Dr Derek Mitchell
DClinPsy, CPsychol, PgD CBT, MA (hons)
I am a British trained clinical psychologist with 13 years of experience.
My career extends back to 2001 when I began my first assistant
psychologist post. I have experience working with clients across the life
span but since 2007 I have specialised in work with adults and in
particular, adults with common mental health problems such as mild to
moderate depression and anxiety disorders such as panic disorder,
Obsessive Compulsive Disorder, Social Anxiety Disorder, Health
Anxiety and Agoraphobia. In recent years I gained a lot of experience
working with individuals with post traumatic syndromes who are living
with the after effects of traumatic experiences including all forms of
abuse and neglect. I also have experience helping people cope with
grief and other difficult life transitions as well as relationship problems
working either with couples or individually.
I have delivered Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) and
Mindfulness Based Cognitive Therapy (MBCT) courses for National
Health Service (NHS) staff and patients. I am currently providing
individual, couple and group therapy in a psychological therapies
service for English speakers, mainly ex-pats, in Phnom Penh,
Cambodia. In addition I mentor some local Cambodian psychologists in
their work with local people. I also do consultancy work locally and
across Asia. Most recently I worked for the World Health Organisation
(WHO) on their national survey of violence against women in
Cambodia. I trained the interviewers how to be more sensitive,
empathic and responsive to their interviewee’s distress, some of whom
were experiencing intense shame related to physical, sexual and
emotional abuse.
In addition to a comprehensive foundation in clinical psychology, which
includes coverage of all the main approaches to therapy, I have postgraduate training in Cognitive Behaviour Therapy (CBT) and
Mindfulness Based Cognitive Therapy (MBCT). I believe that while
specific forms of therapy are generally better for some problems (E.g.
CBT for anxiety disorders) I usually draw upon my diverse experience,
training and knowledge to provide formulation based therapy that is
tailored to the needs, talents and skills of my clients.
My extensive clinical experience and training is the foundation of my
work in other roles such as clinical supervision, teaching and training. I
am an accredited supervisor of clinical psychologists under the UK
STAR system. I have also completed specialist training in supervision of
CBT therapists with internationally recognised supervision expert, Peter
Armstrong of the Newcastle CBT Centre in association with the
University of Newcastle. I have several years experience supervising
and training mental health staff within the NHS and in academic
contexts including the supervision of clinical psychologists and CBT
therapists.
I have offered workshops for clinical staff and trainees on a wide range
of topics since 2008 including: resilience, self esteem, suicide risk
assessment and management, CBT for anxiety disorders, Socratic
questioning in CBT, behavioural approaches to the treatment of
depression, Mindfulness Based Cognitive Therapy and clinician self
care to name a few.