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Highly Specialist Clinical Psychologist for Children

Dr Morvwen Duncan

Doctorate in Clinical Psychology (DClinPsy), BSc. (Hons) Psychology

HCPC (Health and Care Professions Council) registered Clinical Psychologist

Dr Morvwen Duncan is the founder & director of The Lotus Psychology Practice. Morvwen worked in research at a range of national and international universities, including Cambridge University and Harvard Medical School, before undertaking her doctorate training and qualifying as a Clinical Psychologist from University College London. ​

 

Alongside her private clinic, Morvwen works in the NHS as the Lead for the Child and Adolescent Harmful Behaviour Service across Oxford and Buckinghamshire NHS Trust.  Morvwen has substantial experience working across a wide range of NHS settings, including adult mental health services and child and adolescent mental health services (CAMHS), specialist adoption and fostering mental health teams and the national attachment and trauma team at Great Ormond Street Hospital. Morvwen has worked for many years with young people with complex needs due to learning and/or neurodevelopmental conditions, such as Autism Spectrum Disorder, Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) and Tic Disorder/Tourette Syndrome. She has extensive experience working with young people and adults with adverse early life experiences, often relating to abuse and neglect.

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As a therapist, she takes an open, compassionate and collaborative approach to work towards individualised goals. Morvwen's therapeutic work is grounded in theory and informed by the latest evidence-base, in adherence with the NICE guidelines.  She has training in a range of therapies, including Cognitive Behaviour Therapy (CBT), Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT), Trauma-Focused Therapy, Narrative Therapy, Systemic/Family Therapy and evidence-based parenting programmes. See approaches to therapy.​

 

Morvwen is actively involved in research, having spoken at international conferences with several academic publications across a range of areas of mental health, outlined below. Her current projects include exploring the development and treatment of functional tics, as well as the impact of early traumatic experiences on adopted children and adoptive parents. Previous research projects include investigating the impact of paediatric demyelinating disorders and post-stroke aphasia.

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Morvwen also works as an Expert Witness for children and families in public and private law care proceedings for the Family Courts and as a Honorary Lecturer.

Morvwen's Area of Expertise:

Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD); Depression; Generalised Anxiety; Social Anxiety; Selective Mutism; Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD); Emetophobia; Health Anxiety; Separation Anxiety; Challenging/Oppositional Behaviour; tics/Tourette Syndrome;

Comprehensive cognitive assessments of learning/intellectual disorders and specific learning disorders; Specialist assessments of Autism;​

Expert Witness for Family, Criminal and Civil Courts.

Therapeutic Modalities

Cognitive Behaviour Therapy (CBT); Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT); Compassion Focused Therapy (CFT); Behaviour Therapy; Parenting Approaches; Habit Reversal Training; Cognitive Behavioural Interventions for Tics (CBiT); Exposure and Response Prevention (ERP) for tics and OCD; Narrative Exposure Therapy (NET); Narrative and Systemic approaches; Attachment-based therapeutic approaches

QUALIFICATIONS 

ADDITIONAL TRAINING

  • Doctorate in Clinical Psychology (DClinPsy) - University College London

  • BSc - University College London

  • Cardiff University Bond Solon Expert Certificate: Family Law

  • Assessment Intervention Model (AIM3) for Adolescents and their Parents/Carers displaying Harmful Sexual Behaviours: Intervention

  • Assessment Intervention Model (AIM3) for Adolescents displaying Harmful Sexual Behaviours: Assessment

  • Narrative Exposure Therapy for trauma (NET) NET Institute.

  • Autism Diagnostic Observation Schedule (ADOS2)

  • Supervisor Training Workshop: The North Thame’s DClinPsy Training Programmes. 

  • Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (Provisional Level 2). British Association for Behavioural and Cognitive Psychotherapies.

  • Systemic Thinking and Practice (Foundation Level). Association for Family Therapy and Systemic Practice.

  • Development of Psychoanalytic Theory and Practice. Tavistock & Portman NHS

IN THE MEDIA

PUBLICATIONS

  1. Burn, O., Duncan, M., McAllister, E., Murphy, T., & Loewenberger, A. (2025). The journey to a functional tics diagnosis and experiences of post diagnostic support: perspectives from adolescents and their parents. Disability and Rehabilitation, 1-12.

  2. Duncan, M., Fearon, P., & Woolgar, M. (2024). Primary and secondary trauma in adoptive parents. Clinical Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 13591045241287563.

  3. Duncan, M.,  Fearon, P. & Woolgar, M. (2024). A qualitative exploration of how adoptive parents experience the direct and indirect trauma of their child’s early maltreatment. Adoption & Fostering.

  4. Duncan, M., Pearman, Z., Harrold, K., Warren, A., Evans, S., McAllister, E., ... & Liang, H. (2024). Evaluation of a psychoeducation group for children presenting with functional tic-like behaviours. Clinical Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 29(3), 1011-1025.

  5. Martino, D., Hedderly, T., Murphy, T., Müller‐Vahl, K. R., Dale, R. C., Gilbert, D. L., ... & Pringsheim, T. M. (2022). The spectrum of functional tic‐like behaviours: Data from an international registry. European Journal of Neurology.

  6. Ching, C. F., Heyman, I., Elphick, C., Sarai, A., Duncan, M., Shafran, R., ... & Liang, H. (2022, July). Changes and adaptations in a national specialist paediatric mental health service in response to Covid-19. In Clinical Psychology Forum (Vol. 2022, No. 355, pp. 9-13). The British Psychological Society 2003.

  7. Duncan, M., Woolgar, M., Ransley, R., & Fearon, P. (2021). Mental health and behavioural difficulties in adopted children: A systematic review of post-adoption risk and protective factors. Adoption & Fostering.

  8. Buts, S., Duncan, M., Owen, T., Martino, D., McWilliams, A., Murphy, T., Malik, O., Liang, H., Heyman, I., Hedderly, T. (2021). Paediatric tic-like presentations during the COVID-19 pandemic. Archives of Diseases in Childhood.

  9. Duncan, M., Carroll, S., Cockburn, R., Johnston, C., Bullock, H., Mitchell, S., & Hemingway, C. (2020). Psychosocial impact of paediatric demyelinating disorders: a scoping review. Developmental Medicine & Child. Neurology, 62(11), 1250-1258.

  10. Leff, A. P., Nightingale, S.,  Gooding, B., Rutter, J., Craven, N., Peart, M., ... & Crinion, J. T. (2021). Clinical effectiveness of the queens square intensive comprehensive aphasia service for patients with chronic post-stroke aphasia. Stroke.

  11. Moschopoulou, E., Deane, J., Duncan, M., Ismail, S. A., Moriarty, S., Sarker, S. J., ... & Korszun, A. (2021). Measuring quality of life in people living with and beyond cancer in the UK. Supportive Care in Cancer.

  12. Duncan, M., Moschopoulou, E., Herrington, E., Deane, J., Roylance, R., Jones, L., ... & Taylor, S. C. (2017). Review of systematic reviews of non-pharmacological interventions to improve quality of life in cancer survivors. BMJ open.

  13. Duncan, M., Deane, J., White, P. D., Ridge, D., Roylance, R., Korszun, A., ... & Bourke, L. (2017). A survey to determine usual care after cancer treatment within the United Kingdom national health service. BMC cancer.

  14. Duncan, M., Korszun, A., White, P., & Eva, G. (2018). Qualitative analysis of feasibility of recruitment and retention in a planned randomised controlled trial of a psychosocial cancer intervention within the NHS. Trials

CONFERENCES

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  • International Neuropsychiatry Association Congress, Australia (2024). Symposium Oral Speaker.

  • European Conference on Tourette Syndrome & Tic Disorders, Brussel, 2023. Poster Presentations.

  • European Association of Psychosomatic Medicine, Austria, 2022. Poster Presentation.

  • European Conference on Tourette Syndrome & Tic Disorders, Switzerland 2022. Oral Presentations.

  • European Conference on Tourette Syndrome & Tic Disorders, Virtual, 2021. Oral Presentations.

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