Psychology

What we do

Our Psychology service identifies and manages emotional, psychological or behavioural factors impacting a patient’s wellbeing or engagement with treatment and self-management.

Our team consists of clinical psychologists, health psychologists and clinical neuropsychologists. Each profession works across a range of wards, teams and clinics at the RMH Parkville and the RMH Royal Park.

Clinical and health psychologists

Clinical psychologists and health psychologists work with patients, their family, carers, and treating team to ensure that patients’ mental health concerns are identified and managed effectively to aid recovery and emotional wellbeing. 

Clinical and health psychologists can help with:

• Assessment and diagnosis of mental health and behavioural concerns that may be impacting on a patient’s adjustment to illness, engagement in treatment or other valued or meaningful activities
• Recommending strategies and interventions for patients and families for mental health concerns including pain management, mood and anxiety management, adjustment to illness and functional changes, grief and loss, and trauma that results from illness
• Helping patients with pre-existing mental health conditions to navigate the interplay between mental health and physical health concerns
• Case consultation to medical, nursing and allied health clinicians to support management of complex mental health presentations and behaviours that may have an impact on treatment or discharge outcomes
• Support and information to access referrals to psychologists and other mental health services in the community
• Training and support to broader hospital staff community regarding mental health issues
• Psychological research in collaboration with postgraduate psychology students

Clinical neuropsychologists

Clinical neuropsychologists identify and manage changes in people's cognition (thinking skills, like memory, attention and problem-solving) and behaviour (the ways they act and things they do). 

These changes might be a result of an injury (such as brain bleeding after a fall, stroke), a disease, illness or condition (for example, dementia, infection, systemic illness, drug and alcohol impacts).

Neuropsychologists talk to patients, families, carers, treating teams and complete cognitive testing to understand a person’s cognition and behaviour. This helps with diagnosis, coping or management strategies, treatment and discharge planning. 

Clinical neuropsychologists can help with:

• Identifying cognitive strengths and weaknesses
• Recommending strategies and interventions for patients and families for cognitive difficulties, returning to daily activities, driving, study or work
• Consultation to treating teams about how to manage cognitive impairments and challenging behaviours 
• Assessing decision-making capacity where a person’s cognition might be affecting decisions about consent to or refusal of treatment, management of financial and legal affairs and discharge destination
• Differential diagnosis (for example, type of dementia or psychiatric disorder)
• Baseline cognitive assessments to monitor recovery and cognitive changes in disease progression
• Neuropsychological assessment for epilepsy surgery (for example, diagnosis, pre-surgery and post-surgery)