Clinical Psychology
Clinical psychologists are professionals who work with people to reduce psychological distress and promote psychological well-being and quality of life.
Our Consultant Clinical Psychologist, Dr Sara da Costa, can help children and young people with a wide range of needs:
- Neurodevelopmental difficulties including special educational needs, mild, moderate, severe and profound learning disability
- Autistic spectrum conditions
- Associated emotional and behavioural needs
Psychologists can provide support in a variety of ways:
- Facilitating and empowering families and systems around the child or young person to better understand and support them in order to maximise the input from the range of other professionals
- To assist the family to identify and achieve their goals
- To enable the family and care teams to manage the complexity themselves by increasing their confidence and reducing their stress
- Ultimately to improve their quality of life
Our Clinical Psychologist:
Dr Sara da Costa, D Clin Psych, Cpsychol
Sara is a Clinical Psychologist Associate with Integrated Therapy Solutions.
She has been a Consultant Clinical Psychologist in the NHS for 12 years, with 25 years experience in child and adolescent mental health services.
Key skills
- Assessing and providing therapeutic support for children and young people with complex neurodevelopmental needs and emotional and behavioural difficulties, including children and young people on the autistic spectrum presenting with comorbid mental health difficulties and complex sensory and communication needs
- Facilitating and empowering MDT staff through specialist supervision to enable their own complex case working and enhance team dynamics
- Supporting multi-agency systems including education and local authorities regarding children who have complex neurodevelopmental needs and looked after children and young people
Education
Doctorate in Clinical Psychology - University of Birmingham 1998
BSc(Hons) Psychology - University of Leeds 1993
Professional membership
British Psychological Society - chartered member No: 071966
Member of the division of clinical psychology
Member of the faculty of children and young people