About
Hi my name is Melanie; I am a chartered counselling psychologist with a wealth of experience in providing individual and group therapy. I am fortunate to have a background in the NHS, together with many years’ experience in academic settings, teaching psychologists in training on professional doctorate programmes. My background informs the integration of evidence-based care into my clinical work.
I specialise in cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) and third wave approaches, including compassion-focused therapy (CFT). I carefully plan therapy to meet the individual needs of clients and work collaboratively to help explore difficulties and identify strategies for change. When appropriate, I integrate response-based ideas, particularly when clients describe accounts of being badly treated, victimised or oppressed.
Position at Priory
Dr Melanie Spragg has worked for Priory for over 20 years, first joining to develop and facilitate the Saturday programme for inpatients. Melanie then went onto facilitate a number of CBT groups for people attending day care as well as those resident at the Priory. Alongside her group work, Melanie provided individual therapy to people experiencing a range of mental health difficulties.
After completing and publishing her doctoral research exploring clients’ experiences in group therapy, Melanie set up and facilitated the closed obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD) group, which received excellent feedback from clients who attended.
Professional bodies
Melanie is accredited with a number of professional bodies including the Health and Care Professions Council (HCPC) and the British Association for Behavioural and Cognitive Psychotherapies (BABCP). Melanie is registered with the British Psychological Society (BPS and RAPPS) as an accredited supervisor and provides supervision for other qualified therapists and counselling psychologists in training. Currently using platforms like Zoom and Skype, Melanie is able to offer therapy to people who have busy working schedules and would prefer to be seen online.
Training
Melanie completed her BSc (Hons) Psychology at Middlesex University in 1996 and went onto complete her MSc Counselling Psychology at City University in 2000, achieving a distinction. Following this, she completed her post MSc Psychology at City University, achieving chartered status as a counselling psychologist in 2002. Melanie completed her top up doctorate at the University of East London in 2013.
Research interests
As part of her MSc training, Melanie carried out a pilot study involving a randomised controlled trial comparing the effectiveness of group CBT for OCD to a waiting list control group. The results from this study, using quantitative methods, inspired her subsequent research using qualitative methods to explore clients’ experiences of being in CBT group therapy.
Links to clinical articles/research papers:
Spragg, M. & Cahill, S. (2015) ‘Life just kind of sparkles’: Clients’ experiences of being in cognitive behavioural group therapy and its impact on reducing shame in obsessive compulsive disorder. The Cognitive Behavioural Therapist, vol 8, e6, p1-17. Read more here.