Kate Blakeley

Kate qualified from UCL as a Clinical Psychologist in 1991. Kate has worked as Consultant Paediatric Clinical Psychologist at The Royal London Children’s Hospital for 15 years – a post she left in 2021. She was joint clinical lead for the Paediatric Liaison Team, managing and supervising 7 other paediatric clinical psychologists across a wide range of medical specialties. Kate specialises in gastroenterology, related surgery, Cystic Fibrosis (and respiratory medicine) and allergy. She is a member of The British Society of Gastroenterology, Hepatology and Nutrition and was on the NICE Guidelines Development Committee for Childhood Constipation. Kate is Medical Director of CiCRA, a children’s Inflammatory Bowel Disease Charity and has been a member of the ERIC Professionals Advisory Committee for the last 7 years.

Kate worked on both an in-patient and out-patient basis in close collaboration with paediatricians, surgeons, nurses, dieticians, speech and language therapists, teachers, mental health nurses and psychiatrists. Together they aimed to manage a range of medical presentations in a holistic manner, that integrated mental and physical health, in order to achieve the best outcomes for children and their families. In doing so the role of the mental health professional has been considerably destigmatised – both within the hospital system, and with the children and families who can benefit from psychological input to their overall care. Kate is a strong advocate of the MDT and sees the role of the clinical psychologist as facilitating the psychological practice of other health professionals, as well as having her own caseload.

Kate uses a range of psychological therapies including CBT, Narrative and Systemic Family Therapy, and uses clinical hypnosis as an adjunct to her therapeutic work.