Dr Kat Alcock
I am a Clinical Psychologist who specialises in working with children, young people and
families. In 2003, I founded First Steps, a Tier Two CAMHS service, within City and
Hackney TPCT. The development of the service was guided by Community Psychology
principles, in consultation with local statutory, voluntary sector and community organisations,
with the aim of improving access to CAMHS services across the borough.
I currently provide private clinical supervision to qualified clinical psychologists in the UK and
Hong Kong, and work as a senior clinical tutor on the UCL doctorate in clinical psychology. I
am Widening Access lead for the UCL course and organise the Cultural Competence and
reflective practice modules, as well as teaching within my areas of clinical specialism. I
founded and lead the DCP BME Mentoring Scheme, a positive action initiative for Londonbased psychology undergraduates and recent graduates from BME backgrounds, who are
interested in pursuing careers in clinical psychology. Resources developed as part of this
project have been shared nationally, with other courses and colleagues who are interested in
running similar initiatives. I am also leading a pilot of careers talks in London secondary
schools and further education colleges with a high representation of students from BME
backgrounds, on behalf of the six London clinical psychology training courses.
My current research interests include mental health stigma amongst trainee and qualified
clinical psychologists and the role of the “Activist-Practitioner” within clinical psychology.
Previous areas of research have included wellbeing and future-directed thinking in HIVpositive gay men, and ethnicity and identity in young people of mixed heritage.