About Julie | people and systems c

Dr Julie Highfield BSc, D Clin Psy, C Psychol

Dr Julie Highfield qualified as a Clinical Psychologist in 2008 and has a long experience of working as a psychologist in medical and health care settings and with charities. She works closely with staff in their experience of the impact of the workplace upon their mental health, as well as advising managers on matters of workforce wellbeing. She specialises in the application of psychological theory to the management of health conditions, mental health conditions, and mental health at work. She views wellbeing as the ability to reach potential, rather than simply an absence of distress, and that workforce wellbeing is a team approach, sustained by good leadership.

Julie works in the NHS role as a Consultant Clinical Psychologist in acute care. She works clinically with patients, relatives and staff. She has conducted occupational health assessments and interventions for individuals, as well as organisational health assessments and programmes of change for teams. She has experience of working at Associate Clinical Director level- a role usually reserved for Consultants in Medicine.

She additionally works in a national role with the Intensive Care Society as a Director of Wellbeing- the programme has been highly commended by the British Medical Journal for Wellbeing at Work.

She has experience of working in charities and member organisations, and has been a Project Director running regional and national projects, including the strategic development of services for patients, and the strategic development and delivery of services for health and wellbeing for staff and teams.

She has worked with the British Psychological Society and its Division of Clinical Psychology, the Association of Clinical Psychologists, the Intensive Care Society, The Faculty of Intensive Care Medicine, Macmillan Cancer Care, and the Association of Anaesthetists. She provides additional work to a range of NHS Trusts and Health Boards across the UK.

She led the BPS team writing the National Guidance for Staff in the Coronavirus Pandemic.

Since moving to Wales, Julie has been worked with Welsh Assembly Government in various projects over the last 8 years.

Julie regularly speaks at national events across the UK.

Julie's Publications (2019 onwards)

Books and Chapters

Highfield, Price, Ramsay (pending 2024). Psychological and Spiritual needs of the ICU patient and family. Manual of Critical Care Nursing, 7th Edition

Highfield, J. & Neal, A. (2022) Strategic working and supporting leadership within a healthcare context, in Psychological staff support in healthcare: Current thinking & Practice. Edited by Dr Harriet Conniff. Consultant Editor: Dr Arabella Kurtz

Neal, A. & Highfield, J. (2022) A relational guide to establish and maintain a psychologically healthier workplace: Individuals and systems. In Psychological staff support in healthcare: Current thinking & Practice. Edited by Dr Harriet Conniff. Consultant Editor: Dr Arabella Kurtz

McDonald; Barnett; McGill; Highfield;. Farrands; Dixon; Chaston; Mitchell; Palmer(2021). Organisations and Leadership during Covid-19: Studies using Systems Leadership Theory. Systems Leadership Development Association

Highfield, J., Morgan, M., Twose, P. (2021). Psychological Considerations in the Intersection of Infectious Disease with Critical Care Medicine. In Critical Care Psychology and Rehabilitation Edited by K.J. Stucky and J. Stevenson Jutte

Wade, Highfield (2021) Future Directions for Psychology in Critical Care. In Critical Care Psychology and Rehabilitation Edited by K.J. Stucky and J. Stevenson Jutte

Highfield, J., Beadman, M., Wade, D. Psychology: Person-Centred Care a Key to Successful Recovery. (2020) In Passport to Successful ICU Discharge, C. Boulanger & D. McWilliams (eds). Springer

Guidance

Intensive Care Society (2022). Guidance for Integrated Practitioner Psychologists in Intensive Care. Lead author

Critical Staffing 2: Faculty for intensive Care Medicine (2021). Co-author.

Rehabilitation: a framework for continuity and recovery 2020 to 2021: A framework to help organisations plan rehabilitation services following the coronavirus pandemic. (May 2020) (contributing author) https://gov.wales/rehabilitation-framework-continuity-and-recovery-2020-2021

Intensive care as a positive place to work (2020), The Intensive Care Society. Lead author. https://www.ics.ac.uk/ICS/Pdfs/Workforce_Wellbeing_Best_Practice_Framework

Responding to COVID-19 and beyond: A framework for assessing early rehabilitation needs following treatment in intensive care (2020) National Post-Intensive Care Rehabilitation Collaborative (contributing author) https://www.ics.ac.uk/ICS/Guidelines/Framework_for_assessing_early_rehab_needs_following_ICU.aspx?WebsiteKey=10967510-ae0c-4d85-8143-a62bf0ca5f3c

