Rethinking Leadership for Clinical, Counselling and Health Psychologists

This pioneering book offers a bold, psychologically informed take on leadership for today's complex and evolving systems. Written for clinical, counselling, and health psychologists, it challenges traditional models and reframes leadership as a dynamic, adaptive, and systems-aware practice. With a distinctive triadic lens-looking within, between, and across systems-it integrates psychological theory, organisational insight, and systems thinking to explore how identity, emotion, power, and context shape leadership and followership in real-world environments. It offers practical tools to navigate relational challenges, manage work pressures, foster psychological safety, and lead with purpose through conflict, change, and uncertainty. Grounded in lived experience and learning-in-action, this book shows how leadership is co-created-through reflective and reflexive practice, inclusive collaboration, and ethical influence. It argues that sustainable, transformational change requires strategic focus, courageous engagement with power dynamics, and support for leadership at all levels. Essential reading not only for psychologists, managers, and aspiring leaders, but for anyone interested in creating healthier, more equitable workplaces and leading with courage, compassion, and systemic insight.

Amra Saleem Rao is a Consultant Clinical Psychologist, Organisational and Leadership Development Consultant, and Director of Psychological Horizons: a London-based psychological therapies and organisational consultancy. With more than 30 years' experience across UK healthcare and other sectors, and international contexts, she brings a distinctive integration of psychological depth, systemic awareness, and lived leadership to inspire change in people and organisations.

Foreword by Jon Stokes Introduction PART ONE: BUILDING THE GROUNDWORK: UNDERSTANDING LEADERSHIP AND ITS CONTEXT Stephen Murgatroyd Chapter 1: Leadership in a VUCA | BANI World Dr Simon Western Chapter 2: Eco-Leadership: Leading Clinical Change Ian MacRae Chapter 3: Theoretical Perspectives and Practical Approaches to Leadership: Identifying Potential, Organising Leadership Structures, and Managing Performance Dr David Lawlor Chapter 4: System Psychodynamics of Leadership Roles: Understanding Systems and Organisations PART TWO: RISING WITH THE TIDE: HARNESSING INFLUENCE FOR IMPACT AND TRANSFORMATION Dr Ashley Weinberg Chapter 5: Political skills in everyday leadership: What you need to know, but might be hesitant to ask? Dr Esther Cohen-Tovée Chapter 6: Responding to challenges and opportunities when "the only constant is change" Dr Lynne Taylor Chapter 7: Strategic leadership - translating vision into reality Dr Rachel Bradley and Dr Andrew Roberts Chapter 8: Clinical Leadership within systems: integrating theory into practice and building relationships to enable change Professor Aimée Aubeeluck Chapter 9: Fostering Transactional Business Skills, Creativity and Psychological Principles to Lead Well Dr Rosie Gilderthorp and Dr Amra Saleem Rao Chapter 10: How Business Skills Can Strengthen Effective and Impactful Leadership Professor Aimée Aubeeluck and Dr Elizabeth Jenkinson Chapter 11: What does good leadership look like? Interview with a Leader PART THREE: PHOENIX LEADERSHIP: NAVIGATING THROUGH CHANGE, RENEWAL, AND TRANSFORMATION Professor (Emeritus) Tony Lavender Chapter 12: A Model for Understanding Organisational Leadership and Change and Its Application in Health and Social Care Dr Adrian Neal and Dr Kathryn Walters Chapter 13: A View from the Inside: Leading as a Psychologist in Times of Conflict Gita Bhutani, Liz Kell, and Clare Baguley Chapter 14: Large Scale Change and Communities of Practice - Development of the Psychological Professions Network PART FOUR: A HEALTHY HIVE: FOSTERING THRIVING CULTURE & SUSTAINABILITY THROUGH THE TEMPEST Dr Amra Saleem Rao, Gita Bhutani, Dr Adrian Neal, and Professor (Emeritus) Tony Lavender Chapter 15: Wellbeing as Leadership: From Paradox to Collective Practice Professor (Emeritus) Reg C Morris, Gita Bhutani, Dr Amra Saleem Rao, Jeremy C Clarke, and Professor (Emeritus) Tony Lavender Chapter 16: The Composition and Wellbeing of the Psychological Professions in the Uk (2014 to 2021) Kerry Hinsby and Rajinder Dhanjal Chapter 17: Workforce Wellbeing across Healthcare Partnerships: A Systemic and Relational Approach Kalpita Kunde and Dr Lawrence Welch Chapter 18: Connections Jennifer Lees-Marshment Chapter 19: Leading wellbeing practices in Prime Ministers' Offices Dr Amra Saleem Rao Chapter 20: Hope in the Dark: Compassionate Leadership for High-quality Care Interview with Michael West Dr Amra Saleem Rao Chapter 21: Psychological Safety and Leadership: A Conversation with Amy Edmondson PART FIVE: BREAKING THE MOULD: RACE, CULTURE, AND IDENTITY-CAN LEADERSHIP TRULY TRANSFORM WITHOUT CONFRONTING POWER DYNAMICS? Charlotte O'Brien, King-Yin Chan, and Laura Anne Winter Chapter 22: How Can Psychologists Lead Well? Anti-Oppressive Leadership Principles and Practices for Practitioner Psychologists Professor Jan Hughes and Professor Gary Latchford Chapter 23: Identity and Leadership: Understanding the Meaning for Clinical Psychologists Dr Lorraine Gordon Chapter 24: Leading Antiracism in Health and Care Systems PART SIX: THE TAO OF LEADERHOOD IN PRECARIOUS TIMES: TOWARDS FUTURE HORIZONS Dr Anton Obholzer Chapter 25: A Relational Model of Leadership and its Risks Joanne Hemmingfield Chapter 26: Centering Leadership Around the Communities We Serve: Truth, Hearing and Ceding Power Stephen Murgatroyd Chapter 27: Leadership For an Anxious Future: Leading in a Technological Age Dr Olga Luzón, Dr Hannah Shaw, Dr Sarina Afzali, Charlotte Baribeau, Dr Arshia Choudhury, Dr Maryam Haghiran, and Dr Saim Kirhan Chapter 28: Why We Need a Paradigm Shift: Thoughts from Young Leaders PART SEVEN: EPILOGUE Chapter 29: The Leadership Odyssey - Key Insights & Reflecting Forward Glossary