Profile
D Psych., MA Counselling and Psychotherapy, Dip. Psychodynamic Supervision, Dip. Psychological Counselling
Dr. Aileen Alleyne is a UKCP registered psychodynamic psychotherapist and clinical supervisor in private practice. She is a full member of the Forum for Independent Psychotherapists, the British Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy, and Nafsiyat Intercultural Therapy Centre. She holds a private practice in south London (SE22) and lectures widely on intercultural issues. Her consultancy services are provided mainly to organisations who are seeking help with managing issues of difference and diversity in the workplace.
Aileen began her career in nursing, both qualifying as a psychiatric and general nurse and progressing to ward sister position. Alongside her work in mental health, she gradually developed a particular interest and focus in black mental health issues, which at that time were not widely acknowledged.
After training as a counsellor both at the University of London, Goldsmiths' College and Roehampton Institute of Higher Education, she widened her range of specialisms to include alcohol and drug addiction, HIV/Aids, and student counselling. She worked in all these areas in the National Health Service and the voluntary sector in London. Aileen subsequently trained as a psychotherapist at the University of Hertfordshire and as a Clinical Supervisor at the Westminster Pastoral Foundation (WPF). She received her Doctorate in Psychotherapy by Professional Studies from the University of Middlesex and Metanoia Institute researching stress and black identity issues in the workplace. She set up her own private practice in 1990 and has continued to work with various minority and marginalised groups, including gay men and lesbians. She complemented this with work for Nafsiyat Intercultural Therapy Centre, a London-based organisation providing therapeutic services to minority ethnic groups, new economic migrants and asylum seekers.
For more than a decade Aileen has engaged in consultancy and research alongside her private practice. Both have reflected her long-term interests in marginalised groups and vulnerable minorities. Her consultancy programmes on problems such as conflict resolution, team building, and the management of change are offered in the statutory, voluntary, and private sectors. Her main research interest is black identity and mental health isues. She has worked and published on race-specific difficulties, especially those that are hardest to observe and acknowledge.
In all this work with marginalised groups, Aileen has drawn on her own experience as an immigrant from the Caribbean. She sees the roots of her professional career in a personal experience of transition, giving her a closer understanding of cultural displacement, minority identity issues, cultural shame, resilience, and personal empowerment.