Dr Olivia Thrift

For more than 15 years, I’ve had the privilege of  supporting people as they work through the challenges and traumas of life. I have worked in the NHS, prison service, secure psychiatric hospitals, DBT teams and private practice. I have helped people with a vast spectrum of psychological difficulties – from longstanding and complex challenges to people seeking a safe reflective space to better understand and develop themselves. I seek to help all those I work with reach their full potential.

I am the founder of The Psychology Company. In 2017 I moved to California so now work with people online (via Zoom). I offer appointments between 5-10pm GMT. I also work for a DBT service in San Francisco as well as working as a supervisor and instructor for the California Schema Therapy Training Program. I am also a schema supervisor for several UK based Schema training programmes. Recently I co-authored a chapter titled: “Developing a Compassionate Mind to Strengthen The Healthy Adult Mode” for the upcoming book Creative Methods in Schema Therapy.

I have chartered status and am an Associate Fellow of the British Psychological Society (BPS) and am accredited by the Health and Care Professions Council (HCPC), the regulatory body for psychologists in the UK. Furthermore I am certified with the International Society for Schema Therapy (ISST) and am an ISST authorised Advanced Schema Therapist, Trainer and Supervisor. I am a Certified Mindfulness Teacher with the Mindfulness Training Institute, who are accredited by the International Mindfulness Teachers’ Association (IMTA).

Finally, I am also a registered yoga teacher with Yoga Alliance and am very interested in how trauma is stored in the body and how we can incorporate mindfulness and yoga into psychological therapy to help rebalance our nervous system and return our body and mind to full health.

I am covered by BUPA and work with clients aged 18 and over.

Practitioner Doctorate in Counselling Psychology (Psych.D); University of Surrey

B.Sc (Hons.) Psychology; University of Wales, Cardiff

CBT Training

Cognitive Therapy for Post Traumatic Stress Disorder; Maudsley NHS Trust

Using Trauma-Focused CBT for PTSD; Oxford Cognitive Therapy Centre

CBT for Eating Disorders; British Association for Behavioural and Cognitive Psychotherapies

Recent Advances in OCD Treatment; British Association for Behavioural and Cognitive Psychotherapies

Working with Distressing Psychosis; British Psychological Society

Schema Therapy Training

Advanced Certification in Schema Therapy; International Society for Schema Therapy. This training focused on using schema therapy with people with a diagnosis or traits of Personality Disorder including Borderline Personality Disorder, Narcissistic Personality Disorder and Avoidant/Dependent Personality Disorder

Group Schema Therapy (Dr Joan Farrell and Dr Ida Shaw); International Society for Schema Therapy

Time-Limited Schema Therapy (Dr Vreeswijk); International Society for Schema Therapy

Advanced Imagery Rescripting; (Dr Chris Hayes and Remco van der Wijngaart); International Society for Schema Therapy

Schema Therapy Skills: Working with avoidance and over-compensation; Schema Therapy Associates approved by the ISST

Transformational Chairwork; Scott Kellogg

Body Focused Interventions in Schema Therapy; Janis Briedis and Helen Startup

Schema Supervision Training

Schema Therapy Trainer-Supervisor; Dr Joan Farrell and Dr Ida Shaw; International Society for Schema Therapy

Using the Schema Therapist Competency Rating Scale (Dr Wendy Behary); International Society for Schema Therapy

DBT Training

Dialectical Behaviour Therapy; Isle of Wight NHS Trust

Radical Openness and DBT; Targetting Over Control; Professor Tom Lynch

Treating PTSD during Dialectical Behaviour Therapy with High-Risk Clients; British Isles DBT Team

Compassion Focused Therapy Training

Advanced Clinical Skills Workshop in Compassion-Focused Therapy; Prof Paul Gilbert; University of Derby

Using Compassion Focused Therapy To Overcome The Legacy Of Childhood Trauma; Dr Deborah Lee; British Association for Behavioural and Cognitive Psychotherapies

Compassion Focused Therapy for Anger: The True Strength Program; Prof Russell Kolts; University of Derby

Compassionate Mind in Shame and Self-Attack; Dr Deborah Lee; British Association for Behavioural and Cognitive Psychotherapies

Compassion and the Integration of Mind; Prof Paul Gilbert and Prof Dan Siegel.

Mobilising Compassion in Group Psychotherapy; Kia Kaha Psychotherapy and Training

Mindfulness and Yoga Training

Mindfulness Teacher Training with the Mindfulness Training Institute, Berkeley, California (12 month programme). Accredited by the International Mindfulness Teachers’ Association (IMTA)

Mindfulness-based Cognitive Therapy Seven-Day Training Retreat; Oxford Mindfulness Centre

Mindful Self-Compassion (MSC) Core Skills Training; Dr Kristin Neff and Dr Christopher Germer; University of Derby

Mindful Compassion; Prof Paul Gilbert and Choden; Kagyu Samye Dzong Tibetan Centre, London

Yoga 200 hour teacher training; Samahita Retreat Thailand

Prison Yoga Project Training, Berkeley, California

Trauma Sensitive Yoga, Oakland, California

Forensic Training

HCR-20 V3; Partnerships in Care

Risk of Sexual Violence Protocol; Sussex Partnership NHS Foundation Trust

Understanding and assessing Psychopathy (PCL-R); Pearson Training