Dr Emma Keaveny Cook

Emma qualified as a Clinical Psychologist in 2005 and has over 18 years of experience working with parents, carers, children and young people.  Emma has worked in a variety of settings in the UK including the NHS, local authority services and the Anna Freud Centre and in Sydney for a brief residential service for families with primary school aged children.  Emma has been a Clinical Tutor training other Clinical Psychologists at Royal Holloway, University of London and she is an experienced supervisor and Clinical Lead.  Emma is registered with the Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Agency (AHPRA) and the Health Care Professions Council (HCPC) in the UK.   

Emma predominantly uses a model based on ‘mentalization’ theory.  This refers to our capacity to make sense of our own and other’s behaviour by talking about what mental states (thoughts/feelings) may be underlying that behaviour alongside how often stress impacts our ability to do this well. 

Emma draws on ideas about how we build and maintain relationships (attachment theory), how one person or context impacts on another (systemic theory) and how our own thoughts and feelings interact (cognitive behaviour theory).  Emma is trained in using Eye Movement Desensitisation and Reprocessing (EMDR) therapy and has found this a useful way of working irrespective of the path that led you to seek support.   

Emma teaches Mentalization Based Treatment for Families (MBT-F) nationally and internationally and supervises others using this approach.  Emma was lead author for a chapter on the development of MBT-F in the book ‘Keeping Children in Mind; Mentalization-based Interventions with Children, Young People and their Families’ by Nick Midgely and Ioanna Vrouva.   

Keaveny, E., Midgley, N., Asen, E., Bevington, D., Fearon, P., Fonagy, P., Jennings-Hobbs, J. & Wood, S. (2012) Minding the Family Mind: The development and evaluation of Mentalization Based Treatment for Families at the Anna Freud Centre in London. In N. Midgley & I. Vrouva (Eds.), Keeping Children in Mind: Mentalization-based Interventions with Children, Young People and their Families. London: Routledge.