A Clinical Psychologist in the UK is a highly trained mental health professional with a doctoral‑level qualification, such as a Doctorate in Clinical Psychology DClinPsy, and who is registered with the Health and Care Professionals Council (HCPC) under the protected title practitioner psychologist.
Clinical Psychology training typically takes around ten years to complete. This includes three to four years of university study as an undergraduate studying for a Bachelor of Science (BSc), followed by several years of work as an assistant psychologist in the NHS, or other specialist providers related to mental health, such as special schools. There is a highly competitive process of securing a training place in one of the country’s DClinPsy training programmes. There, Trainee Psychologists undertake six specialist clinical placements across the NHS, and supervised practice in assessing, formulating, and offering interventions in a wide range of mental health, behavioural, developmental, and neurodivergent conditions.
Clinical Psychologists are trained to use evidence‑based psychological models, carry out formal assessments, and develop tailored formulations to guide individual therapy and wider systemic interventions. They are also regulated by the Health and Care Professions Council (HCPC), ensuring rigorous professional, ethical, and clinical standards. Clinical Psychologists are therefore trained to use a broad range of therapeutic models and approaches across the range of age and presentation.
All psychologists practising within Lingmell Psychology hold a critical psychology approach, which means that whilst we draw on the depth and breadth of our training, we also challenge the traditional assumptions of clinical psychology by questioning how power, culture, and social structures shape what we call “distress.” It shifts the focus from individual pathology to the wider contexts people live in, highlighting that struggles are understandable responses to systemic pressures rather than personal deficits. Other more common ways of describing this approach is Trauma Informed or Anti Oppressive.
The consultation is a brief, informal conversation where we explore your concerns, goals, and the type of support you’re looking for. It’s also an opportunity to ask questions and decide whether our services are the right fit for your family or professional setting.
Fees vary depending on the type of service, session length, and whether the support is for families or professionals. Clear pricing will be provided during your consultation so you know exactly what to expect.
Care and support roles are positions where someone provides practical or emotional support to individuals who need extra help. This might include the support you offer your own child at home, or it may refer to professionals working in educational settings, mental health support services, homeless accommodation projects, learning disability services, residential care, or community support environments. These roles commonly focus on promoting safety, wellbeing, independence, and dignity for the people they support.
Yes. At Lingmell Psychology, we offer secure online sessions via Microsoft Teams, allowing you to access support from wherever feels most comfortable. Online appointments follow the same structure, depth, and professional standards as our in‑person work, and they can be especially helpful for people with busy schedules or those living further away.
We also frequently work with teams, organisations, couples and families who may be in different parts of the city—or even in entirely different locations. Meeting in a shared virtual space can make it much easier for everyone to attend without the added stress of travel, childcare, or logistics. This flexibility helps ensure that support is accessible, timely, and easier to integrate into real‑life routines.
If you’re unsure whether online sessions are right for you, we’re always happy to explore the options together.
Yes. At Lingmell Psychology, confidentiality is central to our work. Everything you discuss with us is handled with the highest standards of privacy and data protection. The only circumstances in which we may break confidentiality is to share information relating to serious and immediate safety concerns — for example, if there is significant risk of harm to you or someone else. If this ever became relevant, we would always try to talk with you first.
We also take data security extremely seriously. We use QuNote, a GDPR‑compliant clinical notes system designed specifically for psychological services. In addition, we use Heidi Health, an AI‑supported note‑taking tool that is also GDPR‑compliant and designed to securely assist with clinical documentation. Both systems ensure your information is stored and managed safely, ethically, and in line with UK professional standards.
Protecting your confidentiality, dignity, and trust is at the heart of how we work at Lingmell Psychology.
When we are working with teams an organisations it may be useful for us to be able to share some information and we would always agree the process and boundaries for this within each individual contract.
We aim to offer appointments as promptly as possible. Unlike NHS services, we do not operate long waiting lists, and many individuals and families are able to begin work with us within 1–2 weeks from initially contacting us. Availability varies depending on clinician schedules and the type of support required, but we will always try to accommodate you as soon as we can.
If you have specific timing needs or would like to start quickly, we encourage you to get in touch — we’ll do our best to offer an appointment that works for you.
