Child Health Psychology (Diabetes, Cystic Fibrosis, Cardiac)
Referral Criteria
Please click on each of the conditions below to see the referral criteria for each of these:
Diabetes
You can be referred to this service if:
- You have a diagnosis of Type 1 Diabetes.
- You have difficulties managing your mood
- You are under the care of the Paediatric (Children’s) Diabetes team in Cumbria.
You can be referred by anyone from your Diabetes care team.
Cystic Fibrosis
You can be referred to this service if:
- You have a diagnosis of Cystic Fibrosis
- You have difficulties managing your mood
- You are under the care of the North Cumbria Paediatric (Children’s) Cystic Fibrosis team.
You can be referred by anyone from the North Cumbria Cystic Fibrosis team.
Cardiac
You can be referred to this service if:
- You have a diagnosed heart problem.
- You have difficulties managing your mood
You can be referred by the children’s cardiac team, your child community nurse or your GP.
Who are we and what do we do?
We are a team of two Clinical Psychologists working across Cumbria. Unfortunately the people we support varies in different parts of the county due to funding.
What do our Clinical Psychologists do?
- They work with you to understand how your physical health affects your mood
- They may offer you 1:1 talking therapy
- They may give you information about other services that can help you
What to expect if you come to see us
We will meet with you and usually your family or carers to find out what is difficult for you. If you find it difficult to talk, we also use drawing and games to help you to work with us.
You may be given a questionnaire that will ask more about how you are feeling.
You can talk about what you choose to talk about. No-one will laugh at you or think you are silly for anything you tell us.
At the end of the meeting we can decide together whether you would like to come and talk to us again.
We will not give you medicine or do any physical tests
What can we help with?
- Coping with a medical diagnosis
- Learning to live with and manage your condition
- Support to live a happier, healthier life
- Difficulties with treatment procedures
- Worries about diagnosis
- Anxieties, fears, phobias, and traumatic experiences in your life
- Transition to adult services
- Dealing with your future
- Helping you to talk to your friends/ family about your diagnosis
Plus many others.
If we decide to work together, we will usually use one of the following talking therapies. We would discuss this with you first and answer any questions you may have.
Cognitive Behavioural Therapy
Eye Movement Desensitisation Reprocessing
Compassion Focused Therapy
Acceptance and Commitment Therapy
Solution Focused Therapy
Click here for more information about these therapies.
Why this approach?
Our approach is based on government guidelines and research, and is tailored to meet your individual needs. We are big on looking for solutions rather than focusing on problems.
Confidentiality
Details of your sessions are put on your medical record, but you can tell us if you do not feel ok with anything being shared with your GP or other members of your care team.
We will only talk about you outside the team when you give permission, or if we think you are at risk of harm and we need to protect you or others.
We will keep your GP and/ or consultant up to date by sending letters about your appointments so they know how you are and what you are currently working on – you will also get a copy of these letters.
What do our patients say?
Parent Quotes
"Having the support of the Psychology service meant we could benefit from talking through the ripple effect type 1 has on family life and also the impact it has on our child with type 1. It has helped us gain understanding and has been a life line."
Mum of 14yr old with Type 1 diabetes
The psychology support we've received since my son's diagnosis has been absolutely invaluable to us as a family. Parenting is difficult enough, even without chronic health conditions, so we found that with accessing the psychology help that we were able to adjust what we were doing slightly to make things a little easier at home.
We would recommend accessing the service - it's an absolute no brainer. It's great to talk to someone who can empathise as well as provide suggestions for things that might help.
Laura, mum to Eddie (4)
“The clinical psychology service I have accessed has helped me immensely. After struggling with my daughter receiving a very stressful post natal diagnosis of a critical CHD the service has allowed me to have EMDR treatment which has helped me so much. Without it I don’t think I’d have been able to return to work or support my family in the best way I can. I have found the service invaluable!”
Parent
“Having local support, sensible and supportive advice, and kindness and care from a trusted health professional has helped my daughter, her family and even her school feel more capable of coping with the complexities of this condition. Our number of A&E and GP visits have reduced significantly as have the number of journeys across to the NE for consultant visits. We felt totally 'at sea' without these appointments. Previous mental health support seemed unable to take into account the huge and ongoing implications of my daughter's physical health on her mental health, and this then made my daughter feel even more isolated. To feel less alone and scared in this for my daughter, for me and for our family makes the biggest difference.”
Mum of 16 year old with cardiac condition.
Child/Adolescent Quotes
“I have been accessing psychology services for the past three years. After being diagnosed with my chronic illness it was difficult to know how I could still do the things I enjoy, when every activity left me fatigued. But, with the help of psychologists I learnt about pacing and having an understanding of events I am able to control. This has enabled me to live my life with an understanding of what makes me fatigued and how I can live my life with rests in place so that I can still complete activities I enjoy. This helped my mental health massively, as before this I would overthink every activity out of fear of my symptoms worsening”
16 year old living with Cardiac Condition