Dr David Harvey

I am a consultant clinical psychologist and CAT practitioner. I have worked in mental health services in the NHS since 2004. Much of this work has been with people who have experiences of psychosis or whose difficulties may mean they receive a diagnosis of ‘personality disorder’. It has also involved working with people who have at times posed a risk of harm to others. For many, this means they have become involved with the criminal justice or forensic system. I have used CAT to inform risk assessment and management in the NHS, Probation, Courts, Children’s Services, Prisons and the voluntary sector. In addition I offer CAT in independent practice for people with a range of mental health difficulties.

Over the years I have become increasingly interested in how we, as psychological practitioners, and CAT practitioners, can work at a system level. The focus is then emotional and relational aspects of high quality, safe and effective provision for service users and staff. This has involved using a CAT-informed approach in clinically-focussed activity when working with clinical teams and offering clinical supervision. However I have also used, and written about, the use of relational approaches to inform various aspects of workforce and system development. Examples include team development, coaching, leadership, multi-agency working and close alignment with operational or commissioning functions in systems.