Dr Lisa Nelson

  • 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.