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The Oaks Health Psychology Practice Health Psychology for Kent | Chartered Psychologist for Whitstable and Canterbury | HPC-registered Practitioner Psychologist |
The Oaks Health Psychology Practice is an independent health psychology service with bases in Whitstable and Canterbury, Kent. The service is led by Dr Kate Hamilton-West, Chartered Psychologist, Registered Practitioner and published expert in the psychology of health and wellbeing. The Oaks Practice is dedicated to promoting health as it is defined by the World Health Organization: "Health is a state of complete physical, mental and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity" World Health Organization The Oaks Practice provides the following services: Psychological therapy for clients with long-term physical health problems/ chronic pain, or recovering from illness/ injury.
Group workshops focusing on mindfulness and its applications (including stress management, pain management, and insomnia/sleep problems).
Stress management and resilience-building programs for groups and organisations.
We work closely with our clients to develop skills for managing psychological difficulties (e.g. stress, depression, anxiety, low mood) and/or physical health problems (e.g. illness symptoms, pain, difficulty sleeping). Our aim is to provide practical professional support without stigma.
Consultations/ training may be provided in Whitstable or Canterbury, Kent or via telephone/ Skype. Please contace the practice for further details.
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Professional Accreditation
 Dr Kate Hamilton-West is a Chartered Psychologist (C.Psychol) and Doctor of Health Psychology (PhD). She is registered with the Health Professions Council (HPC) and is an Associate Fellow of the British Psychological Society (AFBPsS). This title is awarded by the BPS as 'a mark of experience, competence and reputation of psychological knowledge through the field'.  Kate is a member of the British Psychological Society (BPS), European Health Psychology Society (EHPS) and Association for Contextual Behavioural Science (ACBS). She is an accredited supervisor for health psychologists in training and is Chair of the Kent, Surrey and Sussex Health Psychology Network. Research and TeachingDr Kate Hamilton-West is an active researcher with an academic base at the University of Kent in Canterbury. Her doctoral thesis focused on coping with stress and illness (with a particular focus on the chronic condition ankylosing spondylitis). Recent projects include an evaluation of concordance therapy for older people with type II diabetes; evaluation of emotional disclosure interventions with ankylosing spondylitis patients and with trauma survivors and qualitative analysis of patient experiences of chronic illness. Kate's current research focuses on postural care for children with physical disabilities. Kate has published widely in medical journals and psychology journals ( click here for recent publications) and has given several invited talks including talks to patient support groups (National Ankylosing Spondylitis Society and Diabetes UK), postgraduate medical education seminar series (Maidstone Hospital and QEQM Hospital, Margate) and the psychology department seminar series, Royal Holloway University of London. Kate has presented at the British Psychological Society Division of Health Psychology Annual Conference, the European Health Psychology Conference and the Stress and Anxiety Research Society Conference. Kate is a speaker for the Confer programme 'psychoneuroimmunology and psychotherapy: finding the interface': http://confer.uk.com/interface.html Areas of ExpertiseDr Kate Hamilton-West has chosen to specialise in two main areas of psychology. The first relates to the psychology of stress – why we experience stress, how stress impacts on health and wellbeing, what we can do to tackle stress. The second relates to the psychological implications of living with chronic illness – what it means to be diagnosed with a chronic illness, how illness symptoms and treatment regimes impact on work, leisure, relationships and mood, how psychological therapies can help to reduce impacts of illness on quality of life. |