We understand that plans sometimes change. If you need to cancel or reschedule, we ask for 72 hours’ notice to avoid being charged for the session. This allows us to offer the appointment to someone else who may be waiting. We will always do our best to find an alternative time that works for you within the week.
We use a parent‑as‑therapist model, which means our primary focus is supporting parents and caregivers so they can create meaningful, lasting change in the relationships and environments around their child. By strengthening your understanding, confidence, and strategies, we can support your child more effectively than through standalone child focused sessions.
We tailor this depending on what is most helpful. We may also meet with the child where appropriate, but the central focus is strengthening the caregiving system around them.
As part of this process, we will meet your child to ensure we fully understand their needs, strengths, and experiences. Where appropriate, we may also complete a specific set of sessions directly with your child as part of the wider intervention.
We support families navigating hitting, biting, spitting, kicking, self‑injury, emotional dysregulation, shutdowns, meltdowns, toileting difficulties, sleep issues, feeding challenges (including ARFID‑like presentations), and school‑based distress. These behaviours are understood in context, not judged or blamed.
Our work is assessment‑led. We begin with a compassionate exploration of developmental history, strengths, triggers, communication needs, sensory factors, and what the behaviour may be expressing. Through shared formulation, we help families understand the “why” behind behaviours rather than focusing on labels or blame.
An FBA is a structured, attachment‑informed process that helps us identify patterns, needs, and the function of behaviours. It includes extended assessment sessions, home observation, family‑completed tools, and a comprehensive report with recommendations. It’s most suitable when behaviours are persistent, unsafe, or significantly impacting family life.
We offer neuroaffirming, attachment‑informed and trauma‑aware strategies. These focus on co‑regulation, routines, communication, sensory needs, emotional safety, and reducing distress rather than using reward charts or compliance‑based approaches.
We regularly support families where school has become overwhelming. We help make sense of the drivers behind distress, support communication with school, contribute to shared formulation meetings, and offer guidance on creating safe, supportive environments across home and education.
We frequently collaborate with schools, residential settings, social care, and multidisciplinary teams to ensure consistency. Shared formulation and practical guidance help everyone around the child respond in ways that reduce distress and promote regulation.
Families receive a clear, accessible formulation and a tailored set of recommendations. For full FBA work, you receive a detailed written report outlining patterns, functional hypotheses, needs, and a practical, compassionate plan for moving forward.
After the initial assessment session, families may complete 3–4 extended assessment sessions, a home observation, and a feedback/planning session. Ongoing sessions are offered as needed, guided by your goals, capacity, and progress.
We provide individual Circle of Security Parenting sessions (90‑minute format) and integrate its principles into our therapeutic work. We also use systemic, behavioural, trauma‑informed and attachment models to support parents in understanding their child’s needs and strengthening family relationships.
Trauma‑Informed Practice means recognising that people’s behaviours, emotions, and responses are often shaped by past experiences of stress or adversity, and approaching them with curiosity rather than judgement. It focuses on creating relationships and environments that feel safe, respectful, and empowering, where a person’s nervous system is supported rather than overwhelmed. In practice, this means working collaboratively, understanding the impact of trauma on the body and mind, and ensuring that support is delivered in ways that prioritise choice, dignity, and emotional safety.
A trauma‑exposed role involves working with children, adults, or communities who have experienced adversity, stress, or traumatic events. When we hear people’s stories, or build relationships with those experiencing trauma responses, we can be affected by the emotional and physiological impact of what they’re carrying. This is about how one person’s dysregulated nervous system can influence another’s — and how these patterns can ripple through whole teams or groups. These roles are emotionally demanding, and it is completely understandable to be impacted by the stories, behaviours, and situations you encounter.
Trauma doesn’t only live within individuals — it can also show up within organisations. High‑pressure environments, chronic understaffing, crisis‑driven cultures, and systems that rely on people continually “pushing through” can create conditions where stress becomes normalised and emotional overwhelm goes unacknowledged. Over time, this can lead to collective patterns of burnout, moral injury, hyper‑vigilance, vicarious trauma, compassion fatigue, emphatic distress or emotional numbing across teams.
