OUR PSYCHOLOGISTS AND PRACTICE TEAM
Our team specialises in providing high quality psychological services for individuals and organisations. We work according to the guidelines of the Health and Care Professions Council (HCPC). Dr Rebekah Dervley, Forensic Psychologist and Clinical Lead, founded Sunstone Psychology with the goal of building a platform to bring likeminded clinicians together to provide accessible, person-centred, and trauma-informed psychological services. To join our expanding practice team please make contact with us via our Contacts Form.
Dr Rebekah Dervley
Forensic Psychologist and Clinical Lead
I am a Forensic Psychologist registered with the Heath and Care Professions Council (HCPC). I can offer you a safe and confidential listening space, and work with you to understand your difficulties and help you find a way forward. I specialise in working with Trauma, PTSD, and Personality Difficulties. People who I work with may have experienced violence perpetrated by others, or have been violent towards others. I specialise in working with a range of coping behaviours, such as self-harm, addiction, and other behavioural issues.
I currently hold a Clinical Lead role within the NHS overseeing community-based forensic psychological therapeutic provision for individuals living across three London Boroughs. I have previously held roles within NHS adult forensic mental health, low and medium secure hospitals, community and prison settings.
I have specialist training in Eye-Movement Desensitisation and Reprocessing (EMDR), Trauma-Focused Relational Cognitive Behaviour Therapy for Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, Mentalization Based Therapy, Fire-Setting, Online Sexual Behaviours, and Forensic Risk Assessment. My treatment approach is integrative, drawing on Compassion-Focussed Therapy, Cognitive Behavioural Therapy, Dialectical Behaviour Therapy, Mentalisation-Based Therapy, and Systemic therapies. I offer EMDR. I have a specialist interest in the use of animals within the therapeutic process in the form of Animal Assisted Therapy. My therapeutic work is strongly influenced by Compassion Focussed and Trauma-Informed therapeutic values. I take pride in building warm, empathic, and non-judgemental client relationships. First and foremost, it is important that I help the clients I work with to feel physically and psychologically safe. I then use the therapeutic relationship to help people build an understanding of how their current-day difficulties emerged, what is perpetuating these difficulties, and to develop alternative coping strategies. I work with individuals and couples. Publications: Dervley, R., Perkins, D., Whitehead, H., Bailey, A., Gillespie, S., & Squire, T. (2017). Themes in participant feedback on a risk reduction programme for child sexual exploitation material offenders. Journal of Sexual Aggression, 23(1), 46-61. Dervley, R., Egan, V., & Tully, R. J. (2018). Impulsivity in adult male sexual offenders: A systematic review and meta analysis. Poster presented at the Annual Conference of the Association for the Treatment of Sexual Addiction and Compulsivity, January 2018. Wilson, L., & Dervley, R. (2022). Pilot exploration of low-intensity psychoeducation workbook interventions in a prison setting, adapted for use throughout the COVID-19 pandemic. Journal of Criminal Psychology, 12(3), online ahead of print.
Sunstone Psychology Associates
Louisa McMullon
Forensic Psychologist
I am a Chartered Forensic Psychologist registered with the Heath and Care Professions Council (HCPC). I specialise in working with problematic behaviours and the development of alternative coping strategies. I have experience in helping people explore how past trauma, unhealthy relationship styles and personality difficulties may link to current problematic thinking styles and unhelpful coping behaviours, that are causing the individual difficulties in their everyday lives. Over the past 15 years working in prison settings, I have gained experience of working with both male and female clients, both adolescents and adults. People who I work with may have experienced violence committed by others, or have been violent towards others. I specialise in working with a range of problematic behaviours, such as deliberate self injury, addiction, violence and other behavioural difficulties.I have a specialist interest in working with adolescents with violence and other risky behaviours.
My therapeutic work is strongly influenced by Trauma-Informed therapeutic values. My treatment style is integrative, drawing on Trauma Informed approaches, Cognitive Behavioural Therapy, Motivational Interviewing, Attachment and Schema Therapy. I prioritise taking a responsive, empathic, and non-judgemental approach to client relationships. I value openness and aim to help the client develop a sense of autonomy, whilst recognising the need for safety and containment within a therapeutic dynamic. I help clients to explore and build upon their own understanding of how their difficulties emerged, what is maintaining these difficulties, and work with them to develop their own alternative coping strategies. I have worked within a prison setting for over 15 years. This has allowed me to gain valuable and extensive experience over my career working with very complex presentations. I have experience of assessing, planning and facilitating psychological treatment based on meeting the needs of clients, and of supervising trainee forensic psychologists. I have held clinical oversight of complex residents with significant mental health and personality disorder needs, directing the treatment pathways and reintegration of residents. Prior to this, I worked within the juvenile and adolescent estate, providing regular assessments, feeding into treatment pathways for young people, in addition to holding an ongoing case load for 1:1 intervention work with young people, covering areas of clinical need, such as bereavement, low mood, trauma, anxiety and coping strategies such as substance abuse and deliberate self injury. I also provided psychological consultation on behaviour management strategies, supporting staff with the management of high risk and complex behavioural presentation. I have received training and have experiencing in completing risk assessments in extremism, fire setting, sexual, interpersonal and general violence.
Dr Amy Lawson
Forensic Psychologist
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I am a Health and Care Professions Council (HCPC) Registered Forensic Psychologist. I have a passion for helping individuals who have experienced high levels of distress and trauma and subsequently developed mental health difficulties such as PTSD, depression, anxiety, personality difficulties and problems with anger. I have completed specialist training in Eye Movement Desensitisation and Reprocessing (EMDR) therapy, Trauma-Focussed Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (TF-CBT) and Forensic Risk Assessment. I use these techniques as part of an integrative approach to treatment alongside techniques from compassion focussed therapy, dialectical behavioural therapy, and systemic therapies.
My main goal in treatment is to provide individuals with a sense of safety. I achieve this by offering an empathic, warm, and non-judgment space where you can feel at ease. Together we can build a strong therapeutic relationship to help you understand what happened to you, what is maintaining your difficulties, how to alleviate distressing thoughts, feelings and memories as well as find healthier coping mechanisms. I always enable my clients to feel empowered, offering them a sense of choice and collaboration throughout their treatment. This means I will work with you to create a treatment plan which you understand and feel in control of. I am currently working within the NHS for a specialist service working with military veterans who are experiencing mental health issues. I have also worked in secure settings; both medium and low secure hospitals and prisons, as well as in the community with parents whose children are at the edge of care or custody. Publications: - Glorney, E., Raymont, S., Lawson, A. & Allen, J. (2019). Religion, spirituality and personal recovery among forensic patients. The Journal of Forensic Practice, 21(3), 190-200. DOI: 10.1108/JFP-05-2019-0021. - Jethwa, J., Glorney, E., Adhyaru, J., & Lawson, A. (2021). A grounded theory of multisystemic therapist roles in achieving positive outcomes for young people and families. Journal of Family Therapy, 43(1), 124-142. DOI: 10.1111/1467-6427.12287. - Turton, E., Myles, L., Lee, J., Saffin, V., & Lawson, A. (2022). Improving awareness of the HCR-20 and risk assessment process. International Journal of Risk & Safety in Medicine. Pp. S1-S5. DOI: 10.3233/JRS-227029. - Lawson, A., (2019) The impact of childhood adversity on fathers involved in child care proceedings. Doctoral research project presented at the British Psychological Society’s Division of Forensic Psychology Annual Conference 2019. - Lawson, A., (2021). Understanding the intergenerational transmission of child maltreatment in fathers. DForenPsy thesis, University of Nottingham.