Quentin Spender
About me
I am a retired Child & Adolescent Psychiatrist, with over 25 years’ experience in the NHS. I am also a qualified Family Therapist. My skills are with children aged 0 to 18 and their families, with almost any presenting problems.
As a psychiatrist, I am used to doing thorough assessments, and prescribing medication.
As a Family Therapist, I am used to exploring issues through talking, either with several people from the same family, or one person. When doing individual counselling, I tend to adopt a 'Rogerian' approach — person-centred counselling.
I will readily refer to colleagues for more specialist individual therapy, such as Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT). I can be flexible about venues and appointment times: for instance, I could (pre-Covid) offer home visits and occasionally Saturday appointments.
Please note that, because my training is with under-18s, I do not generally see anyone over 18 for initial assessment. If I start seeing someone at the age of 16-17, then I may continue seeing them post-18th birthday if this seems appropriate.
Training, qualifications & experience
Qualifications
Basic medical qualification: MB, BS 1979, awarded by the Royal Free Hospital Medical School, London
Paediatric qualifications: DCH (Diploma in Child Health) 1981; MRCP (Member of the Royal College of Physicians) 1983: Paediatrics only.
Psychiatric qualification: MRCPsych (Member of the Royal College of Psychiatrists) 1991
Family Therapy qualification: Advanced Clinical Diploma in Family Therapy 1996, awarded by the Institute of Family Therapy, leading to membership of the United Kingdom Council for Psychotherapy, via the Association for Family Therapy.
Experience
I have been an NHS Consultant in Child &Adolescent Psychiatry since 1979, working almost exclusively in outpatient CAMHS. I retired in 2014, and then did intermittent Locums until July 2018. I now have a thriving private practice.
Member organisations
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.
UK Council for Psychotherapy
The UK Council for Psychotherapy (UKCP) is a leading professional body for the education, training and regulation of psychotherapists and psychotherapeutic counsellors. Its register is accredited by the government's Professional Standards Authority.
As part of its commitment to protect the public, it works to improve access to psychotherapy, to support and disseminate research, to improve standards and to respond effectively to complaints against its members.
UKCP standards cover the range of different psychotherapies. Registration is obtained by training or accrediting with one of its member organisations, or by holding a European Certificate in Psychotherapy. Accredited by the Professional Standards Authority.
Accredited register membership
Accredited Register Scheme
The Accredited Register Scheme was set up in 2013 by the Department of Health (DoH) as a way to recognise organisations that hold voluntary registers which meet certain standards. These standards are set by the Professional Standards Authority (PSA).
This therapist has indicated that they belong to an Accredited Register.
Areas of counselling I deal with
Other areas of counselling I deal with
Childhood ADHD
Childhood ASD
Therapies offered
Fees
£450 for the initial assessment; follow-up appts £90 per half-hour. The assessment fee includes pre-session reading of previous assessments and scoring questionnaires; plus writing a thorough assessment report. The follow-up fee includes a clinic letter. Brief emails and texts are included in these costs, but a prolonged email correspondence, or liaison with other professionals, may incur an extra charge.
Concessions available by agreement.
