Clinical and Health Psychology

Welcome to the Department of Clinical and Health Psychology 

The Department of Clinical and Health Psychology offers a range of services to support both patients and staff of Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust. These services are delivered by Clinical Psychologists, Neuropsychologists and Counsellors. The Head of Department is Dr Catherine Derbyshire, Consultant Clinical Neuropsychologist.

What do we offer?

The service offers help and support to adult patients with psychological needs related to a physical health condition (some services see people for the whole of their lives). Living with a health condition or injury can lead to many difficult feelings. This can be for many reasons, including the impact on a person’s lifestyle, roles, relationships and future. Some people may struggle to cope and feel the need for extra support, beyond that of close family or friends. They may struggle with feelings such as worry, fear, anger or low mood. Many people can become overwhelmed with these feelings and unsure of what to do or who to speak to.

Clinical Psychologists and Counsellors are trained to understand the psychological  and cognitive (knowing and understanding) effects of physical health problems, and offer talking therapies to help patients to understand and work through their problems. We see patients who are under the care of a medical or surgical Consultant Doctor at Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust. You can be referred to our service by your hospital healthcare professionals.

“Our aim is to reduce psychological distress and to enhance the promotion of psychological well-being.”

Psychologists in Clinical Training also work in the department and offer appointments to patients. They are on placement in the department for six or twelve months. Their work is supervised by a qualified Clinical Psychologist.

Research is an important part of our department. We work closely with the University of Leeds and some of our staff hold dual roles in the department and the University. We are proud to have some of the Psychologists leading the field in their area of research working in the department.

Our areas of expertise

We provide specialised psychological or counselling care for patients with psychological needs related to a physical health condition. Our Psychologists and Counsellors work within the clinical teams for each of the conditions listed on the left. We work very closely with our medical and allied health professional colleagues to deliver high quality psychological care alongside the medical care. 

We provide input into the services listed on the left.  Please click on the menu options to see how we can help and to understand more about what we do.

We have produced a leaflet to help you understand more about our service and what to expect when you see a clinical psychologist.

Where and how will I see the Psychologist or Counsellor?

Where you will meet depends upon your health condition or injury, as each clinician specialises in treating patients with particular health needs. We offer appointments face-to-face or remotely, via video consultation using zoom.  We can provide more detailed instructions on using zoom if required.  In some situations, your appointment might take place over the telephone.  If you are having a remote appointment, it is important that you are somewhere quiet where you will not be disturbed in order to get the most out of the appointment.

Please note that our calls might be from private (restricted) numbers; if you do not answer we will try again shortly after. If you were expecting a call and have not received one, or are not able to join the zoom meeting, please call our department on 0113 206 5897.

Most face-to-face appointments are at St. James’s University Hospital, but some may be at Leeds General Infirmary. Your first appointment letter will give you more information.

It is really important that we have your most up to date contact details. This includes your e-mail address if you have one. This is so that we can get in touch when you reach the top of the waiting list and send out links for your appointment where necessary. Let us know if any of your contact details change by phoning our department directly on 0113 20 65897.