Dr Alison McGourty
Dr Alison McGourty CPsychol BA(Hons) DipPsych MSc DPsych
Clinical Associate, CPG
Dr Alison McGourty is a Chartered Counselling Psychologist registered and accredited by the British Psychological Society with full membership of the Division of Counselling Psychology. She is also a registered Practitioner Psychologist with the Health Professions Council.
With over nine years experience in the NHS, Alison specialises in cognitive behaviour therapy, including the compassionate mind and ACT; she also practices cognitive analytic therapy, and is trained in humanistic, systemic and psychodynamic approaches. She specialises in working with trauma (PTSD) and sexual abuse and has a wide range of experience in working with anxiety based disorders such as obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD), phobias, generalized anxiety, as well as stress management, relationship difficulties, depression, self-esteem, self-harm, anger, alcohol and substance misuse. Within her role as a senior psychologist for South London and Maudsley NHS Trust (SLaM) she specialises in complex care and psychosis and is involved in leadership and change management within the NHS.
As well as clinical work Alison has a strong interest in research, she is an expert in Stockholm syndrome and childhood sexual abuse and has won awards for her research within this area. She regularly presents her research at conferences, is well published and has been acknowledged for her work in the past in The Lancet. She currently provides training within the NHS on psychosis and runs a number of trauma and psychosis based workshops for the Division of Counselling Psychology CPD programme, as well as delivering lectures on the City University Counselling Psychology Doctoral Programme. Her recent research has explored the impact of ethnicity on access to psychological therapy and her work is being taken up and developed as part of South London and Maudsley NHS Trust's Diversity Agenda.
Alison uses her wide range of skills and experience to a deliver effective individualised therapeutic interventions. She understands the importance of a meaningful therapeutic relationship for the client in order to achieve desired goals and realistic outcomes. She is warm and engaging in her empathic approach.
