Alice McCann

 I completed my COSCA Counselling Skills Certificate where I gained Counselling skills. I then trained as a Cognitive Behavioural Therapist (Dip CBT and Groupwork). II have gained my full Accreditation with BABCP. Gaining accreditation is an important process for me. It means I must work within BABCP guidelines and am continuously learning and growing. I think this helps me to be the best therapist I can be for my valued clients.  I am fully insured, have a current Disclosure check. 

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I worked within Social Care for over 20 years before training as a therapist. I gained so much experience from working mostly with young people affected by homelessness and working with children and families within schools. I have worked as a Secondary School Counsellor in Glasgow, and I have also been a `Roots of Empathy Instructor` within North Lanarkshire primary schools which is a Canadian programme designed to help increase empathy in children (which then reduces bullying etc).  I gained many skills while working within Social Care as well as a deeper understanding of attachment and its impact on people especially younger people who I worked with the most.

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I have had training in addition to my CBT Diploma which I now feel is invaluable in my current work. I gained much of this from working for Action for Children and more recently with  Xyla Services which serves NHS Patients.  My additional training includes ; ACES (Adverse Childhood Experiences); Solihull Approach and Solihull Approach to Understanding Trauma; `Understanding Dads`; Boarding School Syndrome; ASIST (Applied Suicide Intervention Skills Training); Trans Awareness; Working with Refugees; Autism Awareness; ADHD; Parenting; `Anxiety and Young People`; `Loss and Grief`: `Motivational Interviewing` , `Understanding the impact of social media on Young People` and more recently CBT based training on Perfectionism, PTSD and OCD. 

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More recently I have had further training and/or done further study on ADHD (Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder) and ASD (Autism Spectrum Disorder) which is helping me to adapt my CBT methods for clients who are either awaiting assessment, are just curious about it and don`t wish to be assessed or diagnosed or have a diagnosis of ADHD or ASD or both. This is really important as CBT can help Neurodiverse clients but if treatment is not adapted to suit then in my experience it will not work well and can make therapy a negative experience.

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​At some point I would like to train in EMDR (Eye Movement Desensitization And Reprocessing) which is helpful to those suffering PTSD. I have completed further learning and gained much more experience working with PTSD which is important to me as I have seen clients reclaim their lives after having Trauma focussed CBT  and it is life changing.

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I started a CBT and Wellbeing group for males over 16 within the Coatbridge area of North Lanarkshire called `Men Talk 2 ` with my colleague Paul Stanton in April 2023 and we gained funding later that year which meant the group was available to local males free of charge for a full year. I passed the running of the group to Paul and our colleagues Victoria Scott and Thomas Simpson who have been facilitating the group since late 2023. This is something I am extremely proud of and feel excited about the future for `Men Talk 2` and continue to support and promote the group. I have a page dedicated to it on this site.