Expertise and Experience
Dr Willis is the Senior Clinical Psychologist at Purple House Edinburgh. She is a registered Clinical Psychologist with the Health and Care Professions Council (HCPC) and a Chartered Psychologist with the British Psychological Society (BPS). Dr Willis has been working in NHS Scotland for over nine years, first as a psychological therapist working with adults, and later as a clinical psychologist, working with people of all ages and across a variety of settings: alongside her post at Purple House, Dr Willis works part-time within an NHS forensic inpatient unit for people with complex mental health and offending needs.
Prior to retraining as a clinical psychologist, Dr Willis completed a PhD in Cognitive Neuroscience and subsequently spent 20 years working within universities as a Postdoctoral Researcher and then Lecturer in Psychology, with a focus on visual attention and executive functioning, and how these may differ in children and adults with neurodivergent conditions such as dyslexia and ADHD.
Dr Willis provides assessment and therapeutic interventions for a range of common psychological issues in young people and adults, including anxiety, anger, depression, phobias, OCD, PTSD, low self-esteem, and difficulties with emotion regulation, interpersonal functioning, and problematic substance use. She also has experience of working with adults presenting with these and more enduring difficulties such as bipolar affective disorder, psychosis / schizophrenia, and the effects of complex trauma. She is passionate about providing and promoting high-quality, person-centred, trauma-informed psychological assessment and interventions, and working in a neuroaffirming way with individuals, their families, and wider systems.
Qualifications
2021 – Doctorate in Clinical Psychology (DClinPsy), University of Edinburgh
2017 – MSc in Psychological Therapy in Primary Care, University of Dundee (distinction)
2004 – PGCert in Teaching and Learning in Higher Education, Edinburgh Napier University (distinction)
1997 – PhD in Psychology (Cognitive Neuroscience), Royal Holloway College, University of London
1992 – BSc (Joint Hons) in Psychology and Biology, University of Keele
Professional Registrations & Memberships
Health and Care Professions Council (HCPC): PYL039687.
Chartered Psychologist with the British Psychological Society (BPS): 682998.
Associate Member of the British Association of Behavioural and Cognitive Psychotherapies (BABPC).
Fellow of the Higher Education Academy (HEA).
Specialisms
- Assessment of ADHD and autistic spectrum conditions in adults and young people.
- Adult psychology (anxiety, depression, phobias, OCD, PTSD, low self-esteem, emotional dysregulation, interpersonal difficulties, problematic substance use, anger, violent or aggressive behaviours, psychosis, and the effects of complex trauma).
Main Therapeutic Approaches
- Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT).
- Dialectical Behavioural Therapy (DBT).
- Behavioural Family Therapy (BFT).
- I also draw heavily on other third-wave CBT approaches in my therapeutic work, including Compassion-Focused Therapy (CFT) and Mindfulness-Based Therapy, and more relational models such as Cognitive Analytic Therapy (CAT).
