A Clinical Psychologist is a mental health clinician and therapist who has usually trained to a doctoral level qualification. The training process usually takes around eight years + from undergraduate degree to a completed clinical doctorate. After qualifying Clinical Psychologists continue specialising in their field. Clinical Psychologist is a protected title, and only those registered with the HCPC can use this. You can check the register here. Please note that Psychologist is not a protected title and anyone can use this. Clinical Psychologists are trained in thoroughly assessing mental health difficulties, and in a number of therapy models. We also often provide training, supervision and consultation to other professionals.

At Beyond the Clinic Room we use a trauma informed approach to all of our therapies. That means we think carefully about making therapy feel as safe as possible, right the way through the process. All of the therapies we use are attachment informed - that means we think a great deal about relationships with both within and outside of therapy, and really aim to create a trusting relationship between us. Clinical Psychologists tend to integrate different types of therapy together to create an individualised therapy plan. Therapies we like include Eye Movement Desensitisation and Reprocessing (EMDR), Dialectical Behaviour Therapy (DBT), and Cognitive Behaviour Therapy (CBT). At Beyond the Clinic Room we specialise in Animal Assisted EMDR. We are the first UK provider of the Equilateral Equine Assisted EMDR model. You can read more about this here.

Face to face rates are £130, and are usually 50 minutes. Online session rates are £120. Report writing, letter writing and liaising with other professionals is charged for at the hourly rate.

Canine Assisted face to face therapy sessions are held in Crouch End, North London. Equine Assisted therapy sessions are held in Faversham, Kent. Unfortunately we do not currently have availability for equine assisted sessions and are hoping to reopen the waiting list later in the year.

Canine Assisted face to face therapy sessions are held in Crouch End, North London on Monday mornings. Online sessions are held on Wednesday evenings and Friday mornings.

Beyond the Clinic Room is hosted by Graveney Equine, which is owned and managed by Equine Welfare Specialist and Barefoot Trimmer, Lauren Johnson. You can find out more about them here. Lauren is highly dedicated to meeting the emotional, behavioural and physical needs of horses in her care. Charis works closely alongside Lauren in caring for the horses in session at Graveney Equine, and therapy horse Sully is owned and looked after by her. The horses at Beyond the Clinic Room live together in a herd, outside 24/7, but they have the choice to come into a big barn with a cosy bed if they want to do so. They do not live in a grass field because a number of the horses at Graveney Equine become unwell from eating grass, but they have hay to eat at all times. You can see more about that here.

When you arrive we will most likely first meet in our inside clinic room (you can see pictures here) which leads out onto our space with horses, and you can of course meet them over the fence. We will talk about how to help you feel comfortable around the horses, and what we need to do to meet them safely. We will likely do a mixture of meeting indoors and outdoors, which is also guided by you. We don’t tend to do activities with the horses; instead we want the horses to be able to choose if they want to interact with us or not, as we think it is important for our horses to have be listened to and have choices in therapy, and find this leads to a deeper connection with them. More often than not, we find that the horses are very keen to be involved! For more on what to expect from therapy at Beyond the Clinic Room please see our blog post here.

No, absolutely not, and we encourage those who like the idea of equine therapy but are nervous around horses to try equine assisted therapy. Meeting the horses will be entirely at your own pace, in a way that feels safe.

All sessions are based on the ground, and there is no riding involved.

Sessions are often outside, so wear something weather appropriate (we are used to rain here!). Of course we will not let you get cold, and can go inside if needed. Don’t forget suncream if it’s hot! No open toes shoes or sandals can be worn.