Having a strong scaffold of support is essential. This includes having space to process your experiences, reflect on the impact of the work, and co‑regulate with someone who can help you make sense of what you’re holding. Trauma‑informed support protects wellbeing and strengthens staff’s capacity to continue offering safe, compassionate care — both as an individual and within the wider systems you’re part of.
Vicarious trauma refers to the emotional and physiological impact of hearing about or witnessing other people’s trauma. Over time, the stories, emotions, and experiences you are exposed to can begin to shape your own worldview, sense of safety, and nervous system responses.
Compassion fatigue is the emotional exhaustion that can develop when you are consistently caring for or supporting others in distress. It often shows up as feeling drained, less able to empathise, or struggling to offer the same level of care you usually would.
Moral injury occurs when you are placed in situations that conflict with your values, ethics, or sense of what is “right.” This can happen when organisational pressures, limited resources, or systemic constraints prevent you from acting in ways that align with your professional or personal integrity.
Empathic distress is the overwhelm that arises when you deeply feel or absorb another person’s emotional pain. Instead of empathy leading to connection, the intensity of what you’re sensing can leave you feeling flooded, anxious, or unable to regulate your own emotions.
We offer Clinical Supervision, Professional Supervision and Reflective Practice. Clinical supervision focuses on casework, formulation, safeguarding and psychologically informed practice. Professional supervision supports role clarity, boundaries, decision‑making and reflective thinking. Reflective practice provides a facilitated space for staff to make sense of the emotional impact of the work, notice patterns, reconnect with values and explore what they need to remain sustained. All approaches are trauma‑informed and designed to support wellbeing and capacity. After we have met we will discuss with you the balance of supervision functions that you need and create a bespoke experience. For this reason we often use the overarching term ‘supervision’ to describe the service that we are offering.
Staff in social care, homelessness, education and health often encounter distress, trauma and high‑risk situations. Trauma‑informed supervision focuses on helping staff to understand their own nervous system responses to these situations, building awareness and compassion and ultimately a greater appreciation for the wider systemic and sociopolitical context that they are working within. This approach can reduce burnout and secondary traumatic stress, strengthens morale and improves staff retention. It supports healthier team cultures and helps staff feel safer, more supported and more able to sustain demanding work.
We provide individual supervision, group supervision for teams, and specialist supervision for managers. Sessions can be delivered online or in person, either as one‑off sessions or as part of an ongoing support package.
Reflective practice focuses on the emotional and relational impact of the work rather than case management. It provides a structured space for staff to pause, think, process their experiences and understand how the work affects them. It complements supervision but serves a different purpose, centred on emotional processing, resilience and values‑led working. For some teams and organisations it can be helpful to integrate a team formulation element into their reflective practice provision. Team formulation is an opportunity to think about someone who is accessing the service and consider in more depth what has happened to them, how they have learnt to survive, what patterns might be repeating in the support relationship, and what their unmet needs may be. The focus is not on problem solving but on building awareness of the dynamic between service user and staff member.
We offer trauma‑informed leadership development to support managers in understanding how trauma affects staff and organisational culture. Leaders learn how to create psychologically safe environments, respond to staff needs with clarity and compassion, and build systems that support wellbeing and resilience across the organisation.
We work with teams spread across different cities or regions. Supervision, reflective practice and training can be delivered online, in person or through a blended model. Many organisations choose hybrid approaches for accessibility and consistency.
Many organisations combine supervision with targeted training and workshops. Topics include trauma‑informed practice, supervision skills for managers, trauma‑informed leadership, compassionate communication, boundaries, managing the impact of trauma‑exposed work and understanding behaviours of concern. All training is tailored to the context and needs of the organisation.
Through consultancy, we help organisations review systems and culture, identify strengths and gaps, and develop sustainable trauma‑informed and psychologically informed practices. This supports staff wellbeing, consistency and more effective service delivery.
