Professional qualifications, accreditations and memberships

 

I am a registered Mental Health Nurse  - NMC, with a specialist qualification in Child and Adolescent Mental Health Nursing – NMC, ENB 603. I trained in London at Thames Valley University and completed my specialist training at the University of Anglican Ruskin in Cambridge.

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I have a certificate in Cognitive Behaviour Therapy and I am a fully trained Dialectical Behaviour Therapist, I completed this training with the DBT British Isles association.

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I also have specialist training in Mindfulness with children and adolescents – Youth Mindfulness, as well as a certificate in Solution-focused therapy.

 

My professional experience

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I have worked in Child and Adolescent Mental Health for 23years, and gained a variety of experiences both across the private sector and the NHS. I have managed a tier 4 in-patient unit in the NHS and was the professional lead for all nurses across CAMHS. Most recently I was in a senior lead management role for Tier 4 services and a number of specialist services, which enabled me to be involved in a variety of service developments and gain operational experience.

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Other roles I have worked in are CAMHS Liaison Specialist Practitioner, (Royal Free Hospital Trust), Staff Nurse in a specialist Eating Disorder unit, as well as experience of working in community crisis teams. Plus working as part of a specialist ADHD clinic, with medical colleagues.

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I have also done work with local schools and parents, introducing Mindfulness, parenting skills, behaviour programmes and generally bringing mental health awareness to the forefront.

 

Personal Approach

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Always looking at the child or young person as an individual and listening to their voice is a priority. Working with the family to support change and reach the goal set by the young person with their parents, to which they feel is acceptable and achievable.

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I can provide support to parents and young people in managing the different stages of development through childhood, managing difficulties that arise and make everyday life become stuck. This could be through assessment, developing coping strategies, or a specific model of treatment, whether this is for a behaviour problem, mental illness or problem or a physical illness that is causing psychological distress.​

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Using a holistic approach, when we first meet my main focus will be ‘getting to know the child, family and context’, I may use different ways of engaging the children, such as drawing or writing etc. Together with the family we will develop a care plan with goals to work towards and adjust along the way as needed.

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I will meet with everyone together, separately and liaise with my colleagues to enable the best outcome.

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