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 a Clinical Psychologist and the founder & director of The Lotus Psychology Practice.

She currently works across private practice and the NHS as a Principal Clinical Psychologist, leading a Child and Adolescent Harmful Sexual Behaviour Team at Oxford NHS Trust and at Great Ormond Street Hospital for children. Morvwen is experienced in working with children and young people of all ages, including children with complex needs due to neurodevelopmental co-morbidities, such as Autism Spectrum Disorder and Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder. She has extensive experience working with young people with adverse early life experiences, often relating to abuse and neglect.

As a therapist, she takes an open, compassionate and collaborative approach to work towards individualised goals. Her therapeutic work utilises a number of tailored approaches, including Cognitive Behaviour Therapy, Acceptance and Commitment Therapy, Narrative Therapy, and includes systemic and parenting approaches. See approaches to therapy.

In particular, Morvwen has extensive experience working with children and young people with diagnoses of tic disorder and tourette syndrome, providing behavioural interventions (Exposure and Response Prevention and Habit Reversal Training).

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.

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

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

ADDITIONAL TRAINING

Cardiff University Bond Solon Expert Certificate: Family Law (in progress)
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

Duncan, M., Fearon, P., & Woolgar, M. (2024). Primary and secondary trauma in adoptive parents. Clinical Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 13591045241287563.
Duncan, M., Fearon, P. & Woolgar, M. (accepted 2023). A qualitative exploration of how adoptive parents experience the direct and indirect trauma of their child’s early maltreatment. Adoption & Fostering.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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