About me
Hello my name is Aysha and welcome to my page.
My Approach
I work in a transparent and collaborative way to build a trusting relationship whereby we can explore the difficulties together. I have a very non-judgmental and compassionate approach.
My Background
I have 20+ years of experience working in mental health. I initially started my career as a Psychiatric Epidemiologist at the Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology and Neuroscience (IoPPN). I worked extensively in ageing mental health and neurodegeneration and have presented at national and international conferences and have published in peer reviewed journals.
Clinical Psychology
Clinical psychologists are particularly trained to provide evidence-based treatments and are trained to understand the scientific literature/research which demonstrate treatment effectiveness and efficacy. They have particular expertise in mental illness and can skillfully navigate statutory mental health services.
I am the Psychology Lead and Principal Clinical Psychologist registered with the Health & Care Professions Council (HCPC), in a NHS Child and Adolescent Mental Health Service (CAMHS). I also hold chartered registration and I'm an associate fellow of the British Psychological Society (BPS).
I'm trained to work across the age span i.e. from childhood to older age, and with all types of emotional and psychological difficulties. I use a range of psychological therapies including Eye Movement Desensitization Reprocessing (EMDR), Cognitive and Behavioural Therapy (CBT), Mindfulness-based CBT, Trauma-focused CBT, Narrative Exposure Therapy (NET), Compassion Focused Therapy (CFT) and Dialectic Behavioural Therapy (DBT).
Systemic (Family/Couples) Practice
I am also a Systemic (Family/Couples) Practitioner accredited by the Association of Family Therapy (AFT). I provide specialist skills in working with children, adolescents, individuals, couples, families and organisations using attachment and systemic theories, this means I focus on relationships.
I use a range of systemic approaches including Narrative Therapy, Attachment Narrative Therapy, Brief Solution Focused Therapy, Strategic/Structural Family approaches, as well as Communication Models to support clients who are struggling with their relationships.
Systemic comes from the word system; this includes couples, families, organisations such as schools or the work place, as well as and the wider socio-political system. Systemic practitioners are trained to understand psychological and emotional distress by exploring relationships and communication. This means that they do not locate problems in the individual, but rather within the relationships and the system as a whole. They make hypotheses about the ways in which people communicate and interact with each other and how this may cause and maintain relational difficulties, leading to feeling stuck and emotionally distressed. These hypotheses are then explored together collaboratively.
Many couples and families (with or without children) come to systemic (family/couples) therapy because they may experience intimacy issues, sexual difficulties, infidelity, infertility, divorce, parenting struggles, mental illness within the family, addictive behaviours, behavioural and emotional difficulties with children, family illness and/or bereavement and many other external realities such as financial worries, school-based worries, employment issues and discrimination.
Psychoanalytic Psychotherapy: Attachment and Trauma
I am also a UKCP registered Psychoanalytic Psychotherapist, this means I am trained to focus on your early life experiences/childhood and how this shapes and impacts your current relationships and day to day life. As such; in addition to my existing experience in clinical psychology approaches to attachment and trauma, I also have 4 years of post-doctoral psychoanalytic training in attachment, loss/grief, identity, sexual/complex trauma and relational and personality difficulties. I am also the former editor of the Journal: Attachment - New Directions in Psychotherapy and Relational Psychoanalysis.
Group Psychotherapy
I also provide a range of group offers. The current offer is for women with attachment and relational trauma. Please visit my website for further details.
Child and Adolescent Mental Health
I have specifically worked with children, adolescents, neuro-developmental/learning difficulties and couples/families struggling with parenting and/or child mental health difficulties.
Alongside my private work I am employed as a senior clinician in CAMHS where I am the Psychology Lead and routinely practice systemically and have extensive experience providing professional consultations to schools, allied health professionals, and other third sector agencies/charities, as well as clinical supervision and expert neuropsychological assessments and reports.
Supervision, Consultation and Coaching/Mentoring.
I also provide clinical supervision, professional consultation and mentoring, as well as coaching to clients and allied professionals.
I provide short-term goal focussed therapy as well as more analytical long-term open ended therapy.
Private Practice
Alongside my NHS work, I run a private practice called Blackheath Therapy.
Please visit www.blackheaththerapy.co.uk for more information.
Training, qualifications & experience
- EMDR Levels 1&2 (EMDR Academy)
- Advanced Clinical Supervision Training
(British Psychological Society) - Attachment-Based Psychoanalytic Psychotherapy
(The Bowlby Centre) - Advanced Dialectic Behavioural Therapy
(ELFT NHS Foundation Trust) - Clinical Supervision
(British Psychological Society) - PGCert Intermediate Systemic/Family Practice with Distinction
(Institute of Family Therapy) - Advanced Compassion Focused Therapy
(Derby University with Prof Paul Gilbert) - Mindfulness-Based CBT
(Oxleas NHS Foundation Trust) - D.Clin.Psych Doctorate in Clinical Psychology
(University of East London) - PhD in Psychiatric Epidemiology
(King's College London, Institute of Psychiatry) - MSc in Psychiatric Research (Epidemiology)
(King's College London, Institute of Psychiatry) - BSc (Hons) Psychology
(Greenwich University)
Member organisations
school Registered / Accredited
Being registered/accredited with a professional body means an individual must have achieved a substantial level of training and experience approved by their member organisation.
The HCPC are an independent, UK-wide health regulator. They set standards of professional training, performance and conduct for 16 professions.
They keep a register of health professionals who meet their standards, and they take action if registered health professionals fall below those standards. They were created by a piece of legislation called the Health Professions Order 2001.
Registration means that a health professional meets national standards for their professional training, performance and conduct.
Areas of counselling I deal with
Therapies offered
Fees
£130.00 - £175.00
Health Insurance/EAP
Additional information
I accept direct fee paying clients and the following insurance:
WPA, BUPA, Aviva, AXA
Assessment & Treatment Sessions:
Individuals £130 (50mins)
Couples £150 (50mins)
Families £175 (50mins)
Supervison & Consultation £90-£130 (50mins)
Group Psychotherapy
£65-£100 (60-90mins)
When I work
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Practice in Blackheath:
Typically Mondays but please do contact me directly.
Further information
Aysha Begum, PhD, D.Clin.Psych, CPsychol, AFBPsP
Registered Clinical Psychologist - Health & Care Professional Council (HCPC)
Chartered registration and associate fellow - British Psychological Society (BPS)
Achieved accreditation and registration for Psychoanalytic Psychotherapy - The Bowlby Centre & UK Council for Psychotherapy (UKCP)
Accredited Systemic (Couples/Family) Practitioner - Association of Family Therapy (AFT)
Insurance - Towergate Insurance
ICO registered data protection officer ZA540449
