Joanne is a Consultant Clinical Psychologist with 17 years post graduate experience. She qualified as a Clinical Psychologist from Rhodes University in South Africa and gained a further Master's degree in Forensic and Clinical Psychology from the IoP, King's College, London.

In South Africa, Joanne was the head of the Psychology Department of a large psychiatric hospital which treated both general psychiatric and forensic patients and offered internships to 6 trainee psychologist each year. After moving to the UK, Joanne worked solely in secure environments which have included both medium and low secure psychiatric hospitals, as well as an open rehab setting. The majority of this work involved her working with men and women diagnosed with Personality Disorder. More latterly, Joanne in a maximum secure prison environment within the Offenders with Personality Disorder (OPD) Pathway, where she was the Lead for Assessment.

Joanne has worked with men and women in all age ranges as well as with children and adolescents. She has experience of working with patients with varied and dual diagnoses, including Mental Illness (MI), Personality Disorder (PD) and Learning Disability (LD). For the last 10 years Joanne has specialised in working with a PD patient group and is skilled in the assessment of mental disorder and risk, applying good clinical understanding the a variety of well recognised psychometric tools.

Prior to becoming a Clinical Psychologist, Joanne trained as both a Registered Nurse and as a Secondary School Teacher and worked as a counsellor in both of these fields. She now runs her own limited after-hours private practice.