The Wellbeing Show with Noel McDermott

I recently joined Noel McDermott on his Wellbeing Show to discuss the proposed Resilience Task Force and the call to Government about the need for a cross-sector, multi-agency response to the aftermath of the pandemic, which will ultimately see social and psychological consequences for front-line workers, support seeking people and society at large.

It was great to discuss how the Resilience Task Force campaign came to be (my blog provides an overview) and to talk to Noel about what we’re trying to achieve from it.

We also looked at moral injury, and the challenges for professionals who are forced to make decisions that ultimately challenge the conscience of all health and care professionals. We discussed how this has been heightened by the pandemic, and that the stress and strain put on our health and care professionals will mean many front-line workers will need support over time to bounce back from some of these experiences.

Noel asked me about my professional journey and how I became interested in trauma, mental health and wellbeing – which not surprisingly became quite a personal account of some of my own challenges and the experiences that shaped me. I’m still making sense of how on one level it was a complete fluke that I became a clinical psychologist and on another it was totally predictable!

Our conversation also covered the importance of asking people about adversity, so we are able to support people as best we can. We also discussed why trust and the quality of the relationship between the service user and the professional is so fundamental to positive change. You can read more about this in my blog: ‘ACE enquiry:, what it is, what it isn’t and why it’s important’.

I really enjoyed discussing the Resilience Task Force and a whole host of other topics with Noel. He really understood what we are trying to achieve and why we can’t go back to business-as-usual following the pandemic. While this is the first time a pandemic has directly affected my life, it is unlikely to be the last and there is a lot of learning, planning and sharing best practice to do.

There is more information on the Resilience Task Force website where you can access updates on the campaign as well as resources to get involved. In the meantime, please share your views on Twitter and LinkedIn using the hashtag #resiliencetaskforce.