Tanya Lecchi, PhD

I am a BPS Chartered Psychologist, Registered Counselling and Clinical Psychologist (HCPC), Relational Psychotherapist, Mindfulness Teacher, and Senior Research Fellow.

I have extensive training in a range of approaches to therapeutic work, including systemic, cognitive-constructivist and relational psychoanalytic, and have more than 15 years of experience in providing psychological assessment and treatment to adults, families, children and young people in different care settings, including the hospital environment and private practice.

As well as working privately as a clinician, I am currently a course tutor on the DClinPsy at the University of Oxford and a senior research fellow within the Child Attachment and Psychological Therapies Research Unit (ChAPTRe) at the Anna Freud Centre/UCL.

In the past three years, I have launched the Inner Citadel Institute, a centre for integrative psychotherapy focused on offering evidence-based therapies to individuals eager to explore their lived experiences in depth. With a commitment to helping clients manage clinical symptoms, my work enables them to find greater authenticity and fulfillment in their daily lives. Drawing on my extensive experience in treating PTSD and complex trauma, I have created a space where healing and personal growth converge. The institute not only serves as a therapy clinic but also as a training hub, leveraging my academic expertise to offer CPD courses, attracting practitioners from around the world.

Expertise

During my PhD I developed a mindfulness-based intervention for maltreated children and adolescents in residential care, and completed a training to become a certified mindfulness teacher. I taught undergraduates and postgraduate psychology students at the Catholic University of Milan and then worked as a senior lecturer at the University of Northampton, where I led an MSc in Counselling Children and Young People.

I also worked as a senior research tutor on the MSc Developmental Psychology and Clinical Practice at the Anna Freud Centre, and as a research and clinical tutor for DCPsych and DPsych students at Metanoia Institute and at City, University of London.

My main interests include phenomenological psychopathology, relational mindfulness, brain-to-brain synchrony, developmental trauma, and therapeutic presence.

Training

  • BA (Hons) in Clinical Psychology
  • MSc in Clinical Psychology
  • Doctorate in Counselling Psychology and Psychotherapy
  • PhD in Psychology
  • Professional Training in Mindfulness-based Interventions
  • Foundation Course in Psychoanalysis
  • Foundation Course in Group Analysis
  • PGCertHE (Teaching and Learning in Counselling and Psychotherapy)
  • PG Certificate in Relational Theory in Clinical Practice (The Stephen Mitchell Relational Study Center, New York).

Publications

Recent publications

Lecchi, T. (2024). Intersoggettività e presenza nell’incontro terapeutico: una prospettiva costruttivista. In F. Giommi (Ed.), Coltivare Presenza: Psicoterapia e meditazione relazionale (pp. 117–137). Edizioni Edra.

Kristen, A., Lecchi, T., Loades, M. E., & Midgley, N. (2024). “I can’t escape my scars, even if I do get better”: A qualitative exploration of how adolescents talk about their self-harm and self-harm scars during cognitive behavioural therapy for depression. Clinical Child Psychology and Psychiatry. https://doi.org/10.1177/13591045241241348

Amin Choudhury, A., Lecchi, T., & Midgley, N. (2023). Understanding change – developing a typology of therapy outcomes from the experience of adolescents with depression. Psychotherapy Research, 34(2), 171–181. https://doi.org/10.1080/10503307.2023.2179440

MacKean, M., Lecchi, T., Mortimer, R., & Midgley, N. (2023). ‘I’ve started my journey to coping better’: exploring adolescents’ journeys through an internet-based psychodynamic therapy (I-PDT) for depression. Journal of Child Psychotherapy, 49(3), 432–453. https://doi.org/10.1080/0075417X.2023.2173271