In 2016 I published a book about my work capturing how I blended organisational and narrative psychology to create a unique psychology role within a teaching hospital in London. You can find out more it here True Tales of Organisation Life.
When my own book came out in 2016 I wrote an article to promote it describing the experience of being a psychologist in a busy London teaching hospital and the Guardian published it. I wanted to capture the reality of working in healthcare and its visceral impact on clinicians but also on me, the psychologist who listened to the distressing stories. You can read the article here - The Guardian Article.
Last year I was very pleased to have been invited to contribute a chapter to the forthcoming Handbook of Palliative Care which draws on my 25 years of providing psychology services to palliative care teams. It describes how to proactively meet the needs of staff who are working close to death and dying. You can find out more about this book at this link - Handbook of Palliative Care, 4th Edition.
Reviews of my book
I’ve been qualified as a psychologist for two decades and I’ve read a lot of books in that time. This one stands out for the lyrical, compassionate and acutely drawn stories of, as Wren puts it, the ‘personal experience of professional life’. This book made me reflect, made me feel validated, moved me and at one point made me cry. I would strongly recommend for anyone involved in supervising, training, supporting or managing staff or organisations with a caring role.
What a wonderful book. This gets at the heart of the rising rates of burnout and mental distress amongst NHS staff. The author's significant experience in this field (at Royal Free) helps her to identify the problems with a clarity that evades policy makers. For example, she notes, "The tendency to focus on the individual rather than the system is colluded with at many levels" (p.14). This is so true!
Everyone in a leadership position within healthcare should read this. The rest of the workforce would benefit too- it might just help them to stop blaming themselves.
What a fantastic book. I hugely enjoyed it and learned an awful lot about the possibilities for psychology in complex organisations. Well done to Ms Wren.
Most recently I have written about my experience of heavy immersion in the Covid crisis working to develop psychological interventions for health and social care staff. I was invited to write a chapter describing this work in a fascinating new book published this year called The Covid Trail. You can find out more about the book on The Covid Trail: Psychodynamic Explorations.
I also wrote about these interventions in the social care sector and you can read about that work here Creating new spaces to think and feel.
An invitation to develop and present a lecture in Trinity College Dublin on the psychological impact of working with young children led to two articles published in the Irish Times:
I was subsequently commissioned to provide a programme of psychological work for Children’s Hospital Ireland.