Dean's Grand Rounds - BioPsychoSocial Psychiatry

Free Members’ Webinar

Thursday 13 March 2025

Please contact bethany.shaheir@rcpsych.ac.uk for your CPD certificate of attendance after watching the recording below.

Overview

Exposure to and engagement in psychotherapeutic practice is central to person-centred compassionate good medical care and essential for psychiatric practice within the bio-psycho-social model and NICE guidance for the treatment of mental health problems and burn-out prevention.

This webinar discusses the results of a survey carried out to capture the views of our members about their experiences in everyday clinical practice and the opportunities available to employ and develop their psychotherapeutic knowledge and skills.

The desired outcome is reconnecting psychiatry to the bio-psycho-social model. In the long term, the hope is to deepen training, research and practice of psychotherapeutic and relational models within psychiatry. This is essential for future-proofing psychiatry, improving patient outcomes and retaining psychiatry by enhancing the meaningful aspects of their roles.

Programme and speakers

Chair - Dr Jon van Niekerk, Chair of the Royal College of Psychiatrists General Adult Faculty; Group Clinical Director at Cygnet.

With an introduction from Dr Deepa Bagepalli Krishnan, Consultant Perinatal Psychiatrist; Medical Quality Improvement Lead; Dean's Grand Rounds Lead; Leadership and Management Scheme 'Projects' Co-Lead; Trent Division EC and QI Representative.

• Promoting compassionate and relational care in mental health - Professor Russell Razzaque, Consultant Psychiatrist; Director of R&D NELFT; Bye Fellow, Cambridge University; Clinical and Strategic Director, National Collaborating Centre for Mental Health; Lead for Compassionate and Relational Care, Royal College of Psychiatrists.
• Reclaiming psychotherapy in psychiatry: What is a psychiatrist? What do we want a psychiatrist to be? - Dr Florian Ruths, Clinical Lead Maudsley Medical Psychotherapy Service (CBT, Schema and Mindfulness); Trust Advisor Medical Psychotherapy.
• Staying safe from suicide: Safety assessments and formulation - Dr Jeyabala Balakrishna, Consultant Adult Psychiatrist, Defence Primary Healthcare, MOD Specialist Advisor, Patient Safety & Suicide Awareness and Associate Registrar for Coaching & Mentoring in the Royal College of Psychiatrists Member of National Suicide Prevention Specialist Advisory Group.
• Panel discussion/Q&A

Slides

• Promoting compassionate and relational care in mental health - Professor Russell Razzaque
• Reclaiming psychotherapy in psychiatry: What is a psychiatrist? What do we want a psychiatrist to be? - Dr Florian Ruths
• Staying safe from suicide: Safety assessments and formulation - Dr Jeyabala Balakrishna

Resources

Article - Therapeutic alliance as a mediator of change: A systematic review and evaluation of research

Read the article on ScienceDirect

Compassionate and Relational Care Learning Programme

College members and senior mental health professionals across the multidisciplinary spectrum are invited to apply for a place on an innovative and pioneering training programme in compassionate and relational care. The programme takes the form a series of residential modules, each lasting two days, hosted at Fitzwilliam College, University of Cambridge. The first 3 modules will be delivered in April, September and December 2025.

The course aims to:

• Equip you with advanced skills in compassionate and relational care
• Provide you with a deeper understanding of the therapeutic relationship and the difference that can make to patient outcomes
• Provide you with practical tools and strategies that can be implemented immediately in clinical practice.

If you have any questions or would like to discuss how this programme could benefit your team, please don’t hesitate to get in touch at carclearning@rcpsych.ac.uk.