Consultant Clinical Psychologist
Dr Vivia Cowdrill is a Consultant Clinical Psychologist with many years of experience working in NHS and independent mental health services. She is accredited in Cognitive Behaviour Therapy and Dialectical Behaviour Therapy as a psychotherapist and is also an accredited supervisor in Dialectical Behaviour Therapy. She has undertaken extensive additional training in Schema Focused Therapy, Compassion Focused Therapy, Acceptance and Commitment Therapy and Eye Movement Desensitisation and Reprocessing. Her approach brings together structured, evidence based therapies with warmth, compassion and flexibility, with a strong focus on building a robust therapeutic relationship.
Alongside her clinical work providing individual therapy and supervision or consultation to multidisciplinary teams and other professionals, she is involved in the training and supervision of mental health practitioners. She maintains an active interest in service development across NHS and independent sectors for people with complex mental health needs, trauma and dissociation.
Dr Cowdrill specialises in supporting people who have experienced: • Complex and developmental trauma • Dissociative experiences including dissociative identity disorder • Post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) • Emotion regulation difficulties • Personality related distress and interpersonal difficulties • Recovery from self harm and suicidal tendencies • Anxiety • Depression
Across her career, she has worked closely with individuals whose lives have been shaped by complex or developmental trauma and has seen the courage required to begin the process of healing. Many of the people she supports have spent years surviving rather than living. Her work follows a phased treatment approach, prioritising safety, stabilisation and the development of a life worth living before gradually supporting the integration of traumatic experiences.
She has a deep commitment to helping people build safety, meaning and self compassion after trauma. At the heart of her practice is the belief that recovery is possible, not through erasing the past but through helping people reconnect with themselves, clarify what is important to them, and create lives that are authentic and fulfilling.
Accreditation/Registration Dr Cowdrill is an accredited member of the UK and Ireland Society for DBT and the British Association of Behavioural and Cognitive Psychotherapists and holds professional registration with the Health and Care Professions Council. These regulatory bodies require regular continuing professional development to ensure safe and effective practice, and her name appears on their registers. She is also a Fellow of the British Psychological Society and the Division of Clinical Psychology and is listed as a Chartered Member.