Professor Paul Farrand

About me:

Director of the Low-Intensity CBT (LICBT) cliinical training portfolio within CEDAR; Psychology, managing four programmes from Degree Level 6 to MSci associated with the role of Psychological Wellbeing Practitioner (PWP). This new psychological therapy role was established to support Low Intensity CBT (LICBT) interventions within the NHS England Improving Access to Psychological Therapies (IAPT) mental health programme for the treatment of common mental health problems.

Research focusses on LiCBT with several research projects seeking to improve access to psychological therapies for all communities by broadening the applications of LICBT alongside current work incorporating LICBT within a mobile CBT app format. For example, research programme informed the deveopment of 'Hidden Wounds' a Step 2 LICBT service for Help for Heroes. The service adapted specifically for the Armed Forces culture, provides treatment for common mental health problems in Armed Forces Veterans. Another research project developed a LICBT intervention for depression, combining behavioural activation with physical activity promotion (BAcPAc). This intervention has significant impact, being used by many IAPT mental health services, forming the basis of a current research grant (eMotion) to adapt into an on-line cCBT platform, adapted to form the basis of an intervention (Oh Happy Day!) delivered through churches for Black Americans informed by the PROMOTE research programme.

PROMOTE aims to make LICBT behavioural activation for depression accessible for people with dementia through the facilitation of carer support. This research programme has now informed several ongoing programmes with Uppsala University in Sweden. This intervention, amongst several other LICBT interventions I have authored (available freely on the CEDAR website for use by mental health services) are extensively downloaded and used by services across the UK and internationally. My national and internatonal profile in LICBT training, intervention development and research have attracted several academics from top 100 Worldwide Universities in the USA (Wisconsin; Washington), Sweden (Uppsala), Hong Kong (Chinese University), Netherlands (Vrije) and Japan to work with me on sabbatical, seeking to develop and implement LICBT into their contexts.

Given my national training profile, sole editor of Low-Intensity CBT: A Practtioners Manual, first international training textbook in LICBT published by SAGE. I sit on several national committees such as IAPT Expert Advisory Committee, Psychological Practice in Physical Healthcare, IAPT working group inputting into the NHS 10 year forward plan for mental health, Skills for Health widening the psychological workforce and PWP apprenticeship development group. Arising from membership of these groups I have worked in teams producing policy and guidance documents such as the national IAPT PWP training curriculum, Positive Practice Guides for Armed Forces Veterans (with Andy Bacon) and Resiliency intervention.

I adopt an Evidence Based and Scientist Practitioner approach to my research, training and clinical practice working within the Departments of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery at the Royal Devon and Exeter, previously The Royal London Hospital and Accident and Emergency. This informs my underlying philosophy and values that fails to recognise a divide between training, research, and evidence-based clinical practice in mental and physical healthcare.

Interests:

Low-Intensity CBT intervention development in different formats (mobile app based and written) and evaluation. Improving access for different populations (Armed Forces Veterans, physical health, members of the BME community, Muslims). Qualitative, quantitative and Phase I, II and IV research specialisms leading to Phase III defintive RCTs in programmatic research (for example COBRA, PI Richards). Research is informed by the MRC Complex Interventions framework that forms the basis of a Health Services research approach.

Qualifications:

BA(Hons), PG Dip, PhD, National Teaching Fellow, BABCP Accredited Cognitive Behavioural Psychotherapist, Chartered Psychologist, Fellow of the British Psychological Society, Fellow Institute of Learning and Teaching in Higher Education