Dr Jo O'Reilly

Dr Jo O’Reilly is a consultant psychiatrist in medical psychotherapy in Camden and Islington Mental Health Trust. She first became interested in psychological aspects of medicine when she was able to join a medical student psychotherapy scheme and has trained and worked in a range of primary , secondary and tertiary care settings including the Maudsley Hospital, Cassel Therapeutic Community, and the Tavistock Clinic. She trained as a psychoanalyst at the British Psychoanalytic Society.

Jo has a keen interest in promoting psychological thinking within psychiatry and developing an organizational culture which supports staff. In her NHS role she has developed a framework for reflective practice for all mental health teams across the mental health trust and contributes to specialist panels for complex and high risk clinical presentations. She leads a secondary care psychodynamic psychotherapy service which provides a consultation service, group and individual and group therapy and training for psychiatrists and other colleagues.

Jo has been a member of the Medical Psychotherapy Executive Committee at the Royal College of Psychiatrists and vice chair of the specialist training committee (SAC) for many years. She organizes an annual Psychodynamic Psychiatry Conference at the RCPsych and is the co-editor with Rachel Gibbons of the RCPsych text book Seminars in the Psychotherapies, published in June 2021. Jo’s other priorities include increasing the provision of a full range of psychological therapies, workforce wellbeing, and the importance of relationships in clinical care.