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PTSD Specialists

CTC Psychological Services was established in 1988 by Dr Jeanie McIntee, Consultant Clinical + Forensic Psychologist.  Our Centre is a well-regarded referral point, accepting referrals from all over the UK, and overseas, and provides psychological assessment, expert witness, therapy, training and consultancy services.  Referrals are received from Solicitors, Social Services Departments, General Practitioners, medical insurance companies, the National Health Service, Probation and Police Services and from the general public.

Many clients of our service attend for one off assessments that are in depth for the purpose of a court report for compensation for their injuries such as Post-traumatic Stress.  In general the very comprehensive assessment utilised by this service results in a considerable increase in compensation once the full psychological factors are taken into account.

Some examples of how clients have benefited from our services:

• A –  had been removed from abusive parents but unfortunately was repeatedly and systematically abused during her time in care. At first she was not able to speak, only nod yes or no.  After many years of therapy she holds a good job counselling abused children.
  
• B –  had been abused from a very early age by multiple abusers, including her parents, their friends and associates of friends.  Her needs were extremely complex and she began therapy in her late teens after being removed from the household.  She worked hard in her therapy which was not without its ups and downs over many years.  Happily she went on to live a happy and healthy life beyond therapy and abuse and to have her own family.
  
• C – was raped in her country of origin during the war there.  She had additionally lost several of her close family so her PTSD was very complex.  Her sense of self-worth was shattered and become extremely fragmented and her trust in men devastated.  After many years of working with a female therapist she began to include a male therapist in tandem, eventually progressing to seeing each of the therapists separately as well as together.  Her therapy concluded with her increasing ability to engage in work and community activity and although she chose not to have a personal relationship, she was able to enjoy mixed company among her group of friends.
  
• D – was a flying instructor who had been co-piloting with a pupil when their small plane was touched by another and both planes crashed.  She was the only survivor from 4 people.  Her difficulty was exacerbated by the way the organisation handled the situation, putting its own defence before her needs.  Her marriage suffered terribly as she lost all confidence in herself and in relating to others.  Her PTSD seemed intransigent and eventually she settled for some Cognitive Behavioural management tools rather than full resolution of her difficulties.
  
• E – was recovering well from extensive childhood and adult relational trauma.  Having worked extensively to reduce her dissociation and to integrate her fragmented personality, she suddenly found herself facing a life-threatening illness requiring drastic surgery.  All this happened before her progress had been consolidated and she experienced renewed fragmentation that lasted for approximately 2 years.  She bravely continued working hard, repairing the psychological damage and healing herself physically and eventually found happiness in a new relationship and becoming a grandmother.
  
• F – was unable to engage with statutory services.  His development was so uneven that he could not reliably manage his emotions, either his neediness or his anger when people could only see an elderly man and not the hurt child who made such very slow progress in remedying his trauma and developmental delay.   It was not only the male/female team of therapists who had to work hard to support and help moderate his excesses.  The admin staff and indeed the whole team could find themselves at the blunt end of his distress or frustration.  He was convinced the world was continuing to abuse him and hate him for his sexual orientation, almost on a daily basis.  Although this was not objectively accurate, such things did happen intermittently and strongly reinforced his belief and his trauma.  For the therapists it was like trying to stop the tide coming in, but despite this feeling, thanks to close team work and support, they were able to continue to help his development and limited recovery.  Given his age and depth of trauma, full recovery was unlikely but quality of life continued to improve, though not via a straight trajectory.

When assessing for trauma and PTSD we utilise a combination of interview, task assessment and questionnaires as well as background documentation.  The assessment is usually a full day so we have plenty of time to understand fully all aspects of the clients situation.  We have a team of psychologists, therapists and counsellors who are available for therapeutic work.  Assessment work is usually conducted by the psychologists.  We have both male and female staff and with couples we try to work with two therapists who match the gender of the couple as we have found this to be a very beneficial way of maximising improvement quickly.

The service is non profit-making, and income generated is used to fund staff salaries, in line with NHS payscales, and reinvestment in providing a high quality environment for clients and staff, supporting research and facilitating a sliding scale of fees for self-funding clients and discounted rates for NHS and Social Services therapy contracts.

The Centre is staffed by a multi-disciplinary team, which includes Consultant Clinical and Forensic Psychologists, Clinical/Forensic Psychologists, Assistant Psychologists, Counsellors, Therapists, Psychotherapists and Administrators.