Psychology South West

Qualifications, experience & trainings

My ‘core’ training and qualification to practise, is as a chartered clinical psychologist registered with the British Psychological Society (CPsychol, reg. 035488). This requires a three year full-time NHS and university training, having already completed a university psychology degree. The Society requires me to adhere to their professional and ethical codes and standards. My honours psychology degree (BSc,1st class) is from Oxford Brookes University and my doctorate in clinical psychology (DClinPsy) is from Plymouth University/South West Regional Health Authority.

My experience as a therapist has been gained over many years working in independent practice and within NHS adult mental health psychology services. I have developed team psychology services as a ‘principal clinical psychologist’. Clinical psychology has a systematic and versatile ‘problem solving’ approach to clients’ problems and issues. With this wide experience, and my further trainings in a range of psychotherapeutic approaches, I am able to work effectively with all kinds of issues and problems within clients' own lives, in their relationships and in wider areas of life (workplace etc.).

I have taken part in training programmes in cognitive analytic therapy (CAT) and cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT). These approaches look at aspects of our lives, and of our thinking, that may 'drive' our problems, or keep them stuck. CAT adds understanding of how problems or 'issues' may develop in our ‘formative years’, and of how they may be present in our relationship or emotional patterns. I am a member of the British Association for Behavioural and Cognitive Psychotherapies (BABCP), and of the Association for Cognitive Analytic Therapy.

Humanistic psychology and therapy are concerned with what make us 'human' - what we all have in common and how we are individuals in our own right. We are more than a set of 'problems'. We can develop a clearer sense of ourselves as ‘whole’ people, and of our individual values and aims in life. Sometimes, our problems result from losing track of who we ‘are’, or of trying to reconcile conflicting needs or expectations. I have have many years' experience of humanistic approaches, including Gestalt training and supervision (a form of humanistic psychotherapy).

I have particular interests, mainly in the effects of trauma, loss and abuse. I have specialised training in the assessment of posttraumatic stress (PTSD: Oxford Stress and Trauma Centre, and I am qualified to practise as an EMDR practitioner (EMDR Institute level 2). This is a psychological treatment to help to undo the impact on the mind and body of traumatic experiences. Problems such as ‘jumpiness’, panic attacks and fear, feelings of depression, loss of energy, ‘flashbacks’ and disturbed sleep/nightmares, may be helped.

FAQ's

This section is being developed. Please email or phone with any queries. It will describe the similarities and differences between psychologists, clinical psychologists, psychotherapists, counsellors and psychiatrists! Who does what and why, and how can you tell what about qualificatons etc. What is a chartered clinical psychologist and what use is it knowing that we are regulated by the British Psychological Society.