Welcome!

Thanks for visiting this page. I’m Jill and I’m really pleased to meet you. I am a clinical psychologist, yoga teacher and researcher, specialising in women’s mental health.

How did I get here?

I began my training in clinical psychology back in 2010. I was on a course with a strong foundation in developmental psychopathology. That means understanding the ways that our brains develop over time, right from the moment we are conceived, including how mental health difficulties can develop from our earliest experiences and relationships.

I loved this approach and went on to specialise in perinatal and infant mental health, working with families in the transition to parenthood to support not only the parents’ mental health, but also to protect the developing mind of the baby. I have worked across several NHS perinatal mental health teams in London, and I provide training and consultation for health professionals and third sector organisations on perinatal mental health.

In my research, I am based in the Section of Women’s Mental Health at King’s College London. Here I have had the opportunity to develop and evaluate new interventions for families and to work on projects understanding the links between violence, trauma and mental health. You can find out more about this work here. At the beginning of 2021 I gained my PhD in Psychology, focused on developing novel interventions for new parents.

So where does yoga come in?

I have practiced yoga for many years and chose to train as a yoga teacher after discovering the therapeutic benefits that a regular practice can bring.

Many people come to yoga to experience the physical benefits of increased strength, flexibility, and balance. Yoga brought me all these things. But it also brought something more unexpected – with regular practice I noticed improvements in my mental and emotional strength, flexibility and balance too.

As a clinical psychologist and researcher, I found this intriguing and fascinating. I have since come to understand some of the ways that yoga has these impacts, and I founded the Yoga Psychology Centre in order to share this practice and understanding. You are welcome here, and I look forward to sharing my learning with you and supporting you on your own journey.