Lisa Wilson

Welcome!

I understand that looking for a therapist can feel bit overwhelming and confusing. I hope the information below will help to answer some of your questions but if you would like to know more, please contact me in confidence via our team at Avenue Therapies by email or phone (020 7112 8834).

About me

The first thing to say is that I am a Clinical Psychologist, registered with the Health Care Professions Council (HCPC). As a Clinical Psychologist, I am trained to doctoral level to deliver researched and evidence-based therapy from a variety of therapeutic ‘models’. This allows me to tailor therapy to your individual needs by selecting aspects of therapy models that will be most helpful to you. If you want to find out more, I have written a little about how a Clinical Psychologist is different from a Counsellor, Psychotherapist and Psychiatrist below.

People look into therapy for a variety of reasons including psychological, emotional, personal or relational difficulties. I am passionate about understanding each person as an individual and tailoring therapy to their unique needs. I have trained in a breadth of psychological models which allows me to adapt therapy appropriately by selecting the aspects that will be most helpful to you. I have written more about the psychological models I work with below.

It’s important for people to have a good experience of therapy. I understand that whether you are an adult, parent, child or adolescent, coming to therapy is a big and important step, and the idea of talking to a stranger about things that you are struggling with, and you may have never spoken about before, can seem daunting. With that in mind, my first aim is to cultivate a trusting, confidential, and non-judgmental relationship that makes you feel comfortable and safe enough to share your experiences and difficulties with me. From this starting point, my aim is to help you to develop a helpful understanding of your difficulties from which we can work towards implementing change strategies to support you in your journey forward.

Each person I meet with in therapy is a unique individual who is the expert of their experience, so our work together will be collaborative throughout so that together we can explore what your obstacles are to thriving and meeting your potential.

I value the role of the therapeutic relationship in enabling, mobilising and empowering people to move towards their full potential. The therapeutic relationship offers a collaborative space to explore and understand current difficulties from which change and new ways of being can grow. My intention as a therapist is to facilitate understanding and change that will ultimately enable the client to leave the therapeutic relationship and continue on their journey through life in their valued direction.

I am also part of Avenue Therapies, a community practice of highly experienced and qualified Psychologists and Psychological Therapists. We offer clinics in a variety of locations.

For more details please visit http://www.avenuetherapies.com/contact.

Many of the team have attended advanced level training and have particular specialisms so, although I may not be an expert in the area you would like support with, it is likely someone within our team is. We offer a variety of different therapeutic approaches including Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT), Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT), Dialectical Behaviour Therapy (DBT), Eye Movement Desensitisation and Reprocessing (EMDR), Schema Therapy, Cognitive Analytic Therapy (CAT), Compassion Focused Therapy (CFT), Psychodynamic Therapy, Mindfulness-Based Therapy and Systemic approaches. Was also have Occupational Therapy services and close links to local Psychiatric colleagues. All of the team at Avenue Therapies work in accordance with the guidance set by the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE).

My experience

I have worked within the NHS since 2005 and in that time, I have worked with people from across the lifespan and from a variety of backgrounds. I therefore have good experience of working with a range of psychological difficulties, such as anxiety, obsessive-compulsive disorder, low mood, low self-esteem and confidence, difficulties within relationships, bereavement and loss, trauma and other experiences.

In my private practice, I have worked with individuals experiencing difficulties similar to those listed above. In particular, I have worked with people to help them manage the effects of being stressed or having been bullied, low self-esteem and low mood, anxiety and coping by self-harming.

Within my NHS roles over the past seven years, I have specialised in two areas. One of these has involved working with people who are struggling to manage the effects of severe and enduring mental health problems. The other has centred on working with people who have chronic physical health conditions, which are having a significant impact on their lives and have become difficult to manage (e.g. rheumatic conditions; chronic fatigue; multiple sclerosis; diabetes; chronic pain; limb loss).

The majority of my clinical work has been with adults between the ages of 16 and 85.

What to expect from your therapy sessions

I work to provide a safe, contained and confidential space on a weekly basis in which you can share the difficulties you want to work on, at a pace you feel comfortable, so we can work together towards understanding and change in the direction of your values.

The first session is the assessment and will be slightly longer than a normal session at 90 minutes. This is to give you enough time to explore what you have come to therapy for, what you have tried in the past, what helped and what didn't help. At the end of this session, I will try and make some recommendations around what may be most helpful for you. Following our meeting, I'll summarise our conversation in a letter which I will email to you.

After the assessment session, the sessions will be 55 minutes. Each person I work with is very different so it is difficult to predict how many sessions will be needed. From a personal therapeutic perspective, my aim is only to work with a person for as long as it is helpful and to empower the person to leave therapy with the skills they need.

How is a Clinical Psychologist different?

Clinical Psychologists train to a doctoral level in a range of therapeutic models which allows them to tailor therapy. Formulation is a particular skill of Clinical Psychologists for making sense of individual difficulties and needs and tailoring therapy from different models to the person. Counsellors and Psychotherapists are also qualified therapeutic practitioners but are generally trained in one therapeutic model and not to doctoral level. Psychiatrists are also doctors but they work with people experiencing mental health difficulties using medications to help manage these difficulties rather than talking therapies.

We provide a bespoke service that is designed to meet the needs of you, the individual, our charges vary depending on the nature of the assessment and any subsequent treatment. We have both Clinical Psychologists and psychological therapists working with us and we will provide choice of who you see that best suit your needs. We offer hourly sessions at £130 with a psychologist and £100 with a psychological therapist. Some of our therapists do offer concessions. We are always happy to discuss costs with you and are committed to try to make Clinical Psychology and psychological therapy as accessible as possible.

I can't always answer straight away but I will endeavour to return your message within 24 hours. I work as part of a practice called Avenue Therapies where you can call to speak to our admin team on 020 7112 8834 or alternatively you can contact me directly on my email. You can also view further information at www.avenuetherapies.com.

I look forward to hearing from you.

I look forward to hearing from you. Lisa

As I mentioned above, I work as part of a larger practice called Avenue Therapies. This is great as we have a range of therapists to suit many different difficulties and can often be more flexible to when you want to be seen.

We also offer Asperger / Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) assessment, diagnosis and support (http://www.avenuetherapies.com/autism-assessment).