Psychologists and Psychotherapists

Dr Aoife O’Leary is a Clinical Psychologist registered with the Health and Care Professionals Council (HCPC). Aoife completed her doctorate at the Institute of Psychology, Psychiatry and Neuroscience at King’s College London and she is currently working as a Clinical Psychologist in a specialist, community perinatal mental health team within the NHS.

Aoife endeavours to be a sensitive, perceptive and thoughtful psychological therapist and she is passionate about working at relational and emotional depth with clients who have complex and challenging relationships with themselves and others, often in occurring in the context of relational trauma and difficult early life experiences. Aoife aims to provide a stable and grounding presence that supports clients to explore their experiences and to gain greater insight into their current difficulties.

Aoife works flexibly and uses an integrative approach to draw on a range of models including Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT) and Compassion Focused Therapy (CFT). Aoife also uses schema and cognitive analytic therapy informed approaches to increase a client’s self-awareness and their ability to create changes in the here and now. Whatever the approach taken to guide a client towards their goals, Aoife’s work is always grounded within the frame of a strong and safe therapeutic relationship, that is built on trust, collaboration and trauma-informed practice.

Aoife is experienced at working with a range of psychological difficulties including low mood, anxiety, OCD, grief, loss, adjustment to injury or illness, interpersonal and relationship difficulties, trauma, PTSD and people who are struggling to find their sense of self-worth and who feel stuck in unhelpful coping patterns. Aoife is also experienced at working with perinatal women and birthing people who are experiencing mental health challenges during the antenatal and postpartum period, including, perinatal OCD, tokophobia and PTSD in the context of birth trauma.