THERAPY - Caring for you
Over the past three decades, I have walked alongside individuals experiencing profound emotional pain and distress. While everyone’s story is unique, those who seek my help often share a common thread: they are trying incredibly hard to navigate life, yet find themselves feeling stuck, overwhelmed, or entirely exhausted by the weight of their emotions.
When emotional pain feels like a tidal wave, it makes complete sense that you would look for any way to survive it. Often, the ways we learn to cope are the best options we have at the time. However, some of these strategies -such as withdrawing from loved ones, avoidance, substance use, self-harm, or thinking about suicide - can become unsustainable, dangerous, and create their own agonizing patterns.
If you are struggling with these behaviours, please know this: your experiences and your reactions make sense when we look at your feelings and your context. Always. You are not bad, broken, or unlovable, no matter how deeply you might believe that right now.
My approach to therapy is rooted in the core philosophy of Dialectical Behaviour Therapy (DBT), which balances two powerful principles: Acceptance and Change:
- Acceptance: We will create a space of radical compassion where your pain is validated, your past is understood, and you are accepted as you are in this moment. You are doing the best you can with the tools you currently have.
- Commitment to Change: At the same time, we will work collaboratively to help you do better, change unhelpful patterns, and build a life that feels genuinely meaningful to you.
In our sessions, we will work together as a team. I draw heavily on science-backed, evidence-based treatments (e.g. CBT, DBT, CFT, ACT) to ensure you leave therapy with practical, concrete skills to regulate intense emotions, navigate relationships safely, tolerate distress, and build a better relationship with yourself.
Healing from deep-seated emotional struggles requires real determination and a willingness to try new things. It isn't always easy, but within a structured context of compassion, I know it is entirely possible for you to get unstuck, heal, and build a life worth living.
QUALIFICATIONS & ACCREDITATION
I am accredited as a Clinical Psychologist with the HCPC, a CBT therapist and supervisor with the BABCP, a DBT therapist, and a supervisor and trainer with SfDBT. I also hold a current Enhanced DBS certificate.
- DPhil Experimental Psychology (Doctorate in Philosophy) – University of Oxford
- Postgraduate Diploma in Cognitive Behavioural Therapy – University of London
- MSc in Clinical Psychology (Master of Science) – University of London
- B.Sc. Psychobiology (Bachelor of Science) – Stanford University
- Founding Member – Society for Dialectical Behaviour Therapy (SfDBT); Accredited DBT therapist and accredited supervisor (SfDBT).
- Senior International Trainer & Consultant – British Isles DBT Training Team
- Fellow of the BABCP (British Association of Behavioural and Cognitive Psychotherapists)
- HPCP registered Psychologist
EXPERIENCE
Alongside my clinical practice, I have spent decades at the forefront of psychological research, training, and healthcare policy in the UK and internationally:
- Pioneering DBT in the UK: I completed my original intensive DBT training in Seattle under Dr. Marsha Linehan, the developer of DBT. Following this, I served as the research lead for a landmark randomized controlled trial evaluating the effectiveness of DBT within the NHS. I was awarded an NIHR programme grant to evaluate my adaptation – DBT Skills for Employment. I am currently working on an adaptation of DBT for loneliness.
- Society for DBT (SfDBT): I am proud to be a founding member of the Society for DBT in the UK and Ireland, an organization dedicated to upholding excellent standards of DBT delivery and training.
- British Isles DBT Training: As a Senior International Consultant Trainer, I regularly train, supervise, and consult with clinical teams across the UK, Ireland, and mainland Europe, helping to establish evidence-based DBT programs.
- Academic Leadership at UCL: I am an Associate Professor in Clinical Psychology at University College London (UCL), where I am the director of the CBT for personality disorder course and provide teaching and supervision on the doctorate in clinical psychology.
- NHS Clinical Leadership: In 2003 I founded IMPART (Intensive Management of Personality disorders: Assessment and Recovery Team) at the North East London Foundation Trust, which was designated as one of the UK Department of Health’s pioneering demonstration sites. Over the years I offered the team clinical and strategic leadership, guiding and nurturing the team and supporting the many clients in need of our care.
- Experience with Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT): I have been providing CBT, teaching a wide range of staff on using CBT, and supervising CBT therapists since 1998. In 2024 I was made a Fellow of the BABCP (British Association of Behavioural and Cognitive Therapy) for my contributions to the development and provision of CBT therapies.
One thing to be clear on when you’re choosing a psychologist, is that therapists are humans too. This means no one therapist will feel ‘right’ for everyone. I want you to know that that even if we aren’t a helpful match, there will be a therapist out there for you, so please hold hope that you can be supported in the way you need.
RESEARCH
SELECTED PUBLICATIONS
As an active academic and researcher, I have written and co-authored numerous peer-reviewed articles, book chapters, and research papers exploring emotional dysregulation, borderline personality features, mentalization, and the mechanisms of DBT, CBT and CFT.
A selection of key publications includes:
- Feigenbaum, J. D., Fonagy, P., Pilling, S., Jones, A., Wildgoose, A., & Bebbington, P. E. (2012). A real-world study of the effectiveness of DBT in the UK National Health Service. British Journal of Clinical Psychology, 51(2), 121–141. (This landmark paper evaluated the real-world utility of NHS DBT treatments).
- Feigenbaum, J. D., & Swales, M. (2018). Dialectical behavioural therapy skills for employment. In The Oxford Handbook of Dialectical Behaviour Therapy. Oxford University Press.
- Toms, G., Williams, L., Rycroft-Malone, J., Swales, M., & Feigenbaum, J. (2019). The development and theoretical application of an implementation framework for dialectical behaviour therapy: a critical literature review. Borderline Personality Disorder and Emotion Dysregulation, 6(1), 2.
- Stagaki, M., Nolte, T., Feigenbaum, J., et al. (2022). The mediating role of attachment and mentalising in the relationship between childhood maltreatment, self-harm and suicidality. Child Abuse & Neglect, 131, 105691.
- Rudge, S., Feigenbaum, J., & Fonagy, P. (2017). Mechanisms of change in dialectical behaviour therapy and cognitive behaviour therapy for borderline personality disorder: A critical review of the literature. Journal of Mental Health, 26(4), 370–384.
- Naismith, I., Kerr, S., Mwale, A., & Feigenbaum, J. (2019). A thematic analysis of compassion-focused imagery for people with personality disorder: inhibitors, facilitators and clinical recommendations. Clinical Psychologist, 23(3), 211–222.
- Feigenbaum, J. D. (2010). Self-harm - the solution not the problem: The Dialectical Behaviour Therapy Model. Psychoanalytic Psychotherapy, 24(2), 115–134.