About Jess
Hello, my name is Jessica (often just Jess) and I am a BABCP accredited cognitive behavioural therapist working in the South-West of England.
Since graduating from the University of Cambridge in 2004, I have been focussed on helping those with emotional difficulties to live their best possible life. This began in working with the homeless in central London, and then with those with severe and enduring mental health issues in Kent. These roles were hard, with changes being slow and small, and while I will always value what we did achieve, I knew I needed to learn more and do more.
Since then, I trained first as a Psychological Wellbeing Practitioner, and then in 2012-2013 as a Cognitive Behavioural Therapist at the Institute of Psychiatry (now the IoPPN), Kings College London. For me, CBT was an instant fit – it made sense of the world, and the struggles we can have in it, and it gave a way forward. Over the past 13 years as a CBT therapist, I have seen first-hand the awe-inspiring changes that therapy can make to a person’s life. I’ve seen that change can be so much faster, and bigger, than many of my clients ever dreamed, and I’m so glad to be able to be a part of it.
I am constantly striving to ensure that the support people receive is the best it can be. To allow me to help in the best possible way, I have undertaken significant additional training in many aspects of CBT and maintain full accreditation with the British Association of Behavioural and Cognitive Psychotherapists (BABCP). In additional to this, I have become a skilled practitioner in Narrative Exposure Therapy for complex PTSD, and a fully qualified practitioner in Couple’s Therapy for Depression.
I also love to guide others to offer the best possible help, through teaching and supervision. I have run multiple university courses, including a CBT Post Graduate Diploma and a Masters of Clinical Associates in
Psychology, and I am now the CBT Convenor of the Doctorate in Clinical Psychology at the University of Exeter. These roles drive me to constantly grow and develop my own skills, so that I can support my students to do the same. It pushes me to think in new ways about how and why we provide each part of therapy, and so allows me to offer a more thoughtful journey for my clients.
Recently, I published the Cambridge Guide to CBT with Ken Laidlaw and Paul Salkovskis, a comprehensive textbook covering all parts of Cognitive Behaviour Therapy. Writing this has helped me to re-examine all the possible treatment approaches available within CBT, which in turn allows me to better consider what will most help for each of my clients.
Please get in touch and we can discuss how I can use my experience to help you.