Faculty of Medical Psychotherapy Annual Conference 2025 Resources
Welcome to the Faculty of Medical Psychotherapy Annual Conference 2025 - Inclusivity/exclusivity; medical psychotherapy, labels and stigma
Dear Delegates
Welcome to the Faculty of Medical Psychotherapy Conference, 2025. For this year’s flagship event on, “Inclusivity, exclusivity; Medical Psychotherapy, labels and stigma…”, we are returning to our home at the Royal College of Psychiatrists, 21 Prescot Street, London. We are delighted that you have chosen to join us and hope you will be stimulated by the various talks, conversations, groups and workshops that we have carefully curated to explore the theme in detail.
Dr Cissy Atwine is an ST4 Psychiatry trainee who is passionate about global mental health, social determinants of health and social justice. She is the pastoral care lead for the British Ugandan Doctors Association that brings together Ugandan doctors in the UK. She is also passionate about talking therapy and is undergoing MBT Therapy practitioner training with the Anna Freud Centre.
She is a member of the Executive Committee of the Royal College of Psychiatrists Medical Psychotherapy Faculty, is a joint Academic Secretary for the Faculty and is a member of the Specialist Advisory Committee - contributing to national training and curriculum developments.
Tom Ayers is the Director of the National Collaborating Centre for Mental Health, a collaboration between the Royal College of Psychiatrists and University College London. Tom began his career in the NHS as a manager across a range of mental health settings before becoming Director of Community Mental Health and Social Care Services in Sheffield. He moved into his current role in 2016 and led the development of models of care for the NHS in England as part of the Five Year Forward View for Mental Health and the NHS Long Term Plan, including developing policy for community mental health services for NHS England. Tom has developed the NCCMH into the leading national provider of Quality Improvement (QI) in Mental Health in the UK and in 2024 launched the largest ever national programme of QI and leadership in Mental Health, aiming to improve the culture of care on inpatient wards in England. Additionally, Tom has led on setting up the RCPsych’s Public Mental Health Implementation Centre, which aims to prevent mental illness, and launched at the Houses of Parliament in 2022. Tom has co-authored several papers related to leadership and improvement in mental health care, for example The mental health safety improvement programme: a national quality improvement collaborative to reduce restrictive practice in England.
Dr Parveen Bains is trained in Medical Psychotherapy and is currently working as a Consultant Psychiatrist in Adult Eating Disorders in Oxfordshire and holds the Psychotherapy Tutor post in Hertfordshire. She is BPC registered and has a clinical interest in Psychodynamic Psychotherapy in working with Eating Disorders. She has a keen interest in Medical Education and training and is currently Academic Co Chair for the Medical Psychotherapy Faculty exec.
Dr Anne Cooper is a Consultant Medical Psychotherapist, specialising in CBT and working at Leeds and York Partnerships Foundation Trust LYPFT in the Medical Psychotherapy Department, where she is also Psychotherapy Tutor and joint TPD for Psychotherapy. She particularly enjoys working with severe OCD and psychosis. Dr Cooper also has a wider interest in education and is passionate about ensuring that medical students have a comprehensive training in mental health, such that this is seen as an integral part of their training. She is the LYPFT Director of Undergraduate Medical Education and Psychiatry Integrated Core Unit Manager at the University of Leeds. She is a co-opted member of the Medical Psychotherapy Faculty Executive Committee and one of the current Academic Co-Secretaries for the Faculty. She is also Treasurer and unofficial Events Coordinator for BABCP CBT Medics SIG.
Dr Oliver Dale graduated from Imperial College in 2000. Having completed his training in West London in adult psychiatry in 2008, he worked as a consultant psychiatrist in Hammersmith and Fulham up until his move to SPFT in May 2023. He also trained as an Analytical Psychologist and has been a member of the British Psychoanalytical Council since 2016. Oliver was previously the Clinical Director for the adult community transformation programme at SPFT before becoming Deputy Chief Medical Officer in December 2023 and the Chief Medical Officer in October 2024. Up until June 2024 he was Co-President British and Irish Group for the study of personality disorder. He was chair of Cassel Hospital Charitable trust between 2016 and 2023. He has also held positions within the Royal College of Psychiatrists including executive member and Academic Chair of the General Adult Faculty. He was the chair of the Cross Faculty Working Group for Personality disorder and editor of the all-age Position Statement on Services for people diagnosable with personality disorder from 2018 to 2021. Oliver's clinical background is in community adult psychiatry. He is currently working with the National Collaborating Centre for Mental Health on a project seeking to address prejudice and discrimination affecting those given a diagnosis of personality disorder. He has been an advisor to NHS England on the development of community services and a collaborator with the NIHR Mental Health Policy Research Unit on Complex Emotional Needs.
