M Downs and Associates

M Downs and Associates High quality specialist psychological services including therapy, training, supervision and medico-legal reports.

Providers of medico legal reports and psychological services.

Dr Maria Downs comments on Child Focused Courts - For colleagues already working in the Child Focused Court areas: what ...
04/09/2026

Dr Maria Downs comments on Child Focused Courts - For colleagues already working in the Child Focused Court areas: what changes are you seeing in the families you support?





Working with interpreters during psychological assessments and therapy is often an underutilised and commonly misunderst...
30/07/2026

Working with interpreters during psychological assessments and therapy is often an underutilised and commonly misunderstood area of clinical practice.

I have provided training on this to clinical psychology trainees for the University of Sheffield and within the NHS. It’s worth sharing this Minority Mental Health month; here is what I wish every clinician understood before they walked into that room…

The interpreter is not a translation tool. They are a co-professional. It is important to work collaboratively. Their role is not simply to convert words from one language to another. They can convey important non-verbal information.

They can explain cultural, linguistic, and religious subtleties and metaphors that change the meaning of what a client is saying.

They maintain neutrality and their own professional boundaries under significant pressure.

This is a skilled and demanding role and yet many clinicians are expected to treat the pre-session briefing as optional. It is not.

Before you begin working with the interpreter it is important to talk about how you will work together. Interpreting for a psychologist is likely to be different to other interpreting roles and you will need to talk about the aim of the session, the importance of speaking in the first person, your respective roles and boundaries, the communication process, and that everything must be translated.

It will also be important to give a health warning because this work has an emotional impact, and that impact needs somewhere to go.

This brings me to the post-session debrief. This is the part that is most often skipped and yet vital. It is the place to review, things you might have missed (e.g. due to cultural differences) and how you might work better together.

Continued in comments….

What a venue for the Sip and Sail event by MYP - Merseyside Young Professionals and Professional Liverpool last night;...
24/07/2026

What a venue for the Sip and Sail event by MYP - Merseyside Young Professionals and Professional Liverpool last night; the iconic Mersey Ferries

Over 800 years old, originally run by Benedictine monks, but best known for Gerry and the Pacemakers’ 1964 anthem, Ferry Cross the Mersey.

The ferry is not just a way across the river. It is a connection. It brings people and communities together. And our strongest opportunities come through the relationships we build and maintain.

Those connections only matter because they are consistent; ‘life goes on day after day’. Trust, reciprocity, and the willingness to keep showing up. One conversation rarely changes anything. A relationship built over time can change everything.

The song speaks to belonging; ‘We do not care what your name is boy, we will never turn you away’. The strongest networks are not the biggest; they are the ones where people share purpose and feel they belong.

Sometimes the most valuable thing you can be is the ferry; the person who connects others and helps ideas travel further than they could on their own.

(Interestingly, the iconic song isn’t available on Instagram but there is real audio from Mersey Ferries )

Well done on a fabulous event and a perfect venue!

MYP - Merseyside Young Professionals Professional Liverpool

On Monday new rules came into force, to restrict the use of unregulated psychologists as expert witnesses in family proc...
22/07/2026

On Monday new rules came into force, to restrict the use of unregulated psychologists as expert witnesses in family proceedings.

The President of the Family Division has recommended that only psychologists registered with a statutory body, such as the HCPC, should be instructed.

I want to explain why this matters...

The reports written by expert witnesses shape decisions about children’s lives. Parental contact. Residence. Risk.
Capacity. These are not academic exercises. They are decisions with permanent consequences for real families.
HCPC-registered psychologists undergo extensive training, supervised practice, and continuing professional development throughout their careers. They are accountable to a regulatory body. If their conduct or competence falls below standard, there is a clear route for concerns to be raised.

This accountability is fundamental.

And it is the minimum standard I would expect for any professional whose opinion carries this much weight.
If you are a solicitor or legal professional instructing an expert in family proceedings, the question is simple. Is your expert HCPC-registered? If not, the court is now entitled to ask why.

I would be interested to hear from colleagues on both sides of this. Has the change affected your instructions yet?

Rebecca Mortby, M Downs & Associates

If you are thinking about becoming a Clinical Psychologist, here is what I wish someone had told me earlier.It takes lon...
13/07/2026

If you are thinking about becoming a Clinical Psychologist, here is what I wish someone had told me earlier.

It takes longer than you think. The training pathway is demanding, but every stage teaches you something the next one builds on. Don’t rush it. Breadth matters early. Varied placements, different client groups, different therapeutic modalities. The more you expose yourself to early on, the better clinician you become. Specialisation comes later.

I believe your own therapy is not optional in terms of personal as well as professional development.
Understanding what it feels like to sit in that chair, to be vulnerable, to be seen, makes you a better therapist.
The research and the clinical work are not separate. The best practitioners I know read widely and stay curious.
Evidence-based practice is not a box to tick. It is a habit of mind.

And finally, find your people. Supervision, peer support, mentorship. This work is rich and rewarding and it is also heavy. You need people around you who understand that.

Dr Maria Downs, Consultant Clinical Psychologist


Psychology CareerAdvice

Most people know heatwaves are bad for physical health.Far fewer know what extreme heat does to your mind.For the 16% of...
23/06/2026

Most people know heatwaves are bad for physical health.
Far fewer know what extreme heat does to your mind.
For the 16% of the UK population living with a mental health condition, a heatwave isn’t just uncomfortable, it can be clinically significant.

Heat disrupts sleep. It amplifies anxiety. It affects how psychiatric medications work. It can trigger mood episodes in people with bipolar disorder. And it increases A&E admissions for mental health crises by around 10%.

Our latest blog covers five things extreme heat does to your mental health - and six practical steps you can take this week.

Link in bio

Psychology Wellbein

Explaining EMDR to kids (and adults) by Lara Struggles…. using Ana Gomez’s book ‘Dark, Bad Day… Go Away!’
10/06/2026

Explaining EMDR to kids (and adults) by Lara Struggles…. using Ana Gomez’s book ‘Dark, Bad Day… Go Away!’





Last Saturday I spent the day in London at a workshop by Mary Clare de Echevarria on working therapeutically with parts,...
10/06/2026

Last Saturday I spent the day in London at a workshop by Mary Clare de Echevarria on working therapeutically with parts, ego states and dissociative processes in EMDR.

For those unfamiliar, ‘parts work’ is central to understanding Complex PTSD. Many of the clients we see in clinical practice, particularly those with histories of childhood trauma, abuse or neglect, don’t experience themselves as a single, unified self. They experience different parts, each carrying different emotions, beliefs and responses.

The workshop integrated all the major parts models, including IFS (Internal Family Systems), ego state therapy and dissociative parts frameworks, and walked through how to embed this within the 8 phases of EMDR.
What made this training particularly valuable was how experiential it was. Real-life examples, live demonstrations, structured practice sessions and genuine space for reflection. Not just theory but embodied learning.
The training also explored how to modify this work for certain personality disorders and, crucially, how to recognise where this might be important.

This is complex, nuanced territory. And it matters enormously for the clients who need it most.
If you work with trauma survivors and haven’t yet explored parts-informed approaches, I’d strongly recommend it. The integration with EMDR opens up new possibilities for clients who have reached a ceiling with more traditional processing.

I love the way EMDR keeps evolving and integrating other approaches to meet the needs of trauma survivors.

Dr Maria Downs





Rebecca explains why using trauma in its simplest and most literal sense can help us to demystify it.
08/06/2026

Rebecca explains why using trauma in its simplest and most literal sense can help us to demystify it.



“Comparison with others and an intense negative critical perception of one’s own body is for too many people sadly a yea...
03/06/2026

“Comparison with others and an intense negative critical perception of one’s own body is for too many people sadly a yearlong reality; summer can pose extra challenges and take the negative volume up even higher. This doesn’t have to be a never-ending story”

Clinical Psychologist at M Downs & Associates, Dr Renate Pantke specialises in working therapeutically with those with eating problems and diagnosed eating disorders.

Summer can be a trigger for negative feelings about our own bodies, but it doesn’t have to be this way….
If your relationship with your body, eating or exercise is impacting your day to day life, there is help available.

Call us or email us to book your initial consultation; it’s free and can be done over the phone, and our team will talk you through the options availability to find the right person and therapy to make a lasting difference.





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M Downs And Associates Ltd, Barracks House, Hillsborough Barracks, Langsett Road
Sheffield
S62LR

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