Our Team
Alistair Shaw
Alistair studied Psychology at undergraduate level and went on to complete a post-graduate diploma in Cognitive Behavioural Therapy with the Belfast Cognitive Therapy Centre in 2012.
He set up privately as ASCBT and this business grew year on year serving hundreds of clients in the Bangor area.
He has worked for the Northern Health and Social Care Trust as a Psychotherapist in the NHS since 2015 and also continues to work for GP surgeries in Bangor, Newtownards and Belfast. Prior to this Alistair developed his skill set in the voluntary sector working with Holywood Family Trust in Holywood and also the Tasha Foundation which provided online counselling services.
Alistair passionately believes in CBT and the theoretical framework it provides to understand any client difficulty and point towards effective solutions. He particularly enjoys working with self-esteem difficulties and long standing problems.
In 2021, he completed training in Cognitive Behavioural Couples Therapy (CBCT) with Reconnect UK to better inform his work with couples. Alistair continues to develop his skill set and is currently completing training in Gabor Mate's Compassionate Inquiry approach.
Donna Beattie
Donna has extensive experience studying and working within the mental health field. She began her studies in Queen’s with an undergraduate degree in psychology and went on to complete a Master’s degree in Applied Psychology in 2013. It was during her Master’s degree that she was introduced to Cognitive Behavioural Therapy and specialised in this area by completing a Post-Graduate Diploma in Cognitive Behavioural Therapy with the Belfast Cognitive Therapy Centre in 2015.
Donna has worked in a variety of mental health settings. She has worked as a support worker and team leader in mental health and learning disability supported living facilities from 2009 – 2016. She has worked as a psychotherapist since graduating from the Belfast Cognitive Therapy Centre in 2015. This has involved a wide range of settings from working within community and voluntary sectors such as Praxis Care and Cunamh to primary sectors involving working with a GP surgery and secondary mental health services with the Northern Trust Psychological Therapies Service and South Eastern Adult Mental Health Service.
Donna’s main therapeutic modality is Cognitive Behavioural Therapy but due to her education and experience in mental health, she has gained a wealth of knowledge and skills making her an integrative therapist in her approach. She passionately believes in creating an empathetic space for her clients and developing person centred treatment with an emphasis on collaborative working with her clients directed by each individual’s goals for their treatment.
Donna is trained to work with a wide variety of problems but she especially enjoys working with social anxiety, post-traumatic stress disorder and low self-esteem.
She is dedicated to continuing her professional development and does so by keeping abreast of new research on the best evidence based treatments for particular mental health conditions and disorders. She attends CPD workshops and monthly supervision. Donna is a member of both the BACP and BABCP and recently submitted to gain accredited member status with the BABCP.