Dr Kai Wong
Chartered Counselling Psychologist
Kai is a Chartered Counselling Psychologist (CPsychol) registered with The Health and Care Professions Council (HCPC) and the founder of Elegant Minds. He possesses extensive clinical experience across the NHS, charity, and private sectors, having worked in primary care mental health services (IAPT), Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services (CAMHS), and in settings addressing homelessness and addictions. Additionally, Kai has experience in forensic environments, including a high-security prison, where he supported individuals facing complex mental health challenges, self-harm, and suicide risks. Emphasizing the therapeutic relationship, Kai is skilled at building meaningful connections with clients often struggle to engage with mental health services, enabling him to effectively assist those with enduring and complex mental health issues.
His diverse experience allows Kai to utilise various therapeutic approaches tailored to his clients' needs, including Humanistic, Psychodynamic, traditional Cognitive-Behavioural, third-wave Cognitive-al therapies, and EMDR. Currently pursuing a professional Doctorate in Counselling Psychology, he is under the guidance of leading psychologists, ensuring the delivery of high-quality therapy. This advanced training reflects his commitment to staying current with the latest research, and his chartered status with the British Psychological Society (BPS) signifies his exceptional training and expertise.
Kai is currently employed at a private psychiatric hospital, where he oversees psychological services on two wards and supervises other clinicians. He works on a low-secure female forensic ward and a male acute ward, supporting patients with mental health conditions and offending histories, as well as those in need of emergency psychiatric care. Furthermore, he is trained in administering the Autism Diagnostic Observation Scale (ADOS-2) for diagnosing autism spectrum conditions in both adults and children.
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.
Kai is 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.