You can contact Lingmell Psychology directly to discuss your needs. We will help you clarify the most appropriate type of support, prepare a tailored proposal and work with you to establish a package that fits your team’s goals, context and working patterns
Trauma‑Focused Therapy supports healing through a gentle, phased journey. The first stage is safety and stabilisation, where we work together to help your nervous system feel grounded, supported, and resourced. The second stage involves making meaning — understanding your story, recognising survival patterns, and exploring how past experiences have shaped your inner world. The final stage is reconnection and contribution, where you begin to reclaim a sense of agency, reconnect with what matters to you, and move toward relationships, roles, and environments that feel aligned and life‑giving.
We offer a trauma‑focused, integrated approach drawing on Eco‑Psychology, Internal Family Systems (IFS), and Compassion‑Based Therapy. We will always adapt our approach to meet you needs, capacity and goals.
Trauma‑focused therapy is not only for people who have lived through a single traumatic event. Trauma can also develop gradually through ongoing stress, high‑pressure environments, emotionally demanding roles, or working within systems that are themselves overwhelmed or dysregulated. Even if you don’t identify with the word “trauma,” you may recognise the impact of chronic stress, burnout, or the emotional load of supporting others. In these situations understanding more about your own story, beliefs, patterns and values can help. Our focus is on understanding your nervous system, and developing a stronger sense of awareness of your internal and external context. Through this work you will be better placed to make choices that are in alignment with what you care about.
Lingmell Psychology Services is not currently registered with private health insurance providers, and therapy is therefore not claimable through insurance. All sessions are offered on a self‑funded basis, which allows us to keep the process simple, transparent, and focused entirely on your needs rather than the constraints set by insurance companies.
Many people prefer to privately fund their therapy because it gives them:
If you have any questions about fees or payment options, we’re happy to discuss them and help you find the right level of support.
No you do not need a GP referral to use Lingmell Psychology. Please feel free to contact us directly to arrange a private appointment.
Lingmell Psychology provides an independent, private psychological therapy service, which means appointments with us are arranged on a self‑funded basis and are separate from NHS‑funded support. If you would prefer to explore NHS therapy options, you can speak to your GP, who will be able to advise on the referral pathways available in your local area.
All Clinical Psychologists at Lingmell have extensive experience working within NHS mental health and neurodevelopmental services. For some people, their circumstances may be well‑matched to NHS support. However, NHS thresholds for accessing therapy are often high, and many services have long waiting lists, meaning people frequently wait months—or even years—for help.
At Lingmell Psychology, we offer a timely, flexible, and responsive alternative. Our aim is to provide support when you need it, rather than waiting for difficulties to escalate or for you to reach a threshold of being “unwell enough” to qualify for statutory services. This allows individuals and families to access early, preventative, and compassionate support that adapts to their needs.
If you’re unsure which option is right for you, we’re always happy to discuss this and help you make an informed decision.
We focus our individual therapy offer around people who are in caregiving and support roles, for example parents, caregivers and professionals in care, support or leadership roles. Some of challenges you might be experiencing are
We offer a trauma focused therapy approach which is focused on nervous system awareness, the development of compassion, self and co-regulations strategies and narrative coherence.
The number of sessions varies for each person and is shaped by your individual needs rather than a fixed programme. At Lingmell Psychology, all therapeutic work begins with a thorough assessment, where we take time to understand your experiences, goals, and the context of your difficulties. Together, we then co‑create a psychological formulation — a shared understanding of what is happening and what is likely to be most helpful.
This formulation guides the therapeutic approach we take and naturally informs the type, pace, and length of intervention, ensuring that support is tailored to you rather than the requirements of a service.
Some people benefit from brief, focused therapy (for example, 6–8 sessions) when working on a specific concern. Others choose longer‑term work when difficulties are more complex, longstanding, or connected to trauma, neurodiversity, or significant life stressors.
There is never any obligation to commit to a set number of sessions. We review progress together regularly to ensure the work remains meaningful, responsive, and aligned with your goals.
If you would like help thinking through what might be right for you, we’re always happy to discuss options.
If this is your first time in therapy, we understand it may feel unfamiliar. At Lingmell Psychology, we work gently and collaboratively. You can expect a supportive, non‑judgemental space where we take time to understand what has brought you to us and what you hope to change. We will never push you to share anything before you feel ready. Our role is to help you explore your experiences safely, develop insight, and begin making meaningful changes at a pace that feels right for you.
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