Psychology

Psychology is the study of people: how they think, how they act, react and interact. Psychology is concerned with all aspects of behaviour and the thoughts, feelings and motivation underlying such behaviour.

Psychologists deal with the way the mind works and can specialise in a number of areas, such as mental health and educational and occupational psychology.

Dr Sarah Flanagan

Dr Sarah Flanagan

BSc (Hons), D.Clin.Psych
  • Speciality: Clinical Psychology Services
  • Sub Specialities: Psychological Assessment, Consultation and Therapy. Counselling style approach also available.
  • Special clinical interests: Sarah is able to work with children, young people and adults. Please feel free to make contact and discuss your concerns/needs if the below list doesn’t mention your difficulties.Anxiety; Bereavement; Binge Eating; Body Image difficulties; Building resilience; Career difficulties; Depression and low mood; Eating Disorders; Family difficulties; Generalised Anxiety Disorder; difficulties with self-esteem; Obsessive Compulsive Disorder; Managing emotions; Panic, Redundancy; Relationship difficulties; Separation and divorce; Sexuality; Stress.The majority of Sarah’s work at present is in private practice, although currently she does work one day a day per week as a locum in a local community eating disorder team.

Year of Qualification: Doctorate of Clinical Psychology in 2014.

Current membership(s) of professional, national and regional bodies: HCPC PYL 31383
Registered with the British Psychological Society as a Chartered Psychologist

Professional profile

Sarah is a chartered Clinical Psychologist with the British Psychological Society and has over 15 years’ experience working in mental health, across the NHS, private healthcare and research settings. She is registered with the Health and Care professions council (HCPC), who are the regulatory body for Clinical Psychologists.

Sarah qualified as a Doctor of Clinical Psychology in 2014 from the Universities of Coventry and Warwick. She has experience of working in adaptive ways that suit the needs of each individual.

Since qualifying as a Clinical Psychologist, Sarah has worked with children, adolescents and adults with a wide range of mental health and emotional and behavioural difficulties. She has also worked in the field of eating disorders.

Her work in the field of mental health has led to contributions in academic journal articles and lead authorship on her doctoral research, which looked at the topic of posttraumatic growth.

Her current working days and hours are Monday and Wednesday between 9:30am and 5pm.

Sarah O’Sullivan

Sarah O’Sullivan

RSCN, SCPHN, CBT Therapist (Bsc.  hons)

Speciality: Child CBT Therapist

Sub Speciality: Family Mental Health, Adult CBT Therapist

Special clinical interests

  • Childhood adverse environments, later life mental health
  • Early identification and early help / prevention
  • Collaboration with others in education, healthcare, social care, private care to ensure we are all working towards the legal framework of the ‘ working together 2018’ government papers.
  • Reduction of stigma of mental health and collaboration with ‘Time To Change’ and ‘MIND’ and ‘YOUNG MINDS’.

Qualifications and memberships:

  • Registered Paediatric nurse with sick children (RSCN)
  • Registered specialist community Public Health nurse school nursing (SCPHN) : (BSc hons)
  • Registered Psychotherapist in Cognitive Behaviour Therapy (BACBP)
  • Diploma in respiratory care of children in the community- asthma, cystic fibrosis, common chest problems in children.
  • BTEC level 3 In teaching adults
  • 7307 Teaching certification in FE colleges.

Current NHS post:

Working as a CBT Therapist in the NHS, managing a caseload part time hours of  22.5 hrs and in private practice with 1:1 clients or clients in groups.

Year of first medical Qualification:

Qualified as a registered nurse in March 1999 – in paediatrics

Qualified later as a Specialist school nurse in Sep 2012 – specialist community public health.

Qualified later in CBT therapy in October 2018.

Current membership(s) of  British Association Of Cognitive Behaviour Psychotherapists   (BACBP) as accredited.

Professional, national and Regional bodies – Membership of the Nursing, Midwifery Council (NMC)

Professional profile

Treating patients in the following areas; Paediatrics care from 0-19 years, Special education needs from 0-25years, Children / young adults emotional health and well-being, Safeguarding children, Teaching safeguarding to adults in accordance with the intercollegiate document to all health care staff, so each person is trained at same level, regardless of seniority in healthcare.

Adult care in therapy 18- 80 years plus.

Dealing with the following categories via CBT – depression major / mild Anxiety (GAD) Family breakdown Social anxiety, Early HELP,specific, phobias, Child protection section 17 and section 47, health anxiety case conferences, anger management, OCD, Fears, Exposure Response Prevention, relationship difficulties, Bullying at school / friendship groups, Building self-esteem, cutting down programme of self-harm.

Contact details
Personal profile

I enjoy reading and keeping up to date in professional journals and personal books.

I enjoy listening to various music and like cultural influences of music genres.

I enjoy walking and some weekends, I enjoy going away for walking weekends, doing 7-10 miles per day. I enjoy nature, river walks and lakes and spectacular views.

I enjoy meeting friends / family members for coffee and meals out and hopefully this will be more possible, as we merge out of locked down for COVID19

I enjoy dancing and in particular salsa movement, which I find stimulating and graceful.

I volunteer for my local food bank when I can and I support a Domestic Violence charity who provide toys for children fleeing a domestic violence home scene. So if there are any knitters there, please get in contact with me, so a little knitted bear can go into the packs for the children, who may have lost everything, when they leave a vulnerable and dangerous setting.  So, get in touch if you know someone who knits.

Thanks for looking at my profile.

Sarah

Dr Lisa Nelson

 Principal Clinical Psychologist
  • Specialty: Children and Young people
  • Sub Speciality: Neurodiversity (Autism Assessments)
  • Current NHS and/or University Posts: Principal Clinical Psychologist, University Hospitals of Derby and Burton, The Department of Clinical Psychology, Derbyshire Children’s at Royal Derby Hospital, Uttoxeter Road, Derby, DE22 3NE
  • Year of first medical qualifications:
    • BSC Psychology: 1st Class Honours Degree (2005)
    • Phd in Psychology (2005-2010)
    • Doctorate in Clinical Psychology (2009-2013)
  • Current membership(s) of professional, national and regional bodies: The Health and Care Professions Council (HCPC). HCPC Registration number: PYL31586.
Professional profile

Lisa has ten years of experience working for the NHS and continues to work in a Specialist Autism Team offering both assessment and intervention for young people and their families. In her NHS role, Lisa leads on the ASD Assessment Pathway and has gained a wealth of experience in completing Autism assessments. She uses gold-standard assessment measures, such as the Autism Diagnostic Observation Schedule-2 (ADOS-2) as part of the assessment process. Lisa also completes cognitive assessments with young people when there is a need to understand a young person’s learning ability in more depth.

Lisa has experience in understanding the differing presentation between boys and girls on the spectrum. She has gained experience in assessing young people who present with additional complexities such as, significant learning difficulties, emotional difficulties, selective mutism, gender dysphoria and attachment needs.
Lisa also really enjoys working with young people to offer intervention support. In her current role, Lisa works with young people with ASD and their families, offering support around emotional difficulties (such as, anxiety and OCD), behavioural difficulties, eating issues (specifically, Avoidant and Restrictive Food Intake Disorder; AFRID) and sleep difficulties.

Lisa is passionate about tailoring any support to a young person’s individual differences. She really focuses on helping a young person to feel understood and supports them to make sense of their experiences. Lisa finds ways to help facilitate positive change and support a young person to build a life that includes the things that are important to them. Lisa works with both young people and their parents or carers to offer the most effective support.

Lisa works in an integrative way, drawing on ideas from different models to help collaboratively find a helpful way forward. The main models that Lisa works with include, Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT), Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT) and Positive Behaviour Support (PBS).

As well as being registered with the HCPC, Lisa is a member of The Association for Child and Adolescent Mental Health (ACAMH) and part of the Autism Practitioner Network (APN).

Recent publications

Bozhilova, N., Welham, A., Adams, D., Bissell, S., Bruining, H., Crawford, H., Eden, K., Nelson, L., Oliver, C., Powis, L., Richards, C., Waite, J., Watson, P., Rhys, H., Wilde, L., Woodcock, K., & Moss, J. (2023). Profiles of autism characteristics in thirteen genetic syndromes: a machine learning approach. Molecular Autism, 14, 3.

Laverty, C., Agar, G., Sinclair-Burton, L., Oliver, C., Moss, J., Nelson, L., & Richards, C. (2023). The 10-year trajectory of aggressive behaviours in autistic individuals. Journal of Intellectual Disability Research, 67, 295-309.

Dr Nicole Faulkner

Dr Nicole Faulkner

GMBPsS
  • Speciality: Autism Spectrum Assessments
  • Sub Specialities: Cognitive assessments
  • Special clinical interests: ASD, Neurodevelopmental disorders
  • Current NHS and/or University Posts: Autism Specialist worker, UHDB, NHS

Year of Qualification: 1st class honours Psychology degree in 2018.

Current membership(s) of professional, national and regional bodies:

  • BPS Graduate membership
  • Member of the APN (Autism Practitioner network)
Professional profile

Nicole has 20 years of experience working with children, young people and their families across the sectors of special and specialist education, family support, community work and health care. Skilled at working with those with complex or special educational needs, Nicole’s area of passion is supporting those on the Autistic spectrum and/ or with ADHD.

Following graduating from the University of Derby with a 1st class honours BSc Psychology degree in 2018 Nicole has worked for the NHS as a Neurodevelopmental specialist, previously in Nottingham City and currently in Derby and Derbyshire. In her current role she is part of the children’s clinical psychology team on the ND pathway and conducts diagnostic Autism assessments, cognitive assessments, school observations and post diagnosis intervention work with young people. Nicole is experienced in working with children and young people with complex presentations and is trained in using cognitive assessments, ADOS-2 and ADI-R which are the gold standard autism diagnostic tools.

Nicole has extensive experience providing autism friendly psychological support, interventions and psychoeducation to children, young people and their parents and carers.

Nicole has continued her professional development taking courses and attending workshops and has a keen interest in ACT, CFT and trauma informed practice.