Dr Mehul Elliott-Joshi began working in mental health in 2012 and has experience working with a range of mental health difficulties such as depression, anxiety, and eating disorders; as well as issues of change, self-esteem, and relationships. She works with teenagers, families, and adults providing all stages of therapeutic support: psychological assessments, meaning-making of difficulties, and psychological interventions.

CFT is the main model that Mehul uses in therapy as it helps understand our emotions and experiences, whatever the ‘problem’ in an intuitively helpful way. CFT matches Mehul’s personal values of non-judgemental acceptance, care for all life, balance, and a commitment to change; and compliments her warm, friendly, curious approach.

Mehul adapts her ‘style’ based on your needs or preferences, drawing from various different models in therapy. In addition to CFT she works with knowledge from cognitive behavioural therapies, systemic and narrative therapy, liberation and critical psychology, existentialism and Eastern traditions.

Mehul is drawn to Compassion Focused Therapy (CFT) as it integrates different fields of knowledge and helps her to navigate difficult situations. Mehul has also used CFT in research, applying it to reduce self-criticism and improve depression and anxiety.

Dr Mehul’s Elliott-Joshi’s areas of specialism are gender, sexuality, therapeutic assessments, issues of identity and power and their intersections. Mehul grew up across India and England, and has travelled extensively from a young age, developing early sensitivity to difference. She works in an NHS gender service and offers supervision, regional training and consultations. She is an Equality Diversity and Inclusion (EDI) lead and has taken on such roles since university.