Seeing a Clinical Psychologist may be a new experience for many people. Clinical psychologists are trained to try and understand how people think, feel and behave, and how this is connected to their physical health.
A Clinical Psychologist’s role is to listen to everyone’s concerns, and to help children, young people and families cope with a diagnosis and any difficulties that can come from having to manage a long-term health condition.
They use talking therapies that aim to reduce distress and help people to feel more confident about coping with the challenges in their lives.
A Clinical Psychologist will meet with you for an initial assessment and then put together a psychological formulation (which makes sense of what’s going on for you at this time). They will then agree with you how they can use talking therapies to try and help.
All Clinical Psychologists are registered with the Health and Care Professionals Council (HCPC).
The Paediatric Clinical Psychology Team is led by Dr Bridget Coleman, who is a Principal Clinical Psychologist.
Bridget has worked in children and young people’s mental health services in the Great Yarmouth and Waveney area for over 25 years. During the last 12 years this has involved working with some of the young people seen at the James Paget.
Since June 2024 the Clinical Psychology Service has been based within the James Paget hospital.
Paulina Miller is the Assistant Psychologist in the team. Paulina has completed her Psychology degree and is working to become a Trainee Clinical Psychologist. Paulina might see you in the Adolescent Evening Clinic, or for online psychoeducation sessions.
The team also includes Trainee Clinical Psychologists. The trainees are on placement in the team for six months during the second or third year of their Clinical Psychology Doctorate at the University of East Anglia. This is the last stage of their training to become a Clinical Psychologist.
We work therapeutically with children and young people, up to the age of 18, who are currently being seen by a clinician (like a doctor, or nurse, or physiotherapist) at the James Paget, for a physical health difficulty.
The Clinical Psychology Team see children and families from most clinics, including:
- Diabetes
- Neurology
- Orthopaedics
- Gastroenterology
- Headache Clinic
- Healthy weight
- Ophthalmology
- Healthy Bowel and Bladder
- Asthma and allergies
When children and young people receive a physical health diagnosis it can cause a lot of big feelings and challenging life changes for them and those supporting them.
There are lots of things we may be able to help with, including:
- Adjusting to and understanding diagnoses
- Feeling different
- Emotional regulation – managing big feelings like anxiety, sadness, or frustration
- Taking medication
- Worry about attending hospital appointments/ procedures
- Needle phobias
- Managing pain
- Coping at school
- Impact on family relationships
These are just some examples and your main difficulty doesn’t have to be on this list for us to try to be helpful.
A young person’s 'emotional bucket' can quickly become full when faced with the challenges of exams, peer relationships, family changes, demands of school or college, unexpected traumas, alongside managing a health problem.
Talking to a psychologist can help with understanding what is going on, the emotional responses to it, and finding new ways of coping.
Appointments are at the Newberry Child Development Centre (Lowestoft Road, Gorleston, NR31 6SQ), some other locations in Great Yarmouth that may be available, or at The Cove (the children's clinic at the James Paget hospital) depending on which location is most convenient for you and which clinician you are seeing.
Appointments can also be video calls on Microsoft Teams, if this is felt to be the best option for you.
People often feel a bit unsure, or anxious, about attending a Clinical Psychology appointment for the first time, as they don’t know what to expect.
Initial appointments usually last between one to one-and-a-half hours.
You will be asked questions about your family, school/college, your health journey, what you enjoy doing, things that are going well and anything you are currently finding difficult.
You don’t have to answer questions if you don’t want to; the sessions are for you and it is OK to leave early, or to change your mind about attending.
Young people often bring other family members with them to help with the talking; sometimes it might be helpful for us to talk to parents on their own as well.
You can talk about whatever is important to you.
Attending Clinical Psychology appointments is your choice and most people find them a helpful, not unpleasant, experience.
Sometimes young people find it helpful to bring things to the appointment that are familiar and help them to feel comfortable.
After the initial appointment we will decide together whether you would find further sessions helpful, how frequent these sessions will be, or whether it is best for you to be referred to a different mental health service. We might also decide that it is helpful to gather some more information from other people who support you, such as school, but we will ask your permission to do this.
If you feel that accessing support from our service could be beneficial, please speak to your care team at the James Paget who can refer you to our team if appropriate.
If you have been referred to us and have any questions about your referral please contact us by emailing;
PaediatricClinicalPsychology@jpaget.nhs.uk
If you have already been referred to us, you will receive a call from us to ask for further information or you will be contacted with an appointment date (usually via text message).
We do currently have a waiting list.