Kirsty
Areas of expertise:
- Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT)
- Dialectical Behaviour Therapy (DBT)
- Schema Therapy
- Eye Movement Desensitisation and Reprocessing (EMDR)
- Forensic mental health
- Personality disorder
- Learning disability
- Addictions
- Risk assessment (including sexual and violent offences)
- Cognitive functioning
- Parenting capacity
- Psychopathy
- Personality disorder
- Attachment
- Substance abuse
- Domestic violence
- Developmental disorders (including Autism Spectrum Disorder and ADHD)
- Trauma
- Sexual abuse
- Offending – Sexual/Violent
Experience:
- Over 21 years’ experience as a Forensic Psychologist, with 11 years as an expert witness.
- Extensive experience in independent practice, providing expert witness services for family and criminal court proceedings, including high-profile and complex cases.
- Held several senior roles.
- Expertise in delivering assessments and therapeutic interventions for children, adults and families.
- Experienced supervisor and visiting lecturer.
- Strong record in implementing evidence-based care pathways across specialised services.
- 11 years of expert witness experience.
- Provides independent psychological and risk assessments for Family court, Care and PLO (Public Law Outline) proceedings and Parole hearings.
- Writes 60–80 reports annually.
- Has given evidence in court over 160 times in the past five years.
Bio:
I have extensive clinical and forensic experience across criminal justice, family law, inpatient, community and independent practice settings. Since 2014, I have worked as an independent forensic psychologist, providing assessment, formulation and intervention in complex family and criminal cases, including care and PLO proceedings, parole hearings and high-risk contexts.
I work with adults, children and families presenting with trauma, abuse, neglect, domestic violence, severe mental health difficulties, personality disorders, neurodevelopmental conditions (including ASD and ADHD), learning disability, substance misuse and offending behaviour. My practice involves comprehensive assessment of risk, parenting capacity, attachment, cognitive functioning, mental capacity and developmental needs, using psychometric measures, structured professional judgement tools and forensic analysis.
I have held senior clinical leadership roles within specialist mental health services, contributing to the delivery of psychologically informed care pathways across inpatient and community settings. My therapeutic work is integrative, drawing on psychodynamic, humanistic, cognitive-behavioural and creative approaches, adapted to individual need and risk.
This combination of clinical depth, forensic expertise and systemic understanding enables me to work effectively across various settings and populations, bridging the gap between clinical practice and the demands of legal and statutory decision-making.
