Dr Tríona McInerney
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This professional has no current availability for new clients. Please enquire with them directly to discuss availability.
This professional has no current availability for new clients. Please enquire with them directly to discuss availability.
About me
Hello and welcome to my page.
If you have been looking for a therapist for a few days or weeks now, you have probably read many introductions and I know it can be hard to have a sense of what someone is really like and how it will be to work with them. I’ve tried to give a sense of my training and approach here but please don’t be afraid to email me with any questions or book an introductory call to get to know me better if you think that would help you in making a decision.
I consider myself to be a warm, caring and flexible therapist and I hope to work with you in a way that best fits your needs and support you towards your goals. My early training in Person Centred Therapy, and current engagement in Compassion Focused Therapy both strongly influence my approach and I believe that the most effective therapies prioritise not just useful techniques, but a strong and considerate therapeutic relationship.
I work from an evidence base, meaning I will discuss your problems with you and use proven models and therapies to help you to face these difficulties and move towards your goals. I will discuss your options for treatment with you and hope we can work together to identify what feels like the best fit for this point in your life. I want to ensure you receive the best care possible and if I do not feel I can offer you the relevant therapy for your needs, I will make the best recommendation I can to help you moving forward.
What to expect in your first session
Our first session together is a chance for you to tell me more about what has brought you to therapy. This is an assessment session, and so once I know a bit more about your main concerns, I will ask you specific questions about your problems, such as when they started, and times in your life where you have noticed they have been better or worse. I'd like to hear if you have a preferred treatment modality or if you'd like to hear my recommendation.
We will also have the chance to talk about what has been going well for you, your strengths and your goals - or what you want to get out of therapy.
Training, qualifications & experience
My training includes:
- Doctorate in Psychology in Counselling Psychology from Glasgow Caledonian University and University of Strathclyde
- Post Graduate Diploma in CBT from the Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology and Neuroscience, King’s College London,
- Master of Science in Counselling Studies from The University of Edinburgh
- Bachelor of Arts in Applied Psychology from University College Cork.
I began work as a qualified psychologist in the NHS in 2014, having had previous roles as an Assistant Psychologist, Research Assistant and, of course, trainee Counselling Psychologist for four years before this. I initially worked in Children and Adolescent Mental Health Service (CAMHS) and then across several adult services, including primary care (IAPT), secondary care – as part of a psychology service aligned with a Community Mental Health Team and in several specialist services. I am a qualified clinical supervisor regularly supervise clinical and counselling psychologists and CBT therapists.
Over the course of my career, I have predominantly worked with people experiencing depression, anxiety disorders and trauma, and am skilled in treating complex presentations of this type. This includes Obsessive Compulsive Disorder, Generalised Anxiety Disorder, Body Dysmorphic Disorder, Health Anxiety, Social Anxiety and Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. I specialise in the use of CBT to treat these presentations.
I continue to work within this NHS, and am currently Principal Counselling Psychologist in a specialist PTSD service and National Centre of Excellence in Berkshire. Here I meet with people living with Complex PTSD as a result of experiences in their lives. I use both Trauma-Focused CBT, Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing and Compassion Focused Therapy in this role and see clients in group and individual settings.
In my private work, I welcome people looking for support with many different problems and am open to hearing from you about your personal needs and thinking together about whether you feel that I could be of help. I have worked with people from an extensive variety of backgrounds and with complications that range from mild to severe.
Member organisations
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 BABCP is the lead organisation for Cognitive Behavioural Therapy in the UK. Membership is open to anyone with an interest in the practice, theory or development of CBT. BABCP also provides accreditation for CBT therapists. BABCP accredited members adhere to the Standards of Conduct, Performance and Ethics in the Practice of Behavioural and Cognitive Psychotherapies, and are willing to be scrutinised in this adherence as required.
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.
Accredited register membership
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
Therapies offered
Photos & videos
Fees
£120.00 per session
Free initial telephone or online session
Concessions offered for
Health Insurance/EAP
Additional information
Prior to any assessment and therapy, I provide a free 20 minute phone consultation for you to be able to explore how I can help you and ask any questions you may have. I hope this will help you to see if I am a good fit for you and if not I hope to point you in the right direction for your needs! Please email me and let me know your availability over the coming week and I will do my best to find a mutually convenient time for us to speak.
If, after our initial call, you would like to book in a treatment session with me, you can let me know by email. We can then choose a start date for our work together. Sessions are typically on a weekly basis, though there may be times that this varies, depending on your needs.
I offer self-funded sessions at a cost of £120 per 50 minute session. I offer 90 minute sessions for TF-CBT processing and EMDR processing where required. I also offer ad-hoc 90-120 minute sessions for the completion of behavioural experiments in the community as needed.
I host the majority of my sessions on Google Meet which clients say is easy to use and reliable. If you are more comfortable using another platform, we can certainly look at this.
When I work
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I have some flexibility for appointments and this changes periodically, as clients come to the end of therapy. Please contact me for full availability or to discuss your particular needs.
Further information
I mostly provide therapy remotely. I use Cognitive Behavioural Therapy, EMDR and Compassion Focused Therapy, as well as some other approaches and key skills. I provide some in person therapy in the community as needed.
Cognitive Behavioural Therapy
Cognitive Behavioural Therapy or CBT, is approach based on the idea that how we think about something can change how we feel, physically and emotionally, and what we do – and these things in turn effect each other creating cycles that go round and round. This can be positive at times but also create negative loops that can be hard to escape. CBT tries to intervene in these loops, and with support from me as your therapist, we will do this together and use the learning to help you break these cycles for good! CBT is a very collaborative therapy - it’s not something that is done to someone. We will work towards goals that you set yourself and each session will be planned together, to make sure it is right for you.
I completed my PgDip in CBT at King’s College London and am accredited with the BABCP as a CBT therapist. During my CBT training I completed my placement at a national specialist centre for anxiety in London whilst being trained in evidence-based CBT for adults with depression and anxiety disorders as part of the Department of Health’s Improving Access to Psychological Therapies initiative. Following this I took a post at the National Anxiety Disorders Residential Unit, a service for people experiencing treatment refractory anxiety. Over the course of this time I worked with people with severe and enduring presentations of Obsessive Compulsive Disorder, Body Dysmorphic Disorder, Panic Disorder, Health Anxiety, Generalised Anxiety Disorder and a Specific Phobia of Vomiting, among others.
EMDR
EMDR stands for Eye Movement Desensitisation and Reprocessing. It is quite different to a talking therapy but does involve you thinking about important or difficult past experiences. EMDR helps people recover from problems triggered by traumatic events in their lives. While we don’t fully understand everything about how it works, it tends to stop difficult memories causing so much distress. EMDR is extensively researched and shown to be very effective.
I am trained in EMDR, and have practiced it since 2015, after training with Sandi Richman. I am now working towards full accreditation in this therapy. While EMDR has been shown to work with several presentations, I use it predominantly with PTSD, for which it was first developed. During your consultation and assessment I can discuss the therapeutic options for working with trauma and we can decide together which approach may best fit your needs.
Compassion Focused Therapy
Compassion-focused therapy aims to help promote mental and emotional healing by encouraging and supporting you to develop compassion for yourself and experience compassion in your life. CFT is often thought to help those who struggle with the shame and self-criticism that can result from early experiences of abuse or neglect. It can also help people struggling with emotional regulation. The techniques used in CFT teach us to cultivate skills in compassion and self-compassion, which can help regulate our mood and lead to feelings of safety, self-acceptance, and comfort.
I began using CFT while working at the ADRU, where I ran a therapy group based on the model. I continue to use this therapy in group and individual sessions in my current NHS role. I have attended both ‘Introduction to Compassion’ and ‘CFT Chair Work’ with The Compassionate Mind Foundation, as well as several in house training sessions. I also have delivered teaching on Compassionate Focused Therapy to NHS staff in several primary care services.
Other therapies
During our work together, I may suggest techniques from these or other therapies that I think may offer you benefit. These will be fully explained in advance and we can work together to decide if they feel right for you at that time. I regularly use chair work as part of my approaches across these therapies.
