Services
Assessment and therapy for all age groups for issues such as anxiety, trauma, abuse, mood, stress, parenting, child behaviour, and relationship problems.
I believe it is helpful to have a smorgasbord of skills and techniques available and to match these to clients’ needs. Along with the usual clinical psychology training in various treatment approaches I can also offer several specialist interventions.
My Skills
Clinical psychologists are trained in assessment and treatment of psychological difficulties. I have specialist skills and interests in some particular areas of clinical psychology including Assessment, Children and Adolescents CBT, TF-CBT, EMDR, ACC, Supervision and Presentations.
AssessmentS
Psychological/psychiatric assessments are typically the first part of working with a psychologist, the 'getting to know you' part where you have a chance to see how you feel talking with this person. This might involve a broad assessment interview to screen for difficulties. Sometimes it is also helpful to administer questionnaires as the results can be added to the information provided by the client.
In addition to standard assessments I can offer specialist assessments for adults and children for ADHD. The first 15 years of my practice was spent with almost daily contact with clients with ADHD so this is an area that I know well. Many difficulties can result in problems with focus and concentration leaving us struggling with distractions and not getting things done. An ADHD assessment covers a lot of areas to build up a picture of what is behind those struggles. It is really helpful if people can find their school reports along with any previous assessments they’ve had done as they help fill in that picture.
I also spent many years on the Autistic Spectrum Disorders Team working with families each week conducting assessments through a range of means: doing interviews, school observations, play based assessments etc. Although I no longer have the team I can still offer screening assessments for ASD by appointment.
Children and Adolescents
I have years of experience working with children, adolescents and their families. I am trained in the Triple P child behaviour management programme and the Friends programme. I have developed and run courses for parents of anxious children and children with emotion regulation difficulties. I enjoy engaging young people through play and creative activities and making it a fun learning experience to come to the office.
CBT
Cognitive Behaviour Therapy is an evidence based approach to treating psychological difficulties. The focus is on modifying thoughts and behaviours and learning new skills. This approach is systematic and focused on the present to gain new skills and/or change existing behaviours to make life easier.
TF-CBT
Another specialist variety of CBT is Cognitive Behavioural Intervention for Tics. This approach involves an in-depth assessment, and intervention with tics and Tourette’s Syndrome. It is one of the few treatment options for tics and aims to reduce tic severity by teaching skills to catch and change the tic before it happens.
EMDR
Eye Movement Desensitisation and Reprocessing Therapy is another treatment approach designed for intervention with trauma. The focus with EMDR is helping the brain process difficult information and allow people to become ‘unstuck’ from traumatic events.
CBIT
Another specialist variety of CBT is Cognitive Behavioural Intervention for Tics. This approach involves an in-depth assessment and intervention with tics and Tourette’s Syndrome.
ACC
Sensitive Claims Counselling: Assessment and intervention for children and adults for historic or recent sexual abuse. I am an approved ACC sensitive claims provider and I can work with children, adolescents and adults under this contract.
Supervision
I can provide supervision for trainees, graduates and other clinical psychologists as well as supervision for clinicians/therapists from a variety of disciplines who might be interested in practicing particular skills.
I have given presentations in settings as diverse as local schools through to international conferences. The audiences have ranged from concerned parents to public health nurses, mental health professionals in training to large audiences with a similar specialist interest. I enjoy this kind of work as it a great way of connecting with groups of people and providing information quickly and efficiently.