Mara Tome

My name is Mara, and I just received my MSc in Forensic Psychology and Mental Health from the United Kingdom.

Moreover, my voluntary experience has provided me with a comprehensive understanding associated with practices adopted by teams within medical and hospital settings and how vital teamwork, adherence to process, communication and adaptability is. For example, I completed a 12-month voluntary placement within Royal Alexandra Hospital's Dementia Unit (highly secure unit) in the West of Scotland. Apart from the written and verbal communication skills gained through communicating with patients, careers and nurses. I have also gained the ability to work in a clinical setting where the atmosphere was highly emotional, the patients were at times hostile due to their illness, severely challenging behaviour, and were verbally and at times physically violent. I believe that this will help me in this current role of assistant psychology. All of this is a direct result of alterations in their brain, or as a result of a general health issue, such as pain from an infection. At times even issues with the care the person is receiving, their environment generally, or their social environment. As per the job description, the most significant benefit of this experience was that it equipped me with knowledge about and experience working with people who have mental health issues in secure settings and how to handle any immediate issues brought on by such people. As a result, I now have a better understanding of the needs and challenges that these individuals face, and I am able to apply general psychological principles to situations involving severe mental illness.

I have an understanding of confidentiality such has been necessary at times during my employment at Birmingham Solihull Mental Health Trust Foundation, Nuffield Health and Alexandra. Working with people who have mental health issues meant that I frequently had to explain the nature of the services I would be providing and the boundaries of confidentiality. When assisting clients with hygiene, I have occasionally noticed that simple actions like obtaining informed consent—for instance, by asking if the client is comfortable with me being in the room while they are taking a shower—helped establish a rapport of trust and safety that allowed to maintain professional boundaries. Aside from that, working as a healthcare assistant for the Birmingham and Solihull Mental Health Trust Foundation provided me with the capacity to accept and use supervision in an appropriate and effective manner due to some of the tasks that I was responsible for such as assisting qualified nurses and psychologist in the assessment, planning, implementation, and evaluation of evidence-based care, as well as health promotion for a specific service user/group. Working with multidisciplinary teams helped me get a chance to observe psychologists providing compassion-focused therapy, which has given me the confidence to provide this type of care for clients without supervision.

 

During my time studying, I have developed a solid understanding of Forensic Psychology and Mental Health (MSc from Coventry University, 2021) and in 2020, I successfully completed a BSc (Hons) in Psychology from the University of the West of Scotland. As a naturally analytical, process driven and inquisitive individual, I have developed a robust knowledge of using computers for databases or data analysis, which includes SPSS for windows and Mac. While conducting my thesis for my academic work, I gathered and reviewed a range of data, including psychometric results. I also conducted interviews and literature searches for report writing while working under the guidance of my dissertation supervisor. Furthermore, Through my MSc, I also completed a module on professional and practice issues in forensic mental health. I have a solid understanding of ethical, legal, organisational, and social issues in applying psychology (BPS), particularly with forensic client groups with mental health issues. I have gained a thorough understanding of the laws and regulations pertaining to forensic clientele with mental health issues (e.g. Mental Health Act, Mental Capacity Act) after completing a number of video vlogs and real case studies this allowed me to assess how these problems impact the work that was done. I believe this will help me in this role given the population that I will be working with. I have completed a module in professional consultancy which provided me with a solid knowledge of strategic management and leadership which I believe will be useful for this job role.

Furthermore, during my MSc, the module Forensic Clinal Assessment and Case Formulation has provided me with real-life experience in conducting case formulation and risk assessments. For instance, the entire module was evaluated based on case studies from real-world situations, ranging from murder to sexual assault. I learned the theoretical and evidence-based approaches to case formulation which allowed me to develop a case formulation for different clients. This gives me the assurance to direct the evaluation and treatment of individuals in forensic mental health settings because I am confident that I understand and am able to use formulation which will help me in this job role. Also, learning about risk assessments has provided me with the talent to produce high-quality evidence-based professional reports, communicating crucial information about risk assessments and management to relevant others. I am also more aware of the safeguarding practises in the sense that I would learn about your safeguarding practises so I would be aware of what to do. If a situation with a service user ever arose where I felt there was a risk of harm to myself or others, I would escalate the situation in accordance with the procedure.