Meet our therapy team

Who We Are

Amanda & Clarissa

TCC Founders

Amanda and Clarissa are highly trained psychotherapists with a wealth of experience in neurodiversity. As a co-founders of The Cognitive Collective, they strive to create an inclusive space for every client and are committed to making mental health services more accessible and neurodiversity-affirming. Together they offer a warm and flexible therapy environment where every client is treated as an individual and accepted in their uniqueness.

Clarissa Batista de Padua

TCC Clinical Lead

Psychotherapist & ASC Assessor

Clarissa has been a psychotherapist for four years and has been working and training in the field of mental health since 2016. She has experience in both public and private sectors where her passion for neurodiversity and inclusive mental health care has flourished.

Specialising in Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT), Clarissa is also trained in Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT), Functional Analytic Psychotherapy (FAP), and mindfulness-based interventions.

As Clinical Lead, Clarissa ensures that our approach remains evidence-based, inclusive, and client-centred. She supports and mentors our clinical team at The Cognitive Collective to uphold best practice standards