I spend my career in the places most people would rather look away from — and I've come to believe that's exactly where the most important work on human resilience happens.
I qualified as a clinical psychologist in 1997 and as a consultant clinical psychologist in 2003. For 20 years, I led the design and delivery of a treatment programme inside a high secure prison for men labelled "untreatable psychopaths." My work went far beyond addressing offending behaviour — it meant helping these men confront and heal the childhood trauma that had shaped their paths to violence in the first place. Around two-thirds of my clients over the years have been men who arrived deeply sceptical that psychological therapy had anything to offer them, and left having discovered otherwise.
I co-edited Treating Personality Disorder: Creating Robust Services for Dangerous Clients, drawing on that experience to set out a trauma-focused, compassionate model of service delivery — for clients who are often the most frightened of engaging with help at all. Though the book is now some years old, the principles in it still hold up, and the ideas have relevance well beyond psychology, informing skills development more broadly.
Alongside this, I've spent my career working with survivors of childhood abuse and neglect, whistleblowers navigating the fallout of speaking truth to power, and adults processing the long-term impact of boarding school. Different populations, same throughline: trauma doesn't stay contained to the individual — it shapes families, teams, and entire cultures.
That range of work has led me to focus increasingly on organisational health — helping leaders and teams build genuine resilience rather than just resilience-washing their culture.
I co-host Locked Up Living, a podcast exploring the hidden barriers to wellbeing and how we overcome them.
Right now, I'm particularly interested in a timely question: as AI reshapes mental health support, what is it that human therapists offer that can't be replicated — and how do we double down on it?
Always keen to connect with others working at the intersection of trauma, resilience, and organisational culture.
Naomi Murphy
Consultant Clinical & Forensic Psychologist
Addiction and recovery, Anxiety and stress, Identity and self-worth, Leadership and performance, Life transitions, Nervous system regulation, OCD, Relationships and attachment, Trauma and PTSD, Wellness, Other
Adults, Corporate professionals, General public, Healthcare professionals, Legal professionals, Men, Midlife adults, Women
Collaboration (partner / co-create), Corporate / workplace, Media (interview / commentary), Panels / webinars, Podcast guesting, Retreats (lead / contribute), Speaking (events / keynote / panels), Workshops / training, Writing (contributor / author)
I spend my career in the places most people would rather look away from — and I've come to believe that's exactly where the most important work on human resilience happens.
I qualified as a clinical psychologist in 1997 and as a consultant clinical psychologist in 2003. For 20 years, I led the design and delivery of a treatment programme inside a high secure prison for men labelled "untreatable psychopaths." My work went far beyond addressing offending behaviour — it meant helping these men confront and heal the childhood trauma that had shaped their paths to violence in the first place. Around two-thirds of my clients over the years have been men who arrived deeply sceptical that psychological therapy had anything to offer them, and left having discovered otherwise.
I co-edited Treating Personality Disorder: Creating Robust Services for Dangerous Clients, drawing on that experience to set out a trauma-focused, compassionate model of service delivery — for clients who are often the most frightened of engaging with help at all. Though the book is now some years old, the principles in it still hold up, and the ideas have relevance well beyond psychology, informing skills development more broadly.
Alongside this, I've spent my career working with survivors of childhood abuse and neglect, whistleblowers navigating the fallout of speaking truth to power, and adults processing the long-term impact of boarding school. Different populations, same throughline: trauma doesn't stay contained to the individual — it shapes families, teams, and entire cultures.
That range of work has led me to focus increasingly on organisational health — helping leaders and teams build genuine resilience rather than just resilience-washing their culture.
I co-host Locked Up Living, a podcast exploring the hidden barriers to wellbeing and how we overcome them.
Right now, I'm particularly interested in a timely question: as AI reshapes mental health support, what is it that human therapists offer that can't be replicated — and how do we double down on it?
Always keen to connect with others working at the intersection of trauma, resilience, and organisational culture.
Background & Qualifications
Doctorate in Clinical Psychology
Accredited Sensorimotor psychotherapist
HCPC, UKCP, Doctorate, Degree, Other
Collaboration, Corporate, Media / PR, Podcast, Retreats, Speaking, Writing
20+ years