Psychology support for COVID-19 patients in ICU and beyond (2020), Intensive Care Society (lead author). https://www.ics.ac.uk/ICS/ICS/Pdfs/COVID-19/Psychology_support_for_COVID-19_patients_in_ICU_and_beyond.aspx

British Psychological Society (2020) The impact of Covid-19 on the wellbeing of psychologists- (contributing author) https://www.bps.org.uk/sites/www.bps.org.uk/files/Policy/Policy%20-%20Files/Impact%20of%20Covid-19%20on%20the%20Wellbeing%20of%20Psychologists.pdf

British Psychological Society (2020, March) The psychological needs of healthcare staff as a result of the Coronavirus pandemic. Lead author. https://www.bps.org.uk/sites/www.bps.org.uk/files/News/News%20-%20Files/Psychological%20needs%20of%20healthcare%20staff.pdf

Peer Reviewed Journals

Bates A, Golding H, Rushbrook S, Highfield J, Pattison N, Baldwin D, Grocott MPW, Cusack R. Mixed-methods randomised study exploring the feasibility and acceptability of eye-movement desensitisation and reprocessing for improving the mental health of traumatised survivors of intensive care following hospital discharge: protocol. BMJ Open. 2024 Jan 29;14(1):e081969. doi: 10.1136/bmjopen-2023-081969.

Iyadurai, L., Highfield, J., Kanstrup, M. et al. Reducing intrusive memories after trauma via an imagery-competing task intervention in COVID-19 intensive care staff: a randomised controlled trial. Transl Psychiatry 13, 290 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41398-023-02578-0

Ramineni, V., Millroth, P., Iyadurai, L. et al. Treating intrusive memories after trauma in healthcare workers: a Bayesian adaptive randomised trial developing an imagery-competing task intervention. Mol Psychiatry 28, 2985–2994 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41380-023-02062-7

Edmondson M, Guscoth L, Highfield J, Kelly FE. Team Immediate Meet tool to help intensive care staff: Staff perception of an updated version and preliminary feedback following implementation. Journal of the Intensive Care Society. 2022;0(0)

Twose, P., Jones, U., Bruce, J, Firshman, P, Highfield, J, Jones, G., An exploration of therapists’ views of practice within critical care. BMJ Open Respiratory Research 2021;8

Highfield, J, (2021). How are our healthcare staff now? Critical Eye, 19 26-27.

Turner-stokes, Lynne; Corner, Evelyn; Siegert, Richard; Brown, Craig; Wallace, Sarah; Highfield, Julie; Bear, Danielle; Aitken, Leanne; Montgomery, Hugh; Puthucheary, Zudin (2021), The post-ICU presentation screen (PICUPS) and rehabilitation prescription (RP) for intensive care survivors part I: Development and preliminary clinimetric evaluation. Journal of the Intensive Care Society. 2022;23(3):253-263..

Puthucheary, Zudin; Brown, Craig; Corner, Evelyn; Wallace, Sarah; Highfield, Julie; Bear, Danielle; Rehill, Nirandeep; Montgomery, Hugh; Aitken, Leanne; Turner-stokes, Lynne. (2021) The Post-ICU Presentation Screen (PICUPS) and Rehabilitation Prescription (RP) for Intensive care survivors part II: Clinical engagement and future directions for the National Post-Intensive Care Rehabilitation Collaborative. Journal of the Intensive Care Society. 2022;23(3):264-272

Karnatovskaia LV,  Johnson, MM,  Varga, K,  Highfield JA, Wolfrom BD, Philbrick KL, Ely EW, Jackson JC, Gajic O, Ahmad SR, Niven AS. Stress and Fear: Clinical Implications for Providers and Patients (in the Time of COVID and Beyond). Mayo Clin Proc. 2020; 95(11): 2487-2498

Wong, A., Olusanya, O., Parulekar, P., Highfield, J. (2020). Staff wellbeing in times of COVID-19. Journal of the Intensive Care Society.

Highfield, J., Parry-Jones, J (2019). Professional Quality of Life in Intensive Care Medicine- the 2018 Faculty of Intensive Care Medicine Workforce survey. Journal of the Intensive Care Society.

Vincent, L., Brindley, P. Highfield, J., Innes, R., (2019). A National Survey of Burnout in UK Intensive Care Staff. Journal of the Intensive Care Society

Highfield, J. (2019) The Sustainability of Critical Care Staff. Critical Care Nursing.