Navigator
What is a Navigator?
Navigators are your first point of contact with the Infected Blood Psychological Service. They are skilled professionals from a variety of backgrounds who share the same goal: to provide safe, compassionate and effective support tailored to your needs.
What does a Navigator do?
Navigators provide compassionate and holistic support, they:
- Listen to what matters to you
- Work alongside you to provide emotional and practical support tailored to your needs
- Guide, support and empower you to make informed decisions about your care
- Explain care pathways and support you to feel informed and prepared for psychological therapy
- Support you to access psychology and other appropriate services
- Advocate for you and support you to navigate challenges or barriers within complex systems
Psychological Professional
What is a Psychological Professional?
In this service, you may be supported by a range of Psychological Professionals, including Clinical Psychologists, Counselling Psychologists and Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT) Therapists. All are highly trained specialists in mental health and emotional wellbeing.
Although their training backgrounds differ, they share the same goal: to provide safe, compassionate and effective support tailored to your needs.
What do Psychological Professionals do?
Psychological Professionals are trained to help people understand and manage emotional and psychological difficulties. They can support you to:
- Make sense of your thoughts, feelings and experiences
- Cope with distress, trauma and life challenges
- Develop practical strategies to improve wellbeing
- Work towards personal goals at your own pace
Evidence-based therapies
All Psychological Professionals in our service deliver evidence-based therapies. This means the approaches we use are grounded in research and recommended by national clinical guidelines (such as NICE).
These therapies are shown to be effective for a range of difficulties, including anxiety, depression, trauma and adjustment issues. Your therapist will work with you to choose an approach that best fits your needs and preferences.
Our specialist service
All Navigators and Psychological Professionals in this service have completed a comprehensive induction programme. This includes developing a thorough understanding of:
- The impact of infected blood on individuals and families
- The broader historical and social context
- The Infected Blood Inquiry and its significance
This ensures that the support we offer is informed, sensitive and responsive to the lived experiences of those affected.