One-to-one therapy

Therapy reflects the two main stages involved in helping individuals overcome their difficulties and improve their psychological well-being: psychological assessment and therapeutic intervention.

Psychological assessment

I undertake assessments in order to better understand the psychological difficulties being faced by a person and to work out if, and how best, I can help.

Typically, a first appointment will consist of gathering information about an individual's current difficulties and how they cope with them. I will also discuss with them their background and any events in their life that may have contributed to their current difficulties. Clients only need to discuss things that they are comfortable with.

I deliver specialist assessments on adults, young people and children for:

  • Attention Deficit and Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD)
  • Specific Learning Difficulties
  • Challenging Behaviours
  • Low Self-esteem
  • Depression
  • Panic attacks and agoraphobia
  • Social anxiety
  • Generalised Anxiety (Worry)
  • Hypochondriasis (Health Anxiety)
  • Obsessional and compulsive behaviours
  • Specific Phobias
  • Post-traumatic stress (PTSD)
  • Work related stress
  • Anger control problems
  • Sleep disruption
  • Bereavement
  • Attachment difficulties
  • Relationship difficulties
  • Psychosis

Therapeutic intervention

Following assessment, the client and I design and undertake individually tailored support packages and therapeutic intervention. These seek to build a deeper understanding of the psychological difficulties faced and to explore associated emotions, thoughts and behaviours.

Therapy involves deriving a shared understanding or formulation of the client’s difficulties. That is, consolidating the gathered information, exploring repeating patterns throughout their life and looking at how the past might have impinged upon the present.

Intervention involves activities outside the therapy session aimed at adjusting or managing the person’s emotions, thoughts and behaviours, such as keeping a diary.

Below are some of the therapies that I provide.

Expert witness

I provide medico-legal assessments, reports and expert witness testimony, throughout the UK, in a number of specialist areas. These include cognitive functioning, intellectual disability, personality disorder, mental health, forensic and risk assessment (including malingering) and family and parenting assessment.

I use an extensive battery of standardised psychometric assessment measures that are widely recognised and have proven validity and reliability. I also deliver effective psychological treatment when it is recommended as part of the medico-legal process.

The instructions I receive are wide in scope and encompass most areas of the law, for example, litigation, criminal and family law.

Litigation law

I recognise the importance that a clear understanding of an individual's circumstances and mental health state pre and post injury should be established. This can assist in prescribing an accurate future prognosis.

Criminal law

I provide comprehensive assessments that inform the court of the extent to which mental health problems, underlying personality disturbance or cognitive impairment may have influenced a defendant's actions.

Family law

I undertake comprehensive assessments of the psychological well-being of children and their relationships with adults involved in their care. Parenting assessments can assist the court in determining the most effective way forward for parenting and parenting support needs.

Training to healthcare professionals

I deliver training to those caring for children, young people, adults (including those with severe and enduring mental health problems and learning disabilities) and families in a number of settings, for example, residential settings, supportive housing, children's homes and fostering agencies. I deliver training on-site, anywhere in the UK, for groups of up to 16 people and lasting between one and five days.

Training is aimed at improving the carer's insight into the difficulties faced by the people they are supporting. Training encourages reflection on their own working practice and interactional style, as well as on the dynamics of the wider team. It equips them with a toolkit of evidence-based intervention strategies they can translate directly into their day-to-day work, boosting skills, knowledge, confidence and enthusiasm.

Where required, training courses can be augmented with on-going consultancy, and later, with post-course supervision for staff teams. Consultancy is highly effective in terms of maintaining the knowledge and skill base of staff teams long after there are trained. It is also a very powerful way of supporting and reinforcing the application in practice of the therapeutic interventions they learn through the training process. This is more likely to achieve the best possible outcomes for the organisation.

Below is a list of the training courses I offer. All are highly engaging and all are underpinned by strong theoretical foundations and research evidence recommended by NICE and the Department of Health. However, if a specific knowledge or skills gap has been identified, I am happy to develop a new training course that is tailored to your precise requirements.

  • Managing challenging behaviour
  • Cognitive-behavioural management of challenging behaviour
  • Psychological approaches to de-escalating anger and aggression
  • Child development and attachment
  • Enhancing self-esteem
  • Positive approaches to risk management
  • Introduction to Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder
  • Introduction to Autistic Spectrum Disorders
  • Mental Health Awareness
  • Understanding and managing self-harm
  • Child sexual abuse: The road to recovery
  • Managing the symptoms of psychosis
  • Enhancing self-esteem in people with psychosis
  • Understanding Bipolar Disorder
  • Understanding Eating Disorders
  • Working with trauma
  • Developing effective therapeutic relationships

Coporate well-being

I offer a range of services aimed at improving mental health, well-being and productivity in the workplace. These services are only implemented following a process of detailed consultation allowing me to understand an organisation’s specific HR or management needs and to then tailor interventions accordingly. Below are some of the programmes I have previously delivered.

Burnout prevention

I help employees identify early indicators of stress and burnout in terms of people’s cognitive processes, emotional responses, physiological sensations and behavioural patterns. Tailored strategies can be implemented to enhance resilience and the ability to cope with sustained pressure.

Conflict resolution

Individuals can be assisted to develop strategies for identifying internal and external conflict and to find helpful ways to resolve these.

Performance optimisation

I have developed a highly effective approach to optimising the performance of individuals who are working in demanding roles. Programmes include an assessment of information processing, memory and the use of different cognitive modalities in task performance. I provide tailored strategies that significantly enhance working memory, information processing and efficiency in performing work roles.

Communication enhancement

I help individuals and teams to communicate more effectively and to manage their anxiety in social and performance situations. I intervene to change unhelpful thinking patterns, control emotional and physical reactions and replace unhelpful behaviours with positive coping strategies.

Stress management

I deliver training programmes that enable employees to identify and consider the effectiveness of their current coping strategies, and to learn a range of specific evidence-based techniques that help them minimise the effects of stress.