Liverpool Cancer Psychology

We can accept referrals from GPs and colleagues at Liverpool University Hospitals.

We aim to see people for an initial assessment within four weeks after we receive a referral.

HCP referrals

• We are commissioned by NHS Cheshire and Merseyside Integrated Care Board (ICB), allowing us to see patients from boroughs who are under the care of a service at our hospitals.
• We see patients who would benefit from meeting with a psychologist who can work as part of the cancer MDT, and who understands cancer and the issues it can raise. This might be because they are undergoing active cancer tests and treatments, have unstable or progressive disease, or are experiencing significant consequences of cancer and its treatment.
• Unfortunately, we do not have capacity to see patients who have mild to moderate anxiety or mood problems, or whose psychological distress is not related to their cancer and is not significantly affecting their treatment.
• We accept referrals via ICE or email. Please email: RoyalPsychology@liverpoolft.nhs.uk for our electronic referral form, which you can then return to us at the same address.

If you are unsure whether our service is the most appropriate one for your patient, or are concerned about a patient’s psychological health, but they do not wish to be referred to us, please contact us for advice.

Appointments may be offered face-to-face, by video or by telephone as per your preference. All you may discuss in your appointments is confidential. In case of risk of harm to you or others we would need to discuss this with other professionals however we would always check with you first. This is to protect your safety and safety of others. For further information, please see the Trust’s Privacy Policy.

• Face to face appointments are usually carried out in Outpatients 1 and Outpatients 2 consultation rooms, Ground Floor, Royal Liverpool University Hospital
• Assessment appointments usually last 75 minutes
• Therapy and review appointments normally last 60 minutes
• During your initial appointment, we aim to understand your difficulties and consider if further sessions with a psychologist will be useful for you. Sometimes it can take more than one session to reach a decision about this.
• For some people, a one-off psychology assessment is enough (and their medical team) to understand and cope better with their needs. For others multiple sessions are needed.
• For those facing more complex issues, a longer course of therapy can be helpful.
• People who need a longer course of therapy may need to wait a few months for this depending on our waiting list at the time. Where necessary, we can offer telephone reviews during this period. We can offer therapy more quickly if there is an urgent clinical need.
• If English is not your first language, we can offer you an interpreter. Visit the interpreter services page for more information.

We can draw on a range of psychological approaches which are best suited to meet your specific needs. These can include:

Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT)

Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) encourages us to get in touch with what really matters to us and use these values to guide and motivate us. It teaches us how to embrace our thoughts and feelings instead of trying to get rid of them and getting frustrated with ourselves.

One technique in ACT that you may have heard of is “mindfulness.” But what really is mindfulness?! Mindfulness aims to connect us with the present moment. Concentrating on the present moment can be hard as our minds are busy thinking, problem solving, analysing…which is usually OK! But sometimes our minds get stuck on a problem that cannot be solved or play an upsetting moment over and over again. This can leave us feeling worried, upset, and stressed.

Mindfulness offers us another option to this usual way of thinking. It simply teaches us skills to focus on the present moment, without getting tangled up in difficult thoughts or emotions. Studies all over the world have shown how helpful mindfulness is to our mental and physical health. We have placed mindfulness exercises for you to try in “useful infomation.”

Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT)

CBT is a widely support psychological therapy and is the recommended approach across many mental health problems.

With CBT we can better understand how we think (thoughts), how we feel (emotions) and how we act (behaviour) all link together.

Therefore, if we experience negative thoughts, we can experience distress, low mood, anxiety, and it can impact what we do.

By becoming aware of how we interpret our thoughts, feelings, and behaviour we can learn new ways of coping. Usually, we start CBT by exploring what problems you want to work on and what your goals for therapy are. We then work together using weekly therapy sessions and between-session tasks to try and achieve your goals.

Metacognitive Therapy (MCT)

MCT is a psychological therapy which focusses on helping people to modify unhelpful beliefs about worry. The therapy aims to help people discover new, and more helpful ways to react to distressing thoughts, so it is less likely that you will spend time dwelling/ruminating on these and learn to develop more helpful ways of managing when distressing thoughts occur.

Mindfulness Based Cognitive Therapy (MBCT)

• MBCT is a course of eight weekly sessions, and a programme of practices to do at home. It teaches us ways to respond to our troubles more skilfully, and to experience happier moments more fully. This course offers a chance to move away from being on “automatic pilot” and to understand how our thinking can influence our physical and emotional experiences.
• Mindfulness can be helpful for everyone in coping with the large and small stresses and struggles of everyday life. Mindfulness-based approaches have been shown to help people cope better with cancer and other health conditions, and to be less caught up in worries.

Motivational Interviewing (MI)

• Motivational interviewing is an approach that helps people to adapt and develop their own potential to cope with life situations to lead a balanced life.
• This is by working in partnership with the psychologist to make decisions based on what is important for you.

• The Cancer Psychology Service will run a brief pilot sleep group for patients and/or families who find that a cancer diagnosis/treatment are interfering with their daily functioning
• This pilot will run initially over three weeks, one session a week
• A face-to-face format/online format will be available
• A member of the team will contact you to find out about your interest in taking part.

Getting Involved is a group of people who have used services, are carers or loved ones of people who have used services, and others who are interested. The aim of the group is to support clinicians and researchers to ensure that the patient perspective is fully taken into account.

What is involved?

The Getting Involved group means providing your views and feedback about a range of service related and research projects. Opportunities may include:

• Making changes to the way services communicate
• Making changes to the services provide
• Helping to ensure that research is patient and carer focused
• Being involved in the management of research studies
• Being a participant in a research study.

If you are interested in learning more, please take our quick survey.

“Opportunity to talk about trauma that I could not with family and friends. A non judgemental and not worrying about upsetting family.”

“My anxiety as a cancer patient was acknowledged from the start of all the sessions. We had very open and frank conversations about dealing with anxieties, and in each session, I developed strategies to deal with cancer-associated problems. I found all the sessions really helpful and self-liberating. Thank you!"

“I felt really listened to and understood and received some good advice re- my operation concerns and anxiety.”

• LUHFT Clinical Health Psychology - YouTube
• Maggie's Wirral | Maggie's (maggies.org)
• Macmillan Cancer Support | The UK's leading cancer care charity
• Welfare rights advice | Macmillan Cancer Support
• Benefits and work | Maggie's (maggies.org)
• Talk Liverpool
• Home - Liverpool Sunflowers.