Dr Maria Eyres is a consultant psychiatrist in medical psychotherapy and a psychoanalytic psychotherapist. She is a co-chair of the Royal College of Psychiatrists Expert Reference group on non recent child sexual abuse. She was a member of the Faculty Executive for a number of years, leading and contributing to various projects and taking up specific roles such as the Newsletter Editor and the Academic Secretary. She is currently working part time for DocHealth, not for profit organisation working with doctors.
In addition to his Medical Psychotherapy role, he is the Clinical Lead for the Take Time (doctors and dentists in difficulty) service which covers the Yorkshire and Humber region. He is a co-opted member of the Medical Psychotherapy Faculty Executive Committee and one of the Academic Co-Secretaries for the Faculty. He also holds the Joint-TPD role for Medical Psychotherapy for Yorkshire and Humer. He is the Regional Medical Psychotherapy Representative for Yorkshire. He is the Joint-President of the Balint Society, UK, and interested in increasing the diversity and engagement of members of the society. He is a passionate educator and trainer for undergraduate and postgraduate learners in Medicine and holds an Honorary Senior Lecturer position at the University of Leeds. He is a RCPsych CASC examiner. He is a member of the British Psychoanalytic Society and works as a psychoanalyst in private practice. His other interests include supporting the development of reflective skills in doctors and furthering psychotherapeutic skills within psychiatry.
Dr Sarah Markham - I am deeply thankful to have received medical psychotherapy which gave me the tools to free myself from the negative thinking loops which impacted so negatively on my mental health and life. It has been an incredibly inspiring and motivating experience to support the Faculty of Medical Psychotherapy.
Our poster author's abstracts will be displayed at the venue. Please find below a digital version of the abstracts (where authors have provided us with a electronic version):
- Medical Student Balint – a tool to improve empathy, transform communication skills and empower tomorrow’s socially aware patients’ advocates
Dr Burak Cardak, CT1-3, Justyna Wroblewska, Michael Milmore - Psychological formulations of 24 adults with Functional Neurological Disorder treated with Shared Individual Formulation Therapy (SIFT) (PDF)
Dr Myles Gutkin, Consultant, Professor Richard A Kanaan, Professor Richard J Brown - Patients’ experiences of dissociative symptoms and grounding techniques
Dr Holly Melvin, Foundation Doctor, Dr Edward Mellor - Evaluating Interpreting Services Within Psychological Therapy
Dr Charlotte Scott, ST7 Psychiatry Trainee, Anokh Goodman - Clinical Audit and Re-Audit into Strategies for Relatives (START) programme uptake (PDF)
Dr Ioana Toma, CT1-3, Dr Parthipan Sivaraman - Using Cognitive-Analytic Therapy (CAT) as a conceptual explanatory framework for severe command hallucinations – a Case Report (PDF)
Dr Ioana Toma, CT1-3, Chanel Morland
- Please view the book chapter on the therapeutic / clinical applications of yoga (PDF), written by Jane O'Rourke, from Dr Jo Stubley’s book, ‘Complex Trauma’
- Find out more about Jane O'Rourke and her work on her website
- The development of the RCPsych position statement on the Impact of Non-Recent Child Sexual Abuse on Mental Health and its application in our work (PDF) - Panel led by Dr Joanne Stubley, Dr Maria Eyres, and colleagues
Thank you for attending the conference.
We'd really appreciate it if you could spend a few moments completing the feedback form/s and letting us know what went well and if there were any aspects that could be improved.
- Please complete the Wednesday evening 30 April 2025 feedback survey
- Please complete the Thursday 1 May 2025 feedback survey
- Please complete the Friday 2 May 2025 feedback survey
You will automatically receive a certificate of attendance 1 week after the event has taken place.
This course is eligible for up to 2 hours on Wednesday, and up to 6 CPD hours per day on Thursday and Friday, subject to peer group approval.
Join us for the Psychodynamic Psychiatry Day 2025: If grief is the 'sea we swim in', what does this mean for psychiatry? taking place on Friday 14 November 2025. The conference will be taking place at:
Royal College of Psychiatrists,
21 Prescot Street,
London E1 8BB
Find further details and register your interest in the conference on the event web page.
Bridging tradition and innovation:
- Date: Friday 30 May 2025
- Venue: St Thomas Centre, Ardwick Green North, Manchester M12 6FZ
For programme information and bookings, please visit the conference website
Please note this event is being organised by an external group, and not by the Royal College of Psychiatrists
The Tavistock and Portman NHS Trust host a range of training session:
