Dr Maria Griffiths

, in the role of Partnerships Director.

I've worked in a range of service contexts with a particular interest in working with adults given a diagnosis of psychosis, and their families. 

Since qualifying as a clinical psychologist in 1997, having trained on the Salomons programme, I've worked in a range of service contexts with a particular interest in working with adults given a diagnosis of psychosis, and their families. I'm a member of the BPS Division of Clinical Psychology, with active membership of the Psychosis and Complex Mental Health Faculty and the Group of Trainers in Clinical Psychology. I'm keen to bring more family inclusive ways of working to routine adult mental health care, in recognition of the central role played by social networks in peoples' recovery, as well as the impact on the well-being of relatives and friends when someone close is in distress.

My last NHS post in South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust, was in a specialist role leading on the development of Family Interventions for Psychosis. 

As Partnerships Director on the programme, I am keen to develop and sustain relationships with all our stakeholders, particularly in current times of programme expansion. I am currently involved in developing new clinical placement opportunities in the third sector, with a particular focus on homelessness charities and local authority rough sleeper initiatives. My role also involves the coordination of our programme of supervisor training and support.  

I have a long history of delivering training to NHS colleagues and am a trained trainer and supervisor in Behavioural Family Therapy. Together with a colleague, I currently coordinate the first-year teaching on Clinical Skills, along with the programme teaching on Risk and Ethics.

My other teaching interests include adult experiences of psychosis, family and carer involvement, clinical supervision and indirect approaches for clinical psychologists in the NHS.

My research interests include experiences of different family approaches, family and carer involvement, therapies for psychosis, parental mental health and clinical supervision.

I am currently supervising trainees' major research projects in the areas of: the co-working relationship for family practitioners in psychosis services; family therapy by video-conference, maladaptive daydreaming and experiences of acute admission for anorexia nervosa.  

A more recent research interest concerns psychological aspects related to homelessness, including temporary and unstable accommodation.

Recent publications include:

McGowan. J., Terry, R., @TheAgentApsley., & Griffiths, M. (2017, November, 14). Roundtable: What should we do with the Mental Health Act? Discursive of Tunbridge Wells Blog. Retrieved from https://blogs.canterbury.ac.uk/discursive/roundtable-what-should-we-do-with-the-mental-health-act/  

Chuttoo, L., Griffiths, M. & Allen, J. (2019). Using clinical records to evaluate family intervention for psychosis in routine practice. Journal of Psychiatric Intensive Care, 1-9, doi:10.20299/jpi.2019.005  

Thompson, O., Griffiths, M., Allen, J. & Jones, F. (2019). A Delphi survey to explore best practice for practitioners offering family intervention for psychosis to families with children. Journal of Family Therapy, 0: 1–28. doi: 10.1111/1467-6427.12264  

Gibbs, M., Griffiths, M. & Dilks, S. (2020) A grounded theory of how service users experience and make use of formulation in therapy for psychosis. Psychosis. DOI: 10.1080/17522439.2020.1742198  

Griffiths, M., Allen, J., Patel, K. & Bell, V. (2020) Promoting family inclusive practice in home treatment teams. The Journal of Mental Health Training, Education and Practice. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1108/JMHTEP-11-2019-0058  

Griffiths, M., Holmes, S. and Burbach, F. (2021) Adaptations for different family groups. Chapter in J. Allen and S. Livingstone (Eds). Family Interventions in Psychosis: Guidelines for psychologists and practitioners supporting families and social networks. BPS Publication. https://www.bps.org.uk/sites/www.bps.org.uk/files/Policy/Policy%20-%20Files/Family%20interventions%20in%20psychosis.pdf  

Griffiths, M. (2021) Measuring outcomes for families. Chapter in J. Allen and S. Livingstone (Eds). Family Interventions in Psychosis: Guidelines for psychologists and practitioners supporting families and social networks. BPS Publication. https://www.bps.org.uk/sites/www.bps.org.uk/files/Policy/Policy%20-%20Files/Family%20interventions%20in%20psychosis.pdf

I am involved in the Homelessness Workforce Project, as a collaboration with three other clinical psychology training programmes in the southeast region; Southampton; Surrey and Oxford.

This project has been funded by Health Education England with the aim of contributing to the development of the psychological workforce in homelessness.