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Clare Smith

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I am passionate about offering the right kind of support, at the right time, to children, young people, and adults.

I feel that a great many problems would not have become problems, had the right support been available early enough. For children and young people, timely support is particularly important, as help to understand their issues can make an enormous difference, not only to them, but also to everyone in the family. The sooner this happens, the better.

I only provide the kinds of therapeutic support that I would want my own children or family members to receive. I use a range of therapeutic approaches, including Eye Movement Desensitisation and Reprocessing (EMDR) Therapy.

EMDR Therapy, which traditionally involves eye movements, tactile pulsars, self-tapping, or sounds, but which may also include drumming, jumping, or drawing, enables distressing memories that have been frozen in time as ‘trauma memories’, to be reprocessed into narrative, non-distressing memories.

I work entirely collaboratively, so that we work towards your own goals, at your pace, together.

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Memberships

Registered with the General Medical Council (GMC no. 3120907) but having retired from clinical medicine, I am not currently licensed to practice medicine as a doctor. This means that I do not prescribe medication, undertake formal assessments, make formal diagnoses, complete reports, sign documentation as a doctor, or undertake any other work that can only be undertaken by a doctor.

Affiliate of The Royal College of Psychiatrists

Member of the EMDR Association, UK.

Member of The Association for Child and Adolescent Mental Health (ACAMH)

Member of the professionals’ Autism insight panel of the National Autistic Society

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Training

EMDR Europe levels 1, 2, 3, and 4.

Currently in the final year of a 4-year part-time MSc in EMDR therapy

Trauma training (various – adult and children)

Complex Dissociation training (various – adult and children), including training in dissociative identity disorder (DID)

Trauma Center, Trauma Sensitive Yoga (TC-TSY) foundation training/workshop

DBT (dialectical behaviour therapy) essentials training

ADOS (autism diagnostic observation schedule) basic training

3Di (developmental, dimensional, and diagnostic interview training for Autism assessment)

STORM – self-harm mitigation and suicide prevention training

Institute Of Psychosexual Medicine basic training (2-year course)

Animal Assisted Therapy in Counselling (introductory course)

A variety of additional short training courses covering a range of topics

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Qualifications

Bachelor of Medicine and Bachelor of Surgery (MBChB)

The Joint Committee on Postgraduate Training for General Practice – Certificate of Prescribed/Equivalent Experience (JCPTGP)

Diploma of the Faculty of Family Planning and Reproductive Health Care of the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists (DFFP)

Currently undertaking a part-time master’s degree (MSc) in EMDR (Eye Movement Desensitisation and Reprocessing) Therapy

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Experience

Late 1980s to early 1990s – Post Graduate Training in General Practice and then a Principal in General Practice.

Early 1990s – Doctor with the Great Britain Junior Swimming Team; supporting teenagers to manage the stress and anxiety of international competition whilst competing with Team GB, as well as providing general medical support.

Late 1990s to early 2000s – Doctor in Sexual Health; working in Time4U (a rural outreach service) and YES (Youth Enquiry Service) offering sexual health and relationship support to high school pupils. In addition, sexual health and family planning clinics for both under 18’s and all-age populations, as well as vasectomy counselling clinics.

2001 to 2015 – Worcestershire CAMHS. 2007 onwards; Associate Specialist in Child and Adolescent Psychiatry – with a special interest in the mental health, assessment and support of children and young people with neuro-developmental differences such as autism, ADHD, tics/Tourette syndrome, sensory processing difficulties, language and learning difficulties.

2009 to 2015 – Visiting Lecturer at the University of Worcester, lecturing in autism spectrum disorders in children and young people.

2015 to 2017 – Freelance Advocate; providing general advocacy for adults of working age who have severe learning disabilities and/or autism, living in care homes.

2015 to 2022 – Associate Lecturer at the University of Worcester, lecturing on a wide range of issues related to and including adult mental health, child and adolescent mental health, human development, attachment and childhood trauma, child sexual abuse, special educational needs and disability, and dissociation.

2019 onwards – Thinking Space founded to provide an inclusive service to people of all ages who have experienced traumatic or distressing events, however large or small, whether recent or historic. Extensive experience of working with people who experience neurodivergence such as autism or ADHD (see above), also enables Thinking Space to provide a service to this frequently marginalised group, who are known to experience trauma more often than those without such differences, and who are also more likely to experience dissociation resulting from their trauma.

2022 onwards – Associate lecturer at the University of Worcester contributing to the training of EMDR therapists on the Post Graduate Certificate in EMDR therapy as a member of the teaching team, including teaching on using EMDR therapy with autistic people, with particular consideration of the link between sensory differences and dissociation.

2023 onwards – International speaker on EMDR therapy.

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What People Say

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