C. Comfort Shields, CPsychol, MPhil (Oxon), MA, FRAI

Training, qualifications & experience

I am a graduate of Oxford University, Fielding Graduate University (APA Accredited, California) where I had over 5 years of full-time post-graduate psychology training, and trained clinically at Yale University Medical Centre. Clinical psychology training in the United States is comprehensive and prepares psychologists to be psychotherapists, diagnosticians, as well as academics.

I have published peer reviewed articles in leading psychology journals, and presented research at the American Psychological Association's national convention. I have completed extensive original research on complex bereavement, attachment, and temporality and was awarded the Creative Longevity and Wisdom Fellowship from the Institute for Social Innovation. Psychoanalyst, philosopher, and author of Trauma and Human Existence, Robert Stolorow described reading my research as "an exhilarating experience". I have spoken on dozens of radio programmes about suicide loss survival.

I was born in America, and have lived in the UK for over a decade. Before training to become a psychologist and psychotherapist I worked in an editorial department of Penguin Books publishing, and completed postgraduate work in social and cultural anthropology with a specialisation in sociolinguistics and political anthropology. I am a fellow of the Royal Anthropological Institute.

Other areas of counselling I deal with

• Survivors of sex trafficking
• Adult children of borderline (BPD) parents

Further information

Although I do not handle private insurance claims directly, many of my clients have:

• Cigna Global
• Bupa International

I am glad to provide paid invoices to clients to send to their insurance provider for reimbursement. Normally, clients are reimbursed within 10 days and often within a few days. Currently, I do not accept UK private insurance, because they do not tend to cover therapists' fees.