Our Team
Our multidisciplinary Advisory Team provides the latest expert knowledge from relevant disciplines including: organisational psychology, occupational medicine, clinical and health psychology, fitness and exercise, nutritional medicine, neuroscience, executive coaching, leadership and development, and employment law.
Dr Brian Marien
MB BS DRCOG DCH MSc (Psychol) MRCGP
Specialist in Psychological Medicine
Director of Positive Health Strategies
Brian trained in medicine at St Bartholomew's Hospital, London. After several years in general medical practice he gained a Masters in Health Psychology. He wrote his Masters' thesis on occupational stress and 'burnout'. He went on to train at the Institute of Psychiatry, London in cognitive and behavioural psychology.
He worked in the Academic Department of Psychological Medicine, St Bartholomew's Hospital, for over ten years where he was involved in teaching, clinical medicine and research. He was appointed as Medical Director of the Department of Health Psychology at King Edward VII Hospital. He was the first Clinical Lead of the NHS Sussex Chronic Fatigue Service. Other academic appointments include visiting lecturer at Surrey University, the Institute of Postgraduate Medicine, Brighton and Sussex Medical School; and at British Institute of Musculoskeletal Medicine.
Brian has developed a specialist interest in psychological health, stress and common mental health problems, and their impact on physical health and cognitive function. He remains actively involved in research and clinical practice. He has written numerous articles, taught and lectured widely on health psychology, occupational stress and evidence-based techniques for improving psychological wellbeing and resilience.
Brian is Director of Positive Health Strategies Ltd. a company dedicated to delivering an evidence based approach to improving psychological wellbeing and resilience in the workplace. Clients include Goldman Sachs, Shell, Grant Thornton, Price Waterhouse Coopers, IBM, BBC, Petronas, Clifford Chance, NHS Trusts, the Foreign Office.
He is Medical Adviser on Psychological Health and Wellbeing to NHS Sussex.
He has contributed to two recent books:
The Mind; A User's Guide. Bantam Press, 2007.
Biopsychosocial Medicine; An integrated approach to understanding illness. Oxford University Press, 2005.
Dr Jannie Van Der Merwe
BA Hons Clin Psych, MA Clin Psych, DTh, Dip Clin Hyp Consultant Clinical Psychologist
Clinical Director of Positive Health Strategies
Pain management and occupational stress specialist
Jannie's psychological model of choice and specialisation is cognitive-behavioural therapy (CBT) and he presented and published both nationally and internationally in the field.
For over ten years he has been active in the private and public sectors as a consultant psychologist, managing and leading teams involved in condition management programmes. The main focus of Jannie's work is to apply evidence based practice to psychological and physical performance with an emphasis on individual, team and organisational wellbeing and resilience. This involves developing CBT programmes focusing on optimal functioning within the working environment; including assisting individuals and teams to optimise psychological and physical wellbeing by developing skills to prevent burnout, stress management, work/life balance maintenance and return-to-work initiatives after periods of absence.
He is actively involved in psychological coaching, research and teaching. He is a chartered member of the British Psychological Society and a founders' member of their coaching division. He was invited by the International Association for the Study of Pain to sit on its advisory board. He has also set up and developed CBT programmes and acted as clinical lead at the INPUT Pain Management Unit, St Thomas' Hospital in London and at the RealHealth Institute, London.
His research interests include the bio-psycho-social perspective on persistent psychological and physical conditions and quality of life and he has contributed to Cognitive-Behavioural research and publications. He also acts as a referee for papers submitted to the British Journal of General Practice.
Professor Tom Sensky
BSc PhD MB BS FRCPsych
Consultant Psychiatrist
Occupational stress specialist
The main focus of Tom's clinical work is currently in stress and mental illness associated with employment, but he also has extensive clinical and research experience in the psychological aspects of chronic illness, both physical and mental. He has approximately 160 publications.
Tom has recently retired as Professor of Psychological Medicine at Imperial College. He continues to work part-time as a member of the Health at Work Team within West London Mental Health NHS Trust, assessing healthcare professionals and other staff presenting with mental health problems. He regularly contributes to Fitness to Practise panels at the General Medical Council, as specialist advisor on psychiatry, and has also carried out psychiatric assessments for fitness to practise for the General Medical Council, the General Dental Council, the Bar Council, and the General Chiropractic Council.
Tom has applied cognitive therapy in his clinical practice for more than 25 years, having been in the first cohort of clinicians trained in cognitive therapy at the Institute of Psychiatry in London. For his clinical and research work in cognitive therapy, he was elected a Founding Fellow of the Academy of Cognitive Therapy. He is also past President of the International College of Psychosomatic Medicine.
He is a member of the Disability Living Allowance Advisory Board, and has worked with colleagues at the Department of Work and Pensions on numerous aspects of mental well-being and employment.
Tom has been Deputy Director of Continuing Professional Development of the Royal College of Psychiatrists. He has a particular interest in evidence based medicine, and for some years contributed to the Oxford evidence based medicine workshops. He is also a member of the International Network of Person-Centred Medicine, a group of clinicians and medical academics working to modify the currently common focus on biomedicine and aiming to put the person at the centre of the medical consultation.
Tom has also had considerable involvement in clinical governance. He has been Director of Clinical Excellence of the London Division of the Royal College of Psychiatrists, and has contributed serious incident inquiries, including three independent inquiries into homicides by people under the care of mental health services. He has also contributed to the analysis and interpretation of national audits of prescribing by psychiatrists.
Dr Anita Houghton
MBBS, MSc (Public Health), FFPHM.
Consultant in Public Health
Careers and Executive Coach and CBT Therapist
A senior public health doctor by background, Anita has worked in and around the health service for thirty years. She has been associate director of health studies at the Audit Commission, a consultant at the National Institute of Clinical Effectiveness, a Non-Executive Director of a Primary Care Trust. and a post-graduate dean for medical training in London. As a consultant in Public Health, she specialises in assessing the health needs of organisations and populations, with a particular interest in psychological well-being and its relationship to health.
Alongside her population-based work, Anita has been a psychological coach/therapist and trainer since 1989, supporting both individuals and groups. She has a postgraduate diploma in Cognitive Behavioural Therapy, and is a Master Practitioner of NLP and an experienced practitioner in psychological type. Founder of The Working Lives Partnership, which aims to increase people's effectiveness and happiness at work, she has special expertise in workplace problems, including redundancy, career change, burnout, stress, performance problems, bullying and problems with colleagues. She has written extensively on these subjects in journals and blogs, and is author of two self help career books and a number of e-books.
Dr Tania Ahern
MBBS BSc MRCGP PGDip(CBT)
Stress and depression specialist
Tania has been working as a General practitioner in Brighton for the last five years during which time she has developed a special interest in mental health problems. She gained a diploma in Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT) at the University of Canterbury in 2008 and has been utilising this psychotherapy both within general practice work and at a local CBT clinic.
In addition Tania has worked within a Specialist Vocational Rehabilitation team, using CBT to facilitate the recovery and return to work of employees who have been affected by stress and other mental and physical health problems. Current work includes providing CBT to medical health professionals funded by the NHS Primary Care Trusts. She is also trained in Mindfulness meditation.
Tania qualified from St Mary's Hospital in 1999 and subsequently worked in various hospital posts including Psychiatry. She spent a year living in Barcelona in 2001 working as a Clinical Assistant in a Specialist Sports Injuries Clinic where she was involved in research looking at the psychological impact of sports injuries on professional athletes.
Dr Padraic Ryan
Occupational Health Specialist
Padraic is currently the Group Medical Advisor to Aviva. For over 20 years he has held senior positions in leading blue chip organisations including, Goldman Sachs, Capita, GlaxoSmithKline, and Kraft Foods. He has been a Leader both of In House Occupational Health and Outsourced Provision.
He is actively involved in academic research, and has held several positions within The Faculty of Occupational Medicine, the Royal College of Physicians, London, including membership of its Specialist Training Committee. He has acted as Examiner for the Faculty of Occupational Medicine, Royal College of Physicians, London and has been Hon. Secretary for five years of the Society of Occupational Medicine in the UK
Working closely with the Faculty of Occupational Medicine, Dr Ryan has contributed to the advice given to Government departments for their occupational health policy in the UK and has been invited to speak at EU conferences.
Dr Ryan graduated from Trinity College, Dublin in 1983 and is an elected Fellow of the Faculty of Occupational Medicine (FFOM), A member of the Royal College of General Practitioners in the UK (MRCGP)and A member of the British Institute of Toxicology
He is able to bring an innovative approach to strategic health and communicates effectively to all levels of business.