Dr Chris Irons
Clinical Psychologist & Director
Dr Chris Irons is a Clinical Psychologist, and completed his training at the University of Sheffield (UK). He has many years of experience working in the NHS, and is now co-director of Balanced Minds. Here, he provides psychological assessment, formulation, therapy and training courses. In his clinical work, he uses Compassion Focused Therapy (CFT; Gilbert & Irons, 2005) in working with people with a wide range of mental and physical health distress.
In his therapeutic work, Chris strives to create a safe, caring and containing space to support people in exploring their distress, and finding ways to alleviate this. He is experienced therapist who is mindful and appreciative of difference (e.g. gender, ethnicity, religion, sexual orientation).
Chris has worked with Paul Gilbert, the developer of Compassion Focused Therapy, since 1999, and has been interested in the theoretical and clinical developments and adaptations of Compassion Focused Therapy as a science based psychotherapeutic approach. He is one of the leading trainers and supervisors of Compassion Focused Therapy, and regularly presents in the UK and internationally on CFT and more generally, self-compassion.
Chris gained his research Ph.D from the University of Derby (UK) under the supervision of Professor Paul Gilbert. He has published many research articles and book chapters on Compassion Focused Therapy.
Chris was one of the co-developers of the newly launched Self-Compassion App – the world’s first compassion focused app for iPhones and Android
Dr Chris Irons has also authored or co-authored the following CFT books:
The Compassionate Mind Workbook
The Compassionate Mind Approach to working with Difficult Emotions
Dr Chris Irons - Experience and Training
2011 – PGDip Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT), Royal Holloway
2007 – DClinPsy Clinical Psychology, University of Sheffield
2007 – PhD Psychology, University of Derby
2001 – BSc Psychology, Aston University
HCPC Registered Clinical Psychologist (PYL15842)
See research page
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Aviva (600096641); AXA PPP Healthcare (CI00317); Bupa (30046605); Cigna Healthcare (203613); WPA (920662628)
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