About Me
Hello, my name is Aysha Begum. Welcome to my site.
​
My Current Work:
​
Psychoanalytic Psychotherapy - Attachment and Trauma:
I am a UKCP registered Psychoanalytic Psychotherapist. This means I am trained to focus on early life/childhood experiences and how they shape how we are in on our current relationships and day to day life. As such; in addition to my existing clinical experience, I have advanced training in attachment, separation, loss/grief, identity, sexual/complex trauma and relational and characterological difficulties.
​
Clinical Psychology
Alongside my private work I am employed as a senior Principal Clinical Psychologist/Systemic Practitioner in the NHS Child and Adolescent Mental Health Service (CAMHS) where I am the Psychology Lead and Trauma Lead. I routinely practice systemically (this means I focus on relationships) and have extensive experience providing professional consultations to schools, allied health professionals and other third sector agencies/charities; clinical supervision and expert neuropsychological assessments and reports.
​
I am a Principal Clinical Psychologist registered with the Health & Care Professions Council (HCPC). I also hold chartered registration and an associate fellowship with the British Psychological Society (BPS). I work across the age span and with all presenting difficulties. Whilst I am trained to fully understand mental health diagnoses, my approach to managing emotional and psychological distress is not to medicalise or diagnose but rather to facilitate a dialogue around this.
​
Systemic Family & Couples Work
I am also a Systemic (Family/Couples) Practitioner accredited by the Association of Family Therapy (AFT). I have specifically worked with children, adolescents, neurodevelopmental/learning difficulties and couples/families struggling with parenting and/or child mental health difficulties as well as difficulties within the couple and family relationships.
​
Academia
I have over two decades worth of experience working in mental health. I initially started my career as a Psychiatric Epidemiologist whereby I worked extensively in ageing mental health and neurodegeneration and have presented at national and international conferences and have published extensively in peer reviewed journals. My PhD thesis was in Memory Impairment in Older Adults. My clinical doctoral thesis in Neuropsychology focused specifically on Theory of Mind and Autism in adults. I am the former Editor-in-chief of the Attachment Journal: New directions in Psychotherapy and Relational Psychoanalysis.
​
In my NHS role, I have co-facilitated Dialectic Behavioural Therapy (DBT) groups for parents/couples and was the clinical lead for the Compassion Focused Therapy (CFT) group pathway. I also provide DBT and CFT on an individual basis. I am also trained to provide EMDR.
​
I offer a full range of psychology and psychotherapy services including clinical supervision and professional consultation.
Please enquire further.