Paul Bell is the Owner and Clinical Director of The Anchor Practice.
Paul is a full member of the Association of Child Psychotherapists, The British Psychoanalytic Council and the Tavistock Society of Psychotherapists.
As a Highly Specialised Child and Adolescent Psychotherapist, Paul has spent the last 12 years working in community CAMHS teams, the charity sector and in private practice. Paul completed his Masters degree in Psychoanalytic Developmental Psychology at University College London and the Anna Freud Centre, where he conducted research into the experiences in therapy of adolescents presenting with gender dysphoria. Following this, Paul completed his 4-year clinical training in Child and Adolescent Psychotherapy at the Tavistock Centre in London, an internationally renowned centre for excellence in child mental health training and research.
Paul is trained to offer therapeutic interventions to children, adolescents and young people between the ages of 0-25. Paul is also able to offer psychotherapeutic and developmental support to parents and families.
Paul has spent the last 3 years developing specialist skills in mental health work in secondary schools and has set-up and managed a number of bespoke clinics in secondary education settings, designed to respond to the growing need for specialist clinical services based in schools.
Alongside his work at The Anchor Practice, Paul continues to work in the charity sector, where he is currently engaged in researching the clinical efficacy of an intervention for parents who feel they need support in understanding and helping their adolescent child’s mental health. Working with parents of teenagers with mental health difficulties continues to be an area of clinical interest for Paul.
In private practice, Paul has developed particular skills in working with fostered and adopted children, and also young adults making the transition to University life who have a diagnosis of depression. Paul also has a specific clinical interest in the psychoanalytic treatment of musicians and other artists.
Paul has held the post of Visiting Lecturer at the Univerisity of Essex and the Tavistock Centre where he taught and supervised for a variety of clinical trainings and MA level child development courses, and he continues to take an active role in the training and supervision of child psychotherapists and furthering of the discipline.
