Dr Catherine Field B.Sc.Hons, D.Clin.Psych, CPsychol
I qualified as a Clinical Psychologist from Birmingham University in 2000. I am a Chartered Psychologist with the BPS (British Psychological Society) and registered with the HCPC.
I began work in the NHS in the Specialist CAMHs (Child and Adolescent Mental Health) team in North Birmingham. In 2016, this service became part of Forward Thinking Birmingham, the mental health provider for children and young people aged 0-25 years in Birmingham. Since 2018, I have worked in local paediatric services and am currently responsible for running and providing the Paediatric Psychology services in Good Hope and Birmingham Heartlands Hospitals. I have been in private practice since 2013, when SCCPP was established, where I continue to do generic CAMHs work.
I have experience working with children and young people aged 0-18 years, and their families, across a wide range of emotional and behavioural difficulties. After I qualified, I developed a particular interest in early intervention and the prevention of problems, sleeping difficulties, pre-schoolers and attachment parenting. Since having children, I have worked on a part-time basis, and initially spent most of this time working with primary school-aged children, behaviour management and parenting skills. Over the last decade, I have also been working with teenagers with a range of mental health issues including anxiety, low mood, anger, and obsessive tendencies/habits. In the NHS, most of my time in the paediatric service is allocated to the paediatric diabetes teams to help with acceptance, adherence, and emotional well-being.
Prior to training as a Clinical Psychologist, I worked in the fields of homelessness and addictions, a medium secure hospital for adults, and clinical research.
Since qualifying, I have undertaken two years of family therapy training and completed a post-graduate certificate in Clinical Supervision. I have extensive recent training and experience in mindfulness and Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT), a growing branch of cognitive behaviour therapy. I have recently trained in EMDR (Eye Movement Desensitisation and Reprocessing), an evidenced-based treatment originally developed for trauma and PTSD but now used widely in many areas.
I have three teenage children, who all present in their own unique way. I am familiar with the challenges of parenting in today’s society, both personally and professionally.
What is a Clinical Psychologist
Clinical Psychologists have an undergraduate degree in Psychology, and a three-year post-graduate Doctorate in Clinical Psychology, usually with a number of years of relevant work experience between these degrees. Clinical psychology training involves working as a supervised psychologist in a broad range of settings, usually including adults and older adults with mental health difficulties, people with learning difficulties, and children and their families. Clinical psychologists are not medically trained and hence I am not able to prescribe medication.
I am a registered “practitioner psychologist” with the Health and Care Professionals Council and you can check my details using the following link and searching for my surname (www.hcpc-uk.org). It is illegal to practice under the title of “psychologist” without this registration. I am also a Chartered Clinical Psychologist, a title provided by the British Psychological Society, after verifying my qualifications and references.
Clinical Psychologists work collaboratively with children and their families to tackle difficulties together. We believe in early intervention whenever possible, and providing the least intrusive intervention for the child. This is usually consistent with parents’ wishes too, however, the former is becoming increasingly difficult to achieve within the NHS.
Associate Psychologists
On occasions, I bring in other Clinical Psychologists or therapists to do specific pieces of work to help manage the volume of work and to work within specific areas of expertise.
