shutterstock_151335704.jpgThe Psychological Medicine and Integrated Care Clinical Academic Group (CAG) delivers world class specialist services in eating disorders, mother and baby, psychosexual, chronic fatigue, neuropsychiatry, memory disorders, HIV in the context of mental health, mood disorders, anxiety disorders, personality disorders and trauma, including depression and self harm.

The Psychological Medicine and Integrated Care CAG provides a front-end crisis function and tertiary specialist services, with a focus on physical and psychological care at the South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust. We also have academic and clinical staff working within King’s College London, and King’s College Hospital and Guy’s and St Thomas’ NHS Foundation Trusts.

Services are provided for people living in Croydon, Lambeth, Lewisham, and Southwark, as well as for patients from around the country who need specialist care.

We provide assessment in the community, and treatment where patients can access talking therapies and social care for self-help and problem solving to intensive day services. We also provide inpatient and outpatient services for people who need more intensive treatment and support.

An advisory group of service users and carers works alongside the management of our CAG. It is a pool of 13 people, all with direct experience of using mental health services or of caring for someone who has used mental health services.

Prof_Young_small.jpgThe CAG plays a central role in the teaching and education within King’s Health Partners, with undergraduate and postgraduate programmes. We have a large number of staff contributing to the general psychiatric postgraduate teaching programme. We hosted a Deanery awarded Fellowship in Medical Education.

The CAG has a Nursing Council which provides an opportunity for nurses across all grades – both qualified and unqualified for reflection, consultation, development and sharing of good practice on clinical, professional, educational and research based issues to support excellence in mental health nursing practice.

The Centre for Anxiety Disorders and Trauma has a national training role for the treatment of anxiety disorders. It provides training and contributes over half the supervisors on the postgraduate diploma in Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT) at the Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology and Neuroscience (IoPPN).

Key education achievements include:

  • Dual Diagnosis, CBT and Dialectic Behavioural Therapy (DBT) clinicians now in community teams
  • A programme of training in CBT/DBT and psycho-education for recurrent affective disorders
  • Mental health awareness training provided at King's College Hospital NHS Foundation Trust by the Psychiatric Liaison Nurse team
  • Our pioneering Psychological Medicine and Integrated Care Flying University programme delivers clinical-academic teaching to our frontline clinicians, working across community teams, in their local bases in Southwark, Croydon, Lewisham and Lambeth. Since 2017 our professors and other leading clinical academics regularly visit to provide Continuing Professional Development (CPD) teaching at world class level. So far around 160 clinicians have benefited from continuous input.

We conduct a wide range of world leading research into psychological, social and biological processes, epidemiology, medically unexplained symptoms, health psychology, neurology and chronic conditions clinical pathways.

We have developed the leading CBT treatment for panic disorder, social phobia, post-traumatic stress disorder, body dysmorphic disorder and the specific phobia of vomiting. We have developed large scale effective community treatments for insomnia, stress and low confidence. We have conducted randomised trials in general practice on the treatment of mild-moderate depression, post-natal depression and nurse led personalised care for people with coronary heart disease and depression.

The Psychological Medicine and Integrated Care CAG features the UK’s largest research group in mood disorders at the IoPPN Centre for Affective Disorders.

The first ever Regius Professor of Psychiatry, Sir Simon Wessley, is among our clinical-academic staff.

The Psychological Medicine and Integrated Care CAG leads South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust adult mental health services in offering potential research involvement to their patients – between June 2016 and March 2018, our clinicians have asked five thousand patients about permission to contact them about available participation opportunities.

Service users’ involvement is key to our CAG achieving best possible outcomes for our patients.

Clinical Academic Group leaders

  • Dr Trudi Seneviratne, Consultant Adult & Perinatal Psychiatrist, South London and Maudsley NHS FT.

  • Prof Allan Young, Consultant Psychiatrist, Head of School (Academic Psychiatry), King's College London.