmental assessments for conditions such as autism, ADHD and learning disability.
- Our service cannot provide support for general mental health difficulties that are unrelated to your child’s medical condition.
- If your child’s difficulties only present within school, it would be best to discuss these concerns with education staff.
What happens next?
If you would like meet with the Medical Paediatric Psychology service, please discuss this with a member of your medical team first. If they believe that we would be the most appropriate team to provide you with support they will make a referral to our service.
When you reach the top of our waiting list, you will receive a letter with appointment details for an assessment with a member of our team. You will also be asked to complete and return a brief questionnaire which will provide us with more details about how your child’s medical condition is impacting them.
Appointments
What to expect from an appointment with us
The first time we meet, it will be for around one hour.
We may see you:
- with your child
- by yourself
To develop a fuller understanding, we may talk about your child’s:
- development
- medical condition
- school
- daily activities
- mood
We will discuss things that are going well, along with their challenges, to develop a fuller understanding.
We will use the information gathered during our assessment to decide if further appointments will be useful, and then discuss with you how we can work together to help. We may also ask you or your child to complete some diaries, tests or questionnaires to give us some extra information.
Follow up appointments are arranged where appropriate. We will discuss how your child is progressing and may suggest different approaches or tasks, which you or your child can carry out between sessions.
How to prepare your child for an appointment with us
It can help some children to know what to expect when they are coming for an appointment.
Below are some key points that could be helpful to share with children and young people before the appointment. There are also some resources that could be helpful.
- Discuss the Medical Paediatric Psychology service with them and explain why they have been referred to our service.
- Let them know we do lots of talking. We do not do any medical tests or examinations like take blood, or measure blood pressure.
- During the appointment we ask about things children and young people are good at and things they might find tricky.
- During appointments, we sometimes play games and puzzles.
- View our easy to read leaflet that may help explain the appointment
- We can provide Hospital Passports, which have different suggests and activities to help children and young people who might feel anxious about attending appointments.
Where you can find us
The Medical Paediatric Psychology Service is based at the University Hospital Crosshouse but covers the whole of Ayrshire and Arran. We have clinics in various community settings throughout Ayrshire and Arran.
Meet the team
We are a team of psychologists including:
- Clinical Psychologists
- Clinical Associates in Applied Psychology (CAAP)
- Trainee Clinical Psychologists
- Trainee CAAPs
We all have different work patterns so not all clinicians are available every day. We all complete assessments across Ayrshire and Arran.
We sometimes have Trainee Clinical Psychologists and Trainee CAAPs who work in our team. These are people who:
- are training to become Clinical Psychologists or CAAPs
- work very closely with experienced Clinical Psychologists, and receive regular supervision from them
Contact us
Medical Paediatric Psychology Service
Paediatric Ward 1B
University Hospital Crosshouse
Kilmarnock, Ayrshire
KA2 0BE
Telephone: 01563 825760