The Critical Care service at Blackpool Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust specialises in caring for patients who are seriously or critically ill or who are at risk or recovering from potentially life-threatening conditions. The psychologists in this team support patients who, for example, may find their experience traumatic or experience low mood and anxiety, as well as find it difficult to adjust.
Click on the names below to meet our colleagues in the Critical Care team:
Role: Lead Clinical Psychologist for the Cystic Fibrosis Service and Principal Clinical Psychologist for the Intensive Care Service
About: Dr Thomas Clarke is the Lead Clinical Psychologist for the Cystic Fibrosis Service and Principal Clinical Psychologist for the Intensive Care Service. His work with people with Cystic Fibrosis focuses on coping with the psychological impact of living with this condition. This can take a number of forms; it can be through joint working with team members to help think through the psychological impact of someone’s care and treatment or working directly with a patient using a talking therapy to explore their experiences and think about potential strategies or approaches that may be helpful.
His work into the Intensive Care team focuses on patients’ experiences of intensive care. An admission to an intensive care unit can have a considerable psychological impact resulting in difficulties like trauma, depression, adjustment difficulties and anxiety. As part of the psychology team for the intensive care service, Dr Clarke’s role is to help the team provide psychologically informed care to reduce this impact and to provide follow up aftercare once a patient has been discharged where psychological therapy will be offered if they have encountered any of these difficulties.
Thomas uses a number of different models of therapy across his work in both specialisms, integrating principles from third way cognitive therapies including, Cognitive Behavioural Therapy, Acceptance and Commitment Therapy and Compassion Focused Therapy, alongside systemic models such as Narrative Therapy. He has a particular interest in the importance of self-compassion when living with a long-term condition and how the stories (narratives) we hold about our life shape the impact of health events and long-term health conditions and how we manage them.
