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.
In this blog, we offer some basic information about schizophrenia, treatment and recovery. We touch on the impact of schizophrenia on the family, trauma therapy within schizophrenia treatment and the prevalence of the disorder in different places around the world.
While the impact of mental health disorders like anxiety and depression among parents has been well-researched, parental OCD has received little attention – even though it’s a common and serious mental health condition. In this blog, we look at the experiences of children of parents with OCD and the kind of support available for parents living with the disorder.
OCD and eating disorders are mental health disorders that usually develop during adolescence or young adulthood. While they are distinct conditions with different pathologies, they share many characteristics. Co-occurring OCD and eating disorders are also common: many young people with eating disorders also live with OCD, and vice versa.
Peer victimisation, often referred to as bullying, is a type of interpersonal violence or harm that takes place between friends or peers. Peer victimisation can involve physical violence, verbal insults, emotional manipulation, or relational harm, such as spreading rumours or social exclusion.
OCD is a serious mental health disorder that can have a big impact on a teenager’s daily life. However, it is treatable, and with the right support, young people can reach full recovery.
When a young person develops an eating problem, seeking professional support is the first step. It’s very difficult for someone to recover from an eating problem on their own, and treatment and support are crucial for both the young person and their family.
We might experience moral injury when our own actions (or inactions) break our moral code or when we feel betrayed by the actions of another person. It causes a deep sense of broken trust in ourselves, our communities or our institutions to act in just ways. We may feel intense emotions of guilt, shame, and regret.
In recent years, research has uncovered the importance of the mind-body connection and its intrinsic inseparability. We understand how trauma is stored in the body and how many of our hormones are synthesised in the gut. We understand that the food we eat impacts the way our brains and bodies function and critically influences how we feel.
Through open conversations with a young person, you can set some boundaries together about how they should use chatbots and AI. For example, you might agree to avoid using chatbots for emotional support or having extended conversations with a chatbot. You might agree on certain guidelines for time limits for using AI chatbots and the internet more broadly.
Witnessing violence can be a traumatic experience for a young person, whether they see the event in person or online. Exposure to violence can lead to symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder, anxiety, fear, panic, and other psychological distress. They may feel helpless, hopeless, and out of control.
Emotionally-based school refusal is often associated with anxiety. But there are many emotions and internal experiences that can lead to school refusal. These include separation anxiety, social anxiety, sadness and distress.
Emotional dysregulation develops when a young person’s emotional learning processes are disrupted. This might be because they lack stable environments and relationships that facilitate socio-emotional learning, or because their caregivers aren’t able to role model effective emotional regulation.
One common trait among ADHD young people is rejection sensitivity. Rejection sensitivity is a form of emotional dysregulation: difficulties in modulating and calming emotional reactions to internal or external events.
