About Dawn Hayward-Hill

Dawn Hayward-Hill is a HCPC-registered psychologist with over 30 years of clinical experience supporting children, young people, adults, and families. She is known for her warm, steady, and thoughtful approach, helping people feel quickly at ease and understood when they come to therapy. Many young people describe feeling listened to, supported, and reassured by her ability to adapt sessions to their unique ways of communicating and expressing themselves. 

 

Dawn has worked extensively across mental health, supporting individuals with a broad range of emotional and psychological needs. Her clinical work includes both assessment and therapeutic intervention. She draws on a wide range of evidence-based models, including CBT, EMDR, narrative therapy, and systemic approaches, allowing her to tailor therapy to each person rather than fitting them into a single model.  

 

Dawn’s style is grounded in empathy, containment, and respect. She supports young people to: 

  • feel heard, understood, and accepted 

  • explore worries without judgement 

  • understand the roots of their difficulties 

  • build coping strategies they can use in daily life 

  • strengthen communication and emotional awareness 

  • work towards their goals in an achievable way 

Qualifications  

  • BA (Hons) Psychology 

  • Postgraduate Diploma in Clinical Criminology 

  • MSc Forensic Psychology (1999), University of Surrey 

  • Chartered Psychologist, British Psychological Society (BPS) 

  • HCPC-Registered Practitioner Psychologist 

  • Additional accredited training in Narrative Therapy, Sand Play, EMDR

 

What is Psychological Therapy? 

Psychological therapy offers a safe, confidential space for a child or young person to understand their feelings, make sense of difficult experiences, and develop ways of coping that genuinely work for them. 

 

Psychologists tailor therapy to the individual, meaning sessions can involve: 

  • Talking through experiences at a pace that feels comfortable 

  • Using visual tools or other means, to explore feelings 

  • EMDR (a structured therapy for trauma) 

  • CBT approaches that help shift unhelpful thinking patterns 

  • Narrative work that helps people make sense of their story 

  • Systemic ideas that look at the wider family or relational context 

 

For those who find talking difficult, creative or visual methods can be used to help them feel safer and more able to express themselves. Many children and young people feel reassured knowing there is no pressure to talk in a certain way or at a certain speed; every session is shaped around what helps them feel understood. 

 

Overall, psychological therapy provides a gentle, structured way to explore challenges, reduce distress, and strengthen emotional resilience. Working with a psychologist may be the best option when someone needs support with more complex, longstanding, or harder to understand mental health difficulties, because psychologists complete many years of advanced training and are legally regulated by the HCPC to ensure high standards.