Leading psychological services

This document is primarily for commissioners, managers, and professional leads of psychological services, but will also be of interest to applied psychologists and other health professionals with specialist training in psychological approaches. It focuses on the need for leadership and leadership development in relation to delivering psychological services. It is important to highlight that the term services will apply to providers of health and social care from across the public, voluntary, and independent sectors. It is intended to be applicable to all settings and across the lifespan. It endeavours to take into account, as far as possible, recent, imminent, and future government initiatives that will be driving developments and reform in service delivery. In the current political climate, all professional groups are clarifying their roles and contribution to service delivery. Applied psychologists represent an extensively trained, scarce resource that is diverse in roles and function. The recommendations made in this document were developed for applied psychologists but the theme will be applicable to other professional groups, as strong leadership is needed across all professional groups.