About

Dr Imogen Clarke BA. (Hons.) D.Clin.Psy.

Chartered Clinical Psychologist

Location: The Practice Rooms, 24 Regent Street, Bristol BS8 4HG

About me - training and experience

I have worked with children and young people with emotional, behavioural and developmental difficulties and their families since qualifying as a Clinical Psychologist in 2003. I have worked in the NHS, the independent sector and in private practice. I now see children and young people in Bristol and Bath in private practice alongside my NHS role.

My NHS work has included a role as Consultant Clinical Psychologist and Team Manager for a Child and Adolescent Mental Health Service for children with special needs, Coordination of a Social Communication (Autism) Assessment Service and work in Community Child and Adolescent Mental Health. I am currently Service Lead for an NHS Intensive Positive Behaviour Support Service for children with Intellectual Disability.

I have experience of working with pre-school children, school aged children and university aged young people facing a variety of developmental, emotional, family relationship and behavioural challenges. I have significant experience in providing assessment and treatment for the cognitive, emotional and behavioural needs of children with developmental difficulties including Autism Spectrum Disorder, Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) and Intellectual Disability.

Therapeutic Approach

I take a collaborative and empathic approach to supporting children, young people and their families from Bristol, Bath and surrounding areas with the challenges that they face. Parenting can be tough, especially if your child has additional needs. I am able to offer support to parents with approaches to parenting and their well being through parent coaching. Ensuring that you and your child are at ease is my priority. I draw on evidence based approaches in my therapeutic work with children, young people and their families including Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT), Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) and Positive Behaviour Support.

Areas of work

Here are some of the areas of difficulty I can help with. If you would like to discuss your hopes for therapy with me do get in touch and we can explore this

Neuro affirmative post diagnosis support for parents, children and young people
Parent coaching and well being support
Anxiety
Obsessive Compulsive Disorder
Anger
Low mood and depression
Behavioural difficulties
Family relationship difficulties
Sleep
Eating

I provide diagnostic assessment and intervention for children and young people with suspected:

Autism Spectrum Disorder
Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder
Developmental delay
Intellectual disability

I offer parent coaching in relation to all of the above including after a diagnosis has been made

Working with a wider team

For Autism assessments I work jointly with Christelle Bryan, Consultant Occupational Therapist to ensure that assessment is multi-disciplinary and in line with NICE guidance.

I am supported by an Assistant Psychologist, who helps with data management under my supervision. They do not meet or work with your child, do not attend appointments and do not administer any assessment. I carry out all direct assessment work myself, and all interpretation, clinical judgement and diagnostic conclusions are mine. Because they handle information about your child, they are bound by the same confidentiality obligations as I am, hold an enhanced DBS check including the children's barred list, and work under a written agreement covering data protection and security.

All Clinical Psychologists work under supervision. I may discuss aspects of our work with my supervisor to ensure the highest possible standard of care. Identifying information is not included in these discussions.

What to expect?

I will ask you to complete and return an enquiry form by email. Once I have received this I will schedule a telephone call with you. This will be around 20 minutes in length. The aim of this is to understand what you are hoping for from my service, to gather enough information in order to make a plan for next steps and to answer any questions you might have.
Most of my work involves a mixture of online meetings with parents and face to face meetings with children and young people. Deciding who will attend appointments and how these will happen is achieved collaboratively with parents and families.
I will ask you to send copies of reports detailing any previous or ongoing assessments and interventions for your child so that I can understand what work has already been carried out, build on this and avoid repetition.
Next steps may involve further assessment or beginning work to change things. In making a plan, we will consider carefully what you and your child would like to be different and what suits you and your family.

Reasonable adjustments

I want the assessment process itself to be accessible. Please tell me at the outset about any adjustments that would help eg sensory adjustments to the room, appointment timing,spreading assessment over more appointments or a familiar adult being present. I will make reasonable adjustments wherever I can at no additional cost.

Use of digital tools

Some assessment tasks are administered and scored using secure professional platforms provided by the test publishers. I also use secure software, including some AI-assisted tools, to help manage assessment information for administrative tasks only. You can ask me not to use these tools in your child's assessment. It will not affect your child's care or the report. Full details are in my privacy policy.

Privacy

Please review my privacy policy.

Location

I work from consulting rooms at The Practice Rooms, 24 Regent Street, Bristol BS8 4HG. Please note there is no reception or waiting area at The Practice Rooms. There are coffee shops close by where you can wait while an assessment is conducted. There is on street pay and display parking in the streets surrounding The Practice Rooms. If this presents a difficulty, please tell me and we will find a workable arrangement. It is sometimes helpful as part of our work for me to carry out observations of your child at home or school. This is arranged in collaboration with families as needed.

Fees

My hourly rate for therapeutic support is £120. Payment for therapy is made in advance on a session by session basis. I may need to charge for travel to carry out observations, depending on their location. Typically, travel time is charged at half my hourly rate. Diagnostic, cognitive and neuropsychological assessments are charged as a single fee. A deposit of 20% of the assessment fee is required in order to secure assessment appointments. Balance of payment for assessments is made in advance of the first assessment appointment. All payments are made by bank transfer. Payment by credit or debit card can be arranged on request. Occasionally payment for assessment payments in instalments can be agreed, with the final payment due prior to the release of the assessment reports. Please let me know if you would like to discuss these options. I am registered with several insurers including Bupa, AXA and WPA should you wish to request that your insurer covers assessment or therapy.

Cancellations

If you are unable to keep your appointment please let me know as soon as possible. If less than 24 hours notice is given, the appointment is still chargeable. I will give you as much notice as possible if I will not be available for an appointment.

Professional memberships and associations

Registered with the Health and Care Professions Council (HCPC) Practitioner registration number PYL25333. My registration can be checked at hcpc-uk.org
Chartered member of the British Psychological Society, with membership of the Division of Clinical Psychology and the Faculty for Children and Young People (membership number 095786)
I hold a current Enhanced Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) check, including the children’s barred list.
I hold full professional indemnity insurance. Details are available on request.
I am registered with the Information Commissioner’s Office as a data controller (registration number ZA102055)

Get in touch

If you are wondering whether an assessment or therapy would help your child, do get in touch. I am happy to talk things through before you commit to anything.

I work from consulting rooms at The Practice Rooms, 24 Regent Street, Bristol BS8 4HG.Please contact me on 07932 646 420 or imogen@imogenclarke.com if you would like to discuss any of this further.