Dr Michael Dada

Qualifications
C.Psychol, AFBPsS (Consultant Clinical/Forensic Psychologist)

Job Title
Head of Psychology & Therapies.

I have a Doctorate Degree in Clinical Psychology, and statutorily registered both as a clinical and forensic psychologist in the United Kingdom with the Health and Care Professions Council (HCPC). I am a Chartered Member and Associate Fellow of the British Psychological Society (BPS), a full member of the BPS Division of Clinical Psychology, BPS Faculty of Learning Disability, and BPS Faculty of Forensic Psychology. I am a Senior Fellow of the Royal Society of Medicine, and a professional member of the British Institute of Learning Disabilities (BILD).

I have practised clinical psychology for more than 30 years, working with various patient groups and across wide-range clinical and forensic settings. At the initial stage, I practised as a Clinical Psychologist in general adult mental health for over ten years, providing services for people with minor and major psychological disorders. In the same period, I was a lecturer and researcher in clinical psychology. I worked as a Clinical Psychologist in the National Health Service (NHS) in UK for several years, mainly with services for people who have learning disabilities, and became a Consultant Clinical Psychologist in October 2004. I have worked with several Multi-Disciplinary Teams, across the full range of care settings including outpatient, community, primary care, in-patient, residential and secure services, both in the NHS and private sector.

I possess well developed knowledge and skills in the area of autism and, for over 15 years, I have been working with people who have autism spectrum conditions, who may also present with learning disabilities, mental illness and challenging behaviour. In a previous employment, I became the corporate lead clinician for the Autism Practice Group of the Company. Recently I worked as the Consultant Clinical Psychologist and Clinical Lead for a specialist service for people with autism.

I am trained and licensed to use a number of specialist needs and diagnostic assessment tools, including tools for assessing autism spectrum conditions (e.g. DISCO, AAA, ADOS-2, etc.), cognitive skills functioning, adaptive/social skills functioning, emotional/affective characteristics, personality psychopathology, and risks of violence, all of which are adapted for use with people who have autism. I have also developed skills adapting generic models of offence-related therapies for people with autism spectrum conditions who also present with offence-related problems such as fire-setting/arson, sex offence/offending behaviour, addiction problems such as drug and substance abuse, emotional problems such as anxiety, anger, PTSD, OCD, depression, etc. Cognitive Behavioural Approach is my over-arching treatment model, adapting several cognitive behavioural intervention techniques to suit individuals’ level of functioning and complexity of presentations.

I provide training (levels 1, 2 and 3) for parents, staff, and professional others working in autism settings, including topics such as concepts and definitions of autism spectrum conditions, therapeutic interventions such as SPELL, TEACCH, Intensive Interaction, sensory needs assessment and interventions, and other specialist assessment and intervention techniques, co-morbidity in autism, etc. I supervise trainees from different professional backgrounds training to become specialists in the area of autism. I collaborate with academicians and other professionals in supervising or conducting research in autism. I have attended conferences and workshops which are of high standard, and participated actively in organising local and international conferences, seminars and workshops in different aspects of autism. I have professional links with other autism agencies or groups such as Oxford Autism, National Autistic Society, and similar other academic and professional links.