Psychological Professions Week 2023: Dr Alex Espejo

Today marks the beginning of Psychological Professions Week!

To celebrate, colleagues working in a number of psychology-based roles have been sending in profiles, talking all about their current roles and career pathways.

First up, we’re sharing the experiences of Dr Alex Espejo, Consultant Clinical Psychologist at Sheffield Children’s:

Which service do you work in?

I work in the Child and Adolescent Mental Health Service (CAMHS) for Sheffield Children in Care in the MAPS (Multi-Agency Psychological Support) team. We have staff from both the local authority and health. We offer a holistic approach which considers mental health within the wider context of the child’s life history (trauma), social care, education, neurodevelopment and significant relationships. We work with professionals, carers and schools as well as with the child or young person.

What is your typical working week like? What do you do?

Being a team leader and a consultant means there is a wide variety of roles I undertake. I attend a range of professional and service development meetings with health and local authority colleagues. I lead the team with weekly team meetings and provide line management and clinical supervision. There is also time allocated to do clinical work, from consultations to assessments, interventions and therapy.

How did you get into the job?

After completing a degree in psychology, I worked as an assistant psychologist within adult mental health and learning disability services. This gave me the experience to be successful in obtaining a place on the Doctor of Clinical Psychology course. Whilst training I developed an interest in Attachment Theory and, once qualified, I developed this further through my work in CAMHS. Working with Children in Care requires an in-depth understanding of attachment and of how the relationship with the primary attachment figure in a child’s life impacts on their development. I was therefore immediately interested when a job became available within the Children in Care service.

What do you like best about your role?

Clinical psychologists are trained to work at multiple levels from organisational to direct clinical therapy, and with multiple theories and therapeutic models. The breadth of training means we can assess psychological distress in a broad and holistic way. I enjoy using all this knowledge in consultations and then being able to offer interventions that mean everyone involved with that child can improve that child’s mental wellbeing.

Look out for more colleague profiles during Psychological Professions Week on our website!