Dr Jay Watts
Consultant Clinical Psychologist, Psychotherapist, Writer and Activist
Jay is an award-winning consultant clinical psychologist, relational psychotherapist, media contributor and activist who draws on psychoanalysis, psychology and social theory to help individuals and, she hopes, groups, suffer less and live more fully. Jay has a long-standing commitment to anti-oppressive practice that both bears witness to trauma and is playful and freeing. She is lucky enough to be active in trying to improve mental health services both in the UK and internationally.
Navigating Jay's Website
Approach and activities
Psychotherapy
Jay has been working as a depth psychotherapist for 25 years and remains fascinated with how to adapt techniques to work with the uniqueness of each individual. Her approach to trauma therapy involves combining psychodynamic understandings of the unconscious with practical survival strategies.
Academia
Discover some of Jay's publications in both high-impact academic journals and specialist publications in psychotherapy. Read about Jay's credentials as a former research lead and senior lecturer, and the supervision and DPsy theses Jay has supervised.
Neurodiversity
Increasingly, Jay is an advocate for neurodivergent-affirmative thinking and practice. She is neurodivergent herself and enjoys modifying techniques to the absolute uniqueness of clients, whether that be individuals or groups.
Media
Jay has a long history of working with media organisations from show design to script consultation, and journalism to presentation. She sometimes serves as a dramaturge advising on the psychanalytic credibility of characters in fiction, play and films.
Complex Trauma
Jay has a history of co-producing trauma-informed services with people less privileged than her. She now teaches and consults on nuanced TIC internationally and is a well-known trauma therapist.
Activism
Jay was an activist before she became a psychologist, and will remain one afterwards. Her activism focuses on lobbying for a kind benefits system, troubling the label of borderline personality disorder and adequate long-term psychotherapy provision for all needing it.
Sample Contributions and Collaborations:
