About Us

Schema therapy is an integrative, evidence based approach for working with longstanding emotional issues arising from painful childhood experiences. This approach is particularly well suited to working with complex difficulties.

A recent international multicentre Randomised Controlled Trial by Arntz and colleagues (2022) found Schema Therapy to be more effective than optimal Treatment As Usual (usually Dialectical Behaviour Therapy) for people diagnosed with Borderline Personality Disorder/ BPD, in terms of impact on symptoms of BPD, quality of life, and treatment retention.

Training Director

Dr Olwyn Matier is a Consultant Clinical Psychologist, and an ISST certified Advanced Schema Therapist, Trainer and Supervisor. Olwyn is also a BABCP accredited CBT therapist and has attended mindfulness teacher training.

She has extensive experience of training and supervising a wide range of health professionals in the use of psychological interventions with complex client groups (complex trauma, eating disorders, and acute mental health).

Olwyn has previously worked as a Senior Research Fellow, publishing on topics such as eating disorders and depression. She is a guest lecturer with the Queen’s University of Belfast Doctorate in Clinical Psychology (providing teaching on topics such as Schema Therapy, eating disorders, and psychology in acute mental health services), and with the University of Ulster MSc in Applied Psychology (providing teaching on Schema Therapy).