Dr Lesley Armitage
Consultant Counselling Psychologist
Lesley has worked with physical health problems since qualifying as a counselling psychologist in 2009. Her clinical experience includes pain management, weight management, spinal cord injury rehabilitation and major physical trauma. Lesley is the author of a book chapter entitled “Opposites Attract? Counselling Psychology in Medical and Physical Health settings” (in: Best, Nicholas, & Bradley, (Eds), 2022). She began using Compassion Focused Therapy in 2013 and has a special interest in the application of Compassion Focused Therapy for physical health problems. Lesley has developed and delivered compassion-focused groups for pain management in primary and secondary care. Lesley and Zoey have written two papers together outlining their work using CFT with “strivers” in pain management (Armitage & Malpus, 2019; Malpus, Nazar, Smith & Armitage, 2022). Lesley has also developed a therapist-guided self-help programme for overeating, based on Ken Goss’s book “The Compassionate Mind Approach to Beating Overeating” and is currently writing the Clinicians’ Guide to accompany the second edition of this book. Lesley is Consultant Counselling Psychologist and Lead for Long-term Conditions in South Tees Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust.
Publications:
Armitage, L. (2022) Opposites attract? Counselling Psychology in medical and physical health settings. In: Best, D, Nicholas, H. & Bradley, M. (Eds) Roles and Contexts in Counselling Psychology: Professionals in Practice. Routledge, Abingdon.
Armitage, L. & Malpus, Z. (2019) Compassion-Focused Therapy for Strivers in Pain. Pain and Rehabilitation: Journal of the Physiotherapy Pain Association 47, 6-11
Malpus Z, Nazar Z, Smith C, Armitage L. (2022) Compassion focused therapy for pain management: ‘3 systems approach’ to understanding why striving and self-criticism are key psychological barriers to regulating activity and improving self-care for people living with persistent pain. British Journal of Pain. 2022;0(0). doi:10.1177/20494637221133630
