Yoga Therapy, Mindfulness and Psychology
Dr Samantha Bottrill (BSc Hons, DClinPsych, CPsychol.)
I am a qualified Yoga Therapist for Mental Health, Mindfulness Teacher, and a Chartered Clinical Psychologist specialising in child and adolescent eating disorders in London.
I completed my Clinical Psychology doctorate at University College London in 2008 and am registered with the Health Professions Council (HPC) as a Practicing Psychologist. I then spent almost a decade working with children, adolescents and their families within the Child and Adolescent Eating Disorder Service at the Maudsley Hospital (NHS); as a part of this work the NHS I taught young people both yoga and mindfulness meditation. I am now self employed and work as an associate at Level Therapy in London.
Alongside my therapeutic work I am a lecturer and supervisor on The Minded Institute Professional Training in Yoga Therapy (500 hours). In partnership with The Minded Institute, I offer continuing professional development courses specifically on the use of yoga and mindfulness within Eating Disorder recovery.
I trained with the Mindfulness in Schools Project to teach .b, an 8 week Mindfulness Based Cognitive Therapy (MBCT) program specifically for adolescents. Myself and colleagues at the Maudsley, are currently collaborating with Chris Cullen and Richard Burnett to develop a clinical version of .b. I have done further training in MBCT with Jane Hutton (Institute of Psychiatry) and completed The Mindful Child Training with Susan Kaiser Greenland.
I am registered and insured with Yoga Alliance UK (RYT 200). I am a registered and qualified Yoga Therapist for Mental Health with The Minded Institute; this course is registered and accredited by the British Council of Yoga Therapists (BCYT).
I completed my Clinical Psychology doctorate at University College London in 2008 and am registered with the Health Professions Council (HPC) as a Practicing Psychologist. I then spent almost a decade working with children, adolescents and their families within the Child and Adolescent Eating Disorder Service at the Maudsley Hospital (NHS); as a part of this work the NHS I taught young people both yoga and mindfulness meditation. I am now self employed and work as an associate at Level Therapy in London.
Alongside my therapeutic work I am a lecturer and supervisor on The Minded Institute Professional Training in Yoga Therapy (500 hours). In partnership with The Minded Institute, I offer continuing professional development courses specifically on the use of yoga and mindfulness within Eating Disorder recovery.
I trained with the Mindfulness in Schools Project to teach .b, an 8 week Mindfulness Based Cognitive Therapy (MBCT) program specifically for adolescents. Myself and colleagues at the Maudsley, are currently collaborating with Chris Cullen and Richard Burnett to develop a clinical version of .b. I have done further training in MBCT with Jane Hutton (Institute of Psychiatry) and completed The Mindful Child Training with Susan Kaiser Greenland.
I am registered and insured with Yoga Alliance UK (RYT 200). I am a registered and qualified Yoga Therapist for Mental Health with The Minded Institute; this course is registered and accredited by the British Council of Yoga Therapists (BCYT).
My Yoga Journey
I was gradually drawn to yoga as a way of reconnecting my mind and body and cultivating a more gentle and trusting relationship with myself. Inspired by this experience I decided I wanted to delve more deeply and travelled to India in 2009 looking for an ashram in which to immerse myself in the yoga lifestyle. It was there that I first met my Guru, Vishva-ji. I like to say that I followed both my heart AND my stomach, as I first heard about his ashram whilst eavesdropping on a group of fellow yogis at the German Bakery overlooking Laxman Jula in Rishikesh. They were laughing so loudly and eating with such passion that I thought to myself...that's the kind of place that I want to stay! I ended up spending the rest of my time in Rishikesh at the Anand Prakash Ashram where Vishva-ji taught me just how joyful yoga can be. The following year I returned and completed my first teacher training (200hr Yoga Alliance Registered) in Akhanda Yoga. The more I learned about yoga and its benefits the more I wanted to find a way to bring yoga into my work as a psychologist. It was when I found Heather Mason's course that I realised that this was a real possibility. I subsequently qualified as a Yoga Therapist for Mental Health in 2011 and began teaching weekly classes to teenagers with Anorexia at the Maudsley hospital.
