Ian is a Consultant Clinical and Forensic Psychologist who completed his studies at the University of Surrey and qualified as a Psychologist in 2003. He has subsequently worked in the UK and New Zealand, including in hospitals, prisons and private practice, offering a range of treatment approaches including Cognitive Behaviour Therapy (CBT), Group Analytic Psychotherapy and Dialectical Behaviour Therapy (DBT). He has held specialist roles working with adult males and females with personality disorder, autistic spectrum disorder, learning disabilities and mental illness.
After twenty years of working with different approaches, he now has a particular interest in working with those people whose needs may have been left unmet, or who may have struggled to find ‘the right treatment’ in the past. In particular, he offers therapy to those who have often been assumed to be coping perfectly well, who don’t like to make a fuss, and who appear to be okay on the outside but who are actually struggling on the inside; those who, even when around lots of people, may feel disconnected or isolated, may feel unable to access help from others and may feel unable to contemplate new ways of thinking.
In recent years, Ian has also developed a particular interest in Radically Open Dialectical Behaviour Therapy (RO DBT), which aims to treat ‘overcontrolled’ presentations such as treatment-resistant anxiety, chronic depression, and maladaptive perfectionism. Within this, Ian utilises the three principles of psychological wellbeing – flexibility, receptivity, and social connectedness – as well as the need for practical skills and the importance of adopting an open mind in order to reflect on the ‘blind spots’ that might be keeping a person stuck. With this, he aims to help people to develop fulfilling relationships, to interact more effectively, and to adapt to the ever-changing, unpredictable world that we live in.