Fiona Yassin is the International Program Director at The Wave, holding multiple credentials including being a registered Psychotherapist and Accredited Clinical Supervisor in both the U.K. and UNCG (Registration number #361609 National and International Council of Psychotherapists). She is EMDR trained (EMDRIA) and practices as a Trauma therapist (Registration number #10000054651).
Fiona’s expertise includes being a member of the International Chapter of IAEDP, with training in CBTe (Oxford Group), FREED (King’s College, London), TF-CBT, RO-DBT, and GPM. Her specializations cover the treatment of Eating Disorders and Borderline Personality Disorder, as well as families in High Conflict Divorces and Psychiatry across the female lifespan.
Additionally, Fiona holds the distinction of being a Fellow of APPCH, a senior accredited Addiction Professional, and a member of The Association of Child Protection Professionals. She is also trained in MBT (Child and Family and Adult) and Reflective Parenting with The Anna Freud Centre for Children and Families, and is a Member of The Australia and New Zealand Eating Disorders Association.
Fiona holds an MSc in Neuroscience and Mental Health awarded by King’s College London, where she received The Dean’s Award. She is currently completing an MSc in Psychiatry at Cardiff University Medical School and is a PhD Candidate in Mental Health Research at Lancaster University. Outside of her professional pursuits, she enjoys spending time with her three cats, going for long walks on the beach, and appreciating the beautiful animals in her garden.
Understanding the connection between childhood trauma and eating disorders helps to identify young people who are most at risk. It can also play a key role in the treatment and recovery process, addressing the underlying causes of thought patterns and behaviours that perpetuate eating disorders.
Spending outdoors and in nature is one important opportunity that can help young people find and maintain good mental health. It can also play a key role in treatment and recovery from mental health disorders.
Adolescent athletes are at a higher risk of eating disorders than other young people, particuarly in sports like swimming, combat sports, and gymnastics. As with every young person, eating disorders among athletes are serious mental health conditions that affect their mental and physical health and quality of life.
Research suggests that personality disorders are, to a large extent, caused by distressing or adverse experiences during childhood that affect the way young people develop emotionally and socially. Consequently, some young people with personality disorders see their behaviours as a normal response to the trauma they have experienced.
In Bengaluru and other parts of India, mental health problems are common among children and adolescents. Mental health issues have a variety of causes but social conditions and experiences often play a big role.
With accurate diagnosis of the condition and accessible treatment, young people can manage and recover from the disorder. However, finding accurate and reliable diagnoses isn’t always easy, especially since symptoms of OCD can be very similar to those of other disorders. This means that the process of differential diagnosis – distinguishing between multiple disorders that may have similar symptoms – is very important.
Given the mental health consequences of unaddressed trauma among young people, it’s important that they quickly receive effective treatment. Trauma-informed treatments support young people to recover from the effects of trauma and help prevent negative consequences for their development and well-being.
As much as family systems can be fundamental in the development of BPD, they may also be crucial it’s treatment and recovery, especially among adolescents and young adults. Family interventions can help to establish family structures, parenting skills, and interpersonal family dynamics that lead to more stable interpersonal relationships, better emotional regulation, and fewer self-harming behaviours.
The Wave Clinic offers the specialist, expert-led mental healthcare that young people need to recover from mental health problems and build fulfilling futures. It offers residential programs for adolescents from Mumbai and other parts of the world, providing a safe and supported environment focused on building life advantage.
When a young person has a mental illness, it has a big effect on their daily life. Managing and recovering from mental health disorders can take a lot of time and energy. Mental health disorders may affect their relationships, school or work, and plans for the future.
Despite the prevalence of teen drug use in the UAE, widespread prevention strategies are still lacking. Both adolescents and experts highlight the need for school-based prevention programs and parental support to help young people stay safe and identify and support young people who may be using substances harmfully.
In this blog, we offer some information about the impact of compulsive sexual behaviours on children and the family system as a whole. We outline The Wave Clinic’s pioneering family and child intensives that offer unique and valuable support for young people affected by sex addiction.
Dialectical behavioural therapy is a type of talking therapy originally designed for adults with borderline personality disorder. Since then, it has been adapted for treatment among adolescents and offered for a wide range of mental health concerns, including eating disorders, self-harm, and emotional dysregulation. Usually delivered in outpatient settings, studies have shown that DBT is highly effective in improving young people’s mental health symptoms and quality of life.
