1. Claire, a mother of two boys aged 8 and 11, has invited us to join her ‘day in the life’. Claire is on placement in a community neuro rehab service that sees people who have experienced a stroke, brain injury, or chronic conditions such as Parkinson’s Disease, MS, etc.

2. 7am get myself and the kids ready for work and school – a large bowl of porridge and bottle of water ready to keep me going this morning. My work will be virtual all day – get ready for loads of MS Teams and BlueJeans!

3. 8am an early start observing my supervisor offer a therapy session to the spouse of a client who had a stroke. Feeling humbled how well she offers gentle direction during the session and validates their difficult experiences.

4.
9am meeting with another clinical psychologist to introduce myself and find out whether she has any clients on the waiting list that I could take on. Nice to speak to her about other psychologists I’ve worked with in neuropsychology – the neuro world is smaller than you think

5. 9.30am MDT meeting for the Stroke Early Assisted Discharge team, observing team dynamics, discussing cases I will be getting involved with, gauging interest in staff wellbeing sessions and what purpose they’d serve (case discussion? team building? relaxation?...

A discussion around the social graces?)

6. 12.30pm: 3-hour meeting is over and I am ready for a long lunch break! Off to prep a sandwich and cook dinner in advance for my kids so there’s no hungry irritability when they get home…

7. 13.30pm: Plans don’t always work out as intended – ate lunch but scrapped the plan of cooking dinner – my back needed a strengthening and soothing online pilates session instead. Back to work!

8. 2pm: I start creating a 5-P model for the 8am client I saw to make sense of what’s going on

9. 2.15pm: I’m virtually introduced to a client whom I will be assessing for a psychology intervention, a middle-aged client who had a stroke and is now overdoing things and getting exhausted by it.

...A bright client who wants to understand more about neuroplasticity. They want to know, if they stop ‘doing’, will their brain stop making new connections?

10. 3pm: DNA teenager who had a brain injury and is unlikely to turn up for appointments if their family don’t support them to engage… a conversation about the placement with my supervisor ensues instead.

11. 4pm I am attending an NHS research team meeting who are recruiting participants who were patients in ICU for Covid-19. A qualitative study looking at their experiences of being on a ventilator in ICU...

...Discussing the challenges of recruiting a varied sample across all social graces when the population in the geographical area is predominantly white and the researchers appear to be a fairly homogenous team too...

12. 5pm A few bits of admin and then it’s time to shut down my computer. No more large screens until tomorrow morning. My kids are waiting for their dinner, and for a hug from mummy!