About us
Elegant Minds was founded by two ambitious clinicians within the field of mental health with a simple goal in mind: to provide evidence based, clinically proven and tailored talking therapy to individuals experiencing life's challenges. At Elegant Minds, we emphasise the importance of collaborating with clients to jointly devise a bespoke treatment plan to meet clients' mental health needs.
Kai Wong, MBACP
Kai is an integrative Psychotherapist at Elegant Minds, registered with the British Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy (BACP). He is also the co-founder of Elegant Minds. Kai has a range of clinical experience in the NHS, charity and private sectors. Within the community, Kai has experience working in primary care mental health services (IAPT), Child and Adolescent Mental Health service (CAMHS), homelessness and addictions services. Kai also has experience working within forensic settings, having worked in a high-security prison in tertiary care, supporting individuals with complex mental health difficulties, self-harm and suicide risk. With an emphasis on the therapeutic relationship, Kai has a track record of being able to develop meaningful and positive working relationships with his clients, who have often found it challenging to engage with mental health services. Kai's breadth of experience has enabled him to work well with individuals experiencing enduring and complex mental health presentations.
Kai's experience working with a range of presenting difficulties enables him to draw from different therapeutic approaches to meet the needs of his clients. Integrating a range of approaches, Kai draws from Humanistic, Psychodynamic and third-wave Cognitive-Behavioural approaches to support his clients. This is in line with his training which emphasises a Pluralistic Relational philosophy.
Kai is also currently undertaking a professional Doctorate in Counselling Psychology, where he is a Counselling Psychologist in Training. This means that he is taught and supervised by leading edge Psychologists within the field to deliver the highest quality of therapy to his clients. A doctorate is the highest level of academic attainment, which means that Kai frequently engages with the most up-to-date research when working with his clients.
Kai currently works in a private Psychiatric hospital, where he is responsible for the psychological input on two wards and supervises other clinicians. Kai currently works on a low-secure female forensic ward and male acute ward; supporting patients who have offending histories with mental health conditions, and patients who require emergency psychiatric admission respectively. Kai is also trained in administering the Autism Diagnostic Observation Scale (ADOS-2) to diagnose adults and children with autism spectrum conditions.
Shannon Gaddu, BABCP
Shannon is an accredited Cognitive Behavioural Psychotherapist and co-founder of Elegant Minds. She has a track record of being able to treat a range of psychological difficulties using CBT. Her background is in Psychology and prior to working as a CBT therapist, she was working as a Psychological Wellbeing Practitioner, treating mild to severe levels of depression and anxiety disorders. Shannon also has experience working with adults who have a diagnosis of learning disabilities, and has extensive experience working with adults in the probation and youth offending services. Shannon has a special interest in trauma with a proven ability to provide short-term therapy with great success. She has a particular interest and excellent record of providing high quality CBT to individuals experiencing Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder. Shannon has extensive experience working within the NHS, Third sector and private organisations.
Shannon's accredited status with the British Association for Behavioural and Cognitive Psychotherapies (BABCP) means that she is an expert in providing the highest quality Cognitive Behavioural Therapy for a range of difficulties. Having been trained by leading Psychologists and Consultant CBT therapists, Shannon is able to conduct in-depth assessment and develop creative treatment packages with her clients in a collaborative manner. Specialising in CBT, Shannon is an expert in alleviating enduring symptoms of complex anxiety, using traditional Cognitive-Behavioural approaches, but also applying third-wave CBT approaches such as Mindfulness. Shannon's extensive work in the NHS has developed her skills to work with individuals facing moderate to severe mood disorders such as depression and anxiety.
Shannon's clients often comment on her ability to think outside the box and work at an appropriate pace, whilst maintaining progress during therapy. Clients often report that they are able to quickly feel comfortable working with her, often describing her as empathic and caring.
Shannon also has an extensive background in utilising her knowledge and skills developed through her clinical practice and qualifications to supervise and manage other clinicians within mental health.
Whatever you are facing, we are here to help
Anxiety
Sometimes in life we face difficulties in relation to what's known as anxiety. Anxiety, whilst everybody experiences from time to time, can be extremely difficult to cope with for some people. This can impact various domains of an individuals' life.
Whether it's generalised anxiety, OCD, social anxiety or a specific phobia, we have the right level of training to enable you develop the skills to manage these difficulties. For more information, please get in touch.
Depression
At Elegant Minds, we have a wealth of experience working with individuals facing difficulties with low moods. Depression is a disorder characterised by consistent feelings of low mood which can be also characterised by lack of appetite, lethargy and lack of interest in doing things people often enjoy. Sometimes, depression can lead to people feeling hopeless about the future. Whatever the reason for someone's experiences of depression, our experience and knowledge related to providing treatment for depression puts our clients in safe hands to overcome their experiences of depression, and often the anxiety that goes hand-in-hand with it.
Relationships
At Elegant Minds, we are well-equipped to work with people experiencing a range of relationship difficulties. This may be due to experiences with people in the past which may lead to difficulties with people in the present. Individuals experiencing relational difficulties may have challenges with establishing and maintaining relationships in different areas of their life. Get in touch if you think that relationships in your life can be improved.
Loss and Bereavement
Trauma
Adolescent Therapy
One of life's biggest challenges is losing a loved one. Whether the individual is a friend, family or a beloved pet, bereavement requires time to process the loss. Loss can elicit strong, mixed emotions and can sometimes feel isolating. For individuals experiencing loss, we can help provide you with a reflective, safe and non-judgemental space in order to start processing these feelings. Together, we can explore different ways of learning to live with the loss of a loved one, whilst continuing to treasure the moments that were spent with them.
Both Kai and Shannon are well trained to work with individuals experiencing the impacts of trauma. Individuals with trauma may repeatedly experience symptoms such as nightmares, flashbacks of traumatic incidents, intrusive memories and thoughts of traumatic memories. These are symptoms of post-traumatic stress. Other types of trauma includes developmental trauma, where trauma may have repeatedly taken place, leading to interpersonal difficulties. At Elegant Minds, we can apply a range of therapeutic approaches to working with you.
Adolescence is often a time of ongoing changes at a very fast pace for young people. During the adolescence, many young people experience a range of mental health difficulties and often challenges with adjusting to adolescent life. We also work with young people under the age of 18 to address mental health difficulties. With an emphasis on collaboration and providing a bespoke care package to all our clients, we employ a range of different methods to support young people, traditional talking therapy to more interactive methods of engagement depending on the young person.
Body image difficulties
At Elegant Minds, we offer a safe space for you to explore difficulties you may be having regarding your body image. Together we can explore and reflect on the cognitions you may be having and the behaviours you may be using to help cope with your body image difficulties. We can explore ways of learning to review and manage this so that your vicious cycle can be broken and these difficulties alleviated. As a result, together, the negative thoughts about the body can be addressed and subsequently replaced by more healthy, realistic thoughts.
Self-harm
Our extensive clinical experience working with risk enables us the ability to work with individuals who experience behaviours, thoughts or urges to self-harm. Self-harm can sometimes be confusing and can sometimes lead to conflicting feelings of relief, shame or guilt. There is no singular function for self-harm; we know that self-harm differs from one person to another. As such, Elegant Minds offers clients a safe and reflective space to explore the roots of their self-harm and work collaboratively to consider different ways to manage these thoughts, behaviours or urges.
Personality difficulties
Research currently highlights that adverse childhood experiences can influence the way that the world and others are viewed. Growing up with early childhood adversity can lead to difficulties in many domains of an individuals' life including interpersonal relationships. Other problems that may occur as a result of adverse childhood experiences is the way that individuals view themselves and impulsive behaviours. These may take shape in self-harm or aggression towards others.
At Elegant Minds, we offer support to individuals who have received, or suspect they may have a personality disorder. Regardless of what this diagnosis means for each individual, we do not work with the diagnosis, rather, we work with the underlying trauma that individuals may have experienced who meet the criteria for this diagnosis in a non-judgemental and compassionate manner.