The St Andrews Practice

31/07/2025

* Neurodivergent adolescents experience twice the emotional burden at school compared to neurotypical peers (if they can tolerate even being there)

* We need to focus on changing harmful environments rather than expecting students to tolerate them

* We need to honour each student's individuality rather than glorifying conformity to one-size-fits-all expectations

22/05/2025

We very much enjoyed welcoming Dr Simona Stokes yesterday for a team training day focused on menopause. Our own lead consultant, Dr Helen Simonsen, gave us an initial overview of hormones and HRT, with Simona focusing on mental health and holistic interventions, in line with her Menopause Informed CBT framework, EMBERS.

There were some interesting discussions and I think the day has given the team a lot of food for thought in terms of how we assess, formulate and provide holistic interventions in ways that encompass the extensive and often complex experiences of menopause stages. Our primarily neurodivergent client group often experience the impact of hormonal changes more profoundly, so this is an area in which we are committed to further developing our range of high quality holistic services.

As a society we have been failing women and their families for too long. Menopause-Informed Psychological Care is ESSENTIAL to support women during the menopausal transition. Please consider Simona’s training if you are interested in developing your own practice in this area.

Access professional training in menopause and mental health. Learn EMBERS® CBT for menopause to tailor CBT therapy for depression, anxiety, sleep issues, etc related to menopause. Training ideal for psychologists, counsellors, coaches, etc. looking to develop skills to help women during menopause.

13/05/2025

28/03/2025

It was great to have MSP for Northeast Fife Willie Rennie visit The St Andrews Practice today. We had some interesting discussions about mental health and neurodiversity and very much enjoyed showing him around the practice.

12/03/2025

https://thestandrewspractice.com/service-update-march-2025/

It’s been a long time since our last blog post. We’ve been busy!

11/03/2025

Our service is expanding, and we are looking for new clinicians to join our thriving specialist multi-disciplinary mental health and neurodiversity service. We have opportunities at both of our clinics: The St Andrews Practice in North-East Fife, and The Invertay Practice in central Dundee.

We are an eclectic and supportive team of 27 experienced clinicians, with collective passion for supporting and advocating for neurodivergent individuals at all stages of life. We value and promote staff wellbeing and offer a range of staff benefits, CPD, admin support, and clinical supervision. We offer competitive rates, flexible working hours, high quality clinic rooms, and reliable referral streams.

We are currently recruiting to clinical associate positions in the following areas (these are self-employed positions with varying hours).

Within our growing children and young people’s MDT neuro-developmental assessment service, we are keen to hear from clinicians with experience of assessing autism and ADHD in under 18’s:

- Consultant Psychiatrists (remote and/or in-person in St Andrews)
- Clinical Psychologists (part-time in St Andrews and/or Dundee)

Within our established adult MDT neuro-developmental assessment service we are keen to hear from clinicians with experience of assessing autism and ADHD in adults:

- Clinical Psychologists (part-time in St Andrews and/or Dundee)

See who we are here:
www.thestandrewspractice.com
www.theinvertaypractice.com

Please email us a CV or contact us for further information on: info@thestandrewspractice.com

We are a team of specialist clinicians including: Clinical Psychologists; Occupational Therapists; Speech & Language Therapists and more

01/03/2025

The commentary below is given by prominent ADHD advocate Dr Tony Lloyd.

“A thought provoking but fundamentally flawed hypotheses on the escalation of ADHD diagnoses by Neurologist Suzanne O’Sullivan in today’s Guardian Saturday Magazine March 1st.

400% increase is statistically correct but belies the fact that only 12% of children & adults with ADHD access medication - Fact. ADHD remains significantly under diagnosed in the UK. While many with ADHD do not identify as ‘disordered’ the vulnerability to psychological & physical health problems are exacerbated by environmental factors. ‘Context Matters’ - such as an outdated education system resulting pervasive & harmful anxiety & elevated stress hormones that impact not only on cognitive functioning but also immune functioning. Also the research on women and ADHD & how this impacts on hormones, PMT, menopause & post natal depression are not mentioned when we know there is significant gender bias with 3 males to every female diagnosed.

Not everyone wants a formal diagnosis and not everyone wants medication. Living successfully requires lifestyle changes & self care - & reliable public health information - which is sadly lacking. Terms like ‘mild ADHD’ &’severe ADHD’ are misleading as context & adverse life events can lessen or exacerbate how ADHD can impact on someone’s life, wellbeing, relationships, employability & economic independence.

I understand the argument of not over pathologising - but please don’t add to the already unnaceptable inequalities experienced by the ADHD population & the inequity of access to health services; - & for children, - a school culture that systematically excludes them in myriad ways. ADHD is a naturally occurring expression of the diversity in human neuro cognitive functioning & potential, - well managed it can be an advantage in some aspects of life ( eg 29% of entrepreneurs are ADHD) but it remains a challenging neuro type to live with successfully. Why do we keep hearing the same narrative in the media that routinely dismisses the reality of ADHD? - Is that tired old narrative really ‘news’? A neurodiversity paradigm postulates such differences in neurocognitive functioning have an evolutionary purpose; difference is the universal design. Thinking differently should be celebrated as it is in Neurodiversity Celebration Week 17th March 2025. Inclusive societies would have no need to pathologise.”

07/01/2025

A few photos of our St Andrews refurb which took place over the Christmas holidays, as this is the only point in the year we close the building (aside from Sundays). We also have a lovely new room, specifically for work with children, young people and families. Clinics resumed yesterday for 2025. We are looking forward to another busy year ahead!

21/12/2024

Our team Christmas celebration before we sign off for the holidays at the end of a very busy year. Great company, fabulous singing, and lots of hilarity. Happy Christmas from SAP/TIP, see you in 2025! Normal services resume Monday 6th January. 🎵 🎤 🥳🎄⭐️🧑‍🎄

03/12/2024

I really enjoyed being part of Kathryn’s Truthbook podcast series on ADHD, and listening to the experiences of her other guests on previous episodes. You can link to our episode about ADHD assessment below.

In this final episode of the series about ADHD assessments, I chat to Dr Helen Galloway, a clinical psychologist and manager of the St Andrews Practice.  I met with Helen in their new premises in Dundee. We were both somewhat nervous about ta...

20/11/2024

OUT NOW Episode 3 of the ADHD series with Dr Michaela Thomas . Dr Thomas sums up life with ADHD as ‘living in a perfectly imperfect way’. She focuses her work on women with ADHD and burnout and is passionate about helping them thrive by leaning into that ADHD ‘a little bit extra’. Dr Thomas shares her personal journey including moments as a mum where on the one hand being a little bit extra sees her loving life and dancing along to Eurovision with her son and, on the other hand forgetting her bag with her phone and passports on the aeroplane while solo parent travelling!