Dr Camilla Cookson is a specialist Child and Adolescent Clinical Psychologist. She has 10 years of clinical experience working across various mental health settings within the NHS, with a current position as a Senior Clinical Psychologist in a London Community Child and Adolescent Mental Health Service (CAMHS). She is registered with the Health and Care Professionals Council (HCPC).
Camilla obtained a First-Class degree in Experimental Psychology at Oxford University and went on to complete her doctoral training in Clinical Psychology at Royal Holloway, University of London. It was during this time that Camilla developed her passion for working with children, young people and their families, where she has focussed her work since.
Camilla’s experience reflects the great variety that comes with working with children, and includes individual, family, parenting, school-based and consultative work across a range of presenting needs, covering the following:
Camilla understands that building a trusting, supportive and open therapeutic relationship is of great importance, and enjoys working creatively and compassionately in order to engage the young person to work in collaboration towards achieving their personal goals. Camilla also recognises the value of working together with family and any other important people/systems in a child’s life where appropriate.
Camilla has experience undertaking complex assessments and understands the benefit of reaching a comprehensive shared understanding of the presenting concerns in order to achieve positive therapeutic outcomes. Within her therapeutic work, she draws on a variety of evidence based psychological therapies and models to best meet the needs of her clients, including Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT), Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) and Mindfulness-Based approaches, Behavioural and Parenting work (including Personalised Individual Parent Training, PIPT), and Family and Narrative interventions. Camilla has additionally undertaken training in specialist trauma therapies, including Trauma-Focused CBT, Eye Movement Desensitisation and Reprocessing (EMDR) and Narrative Exposure Therapy for Children (KIDNET), developing her interest and experience in this area through working within a specialist NHS service supporting children, young people and their families who have been affected by trauma. She also has experience undertaking cognitive assessments and working with children with additional neurodevelopmental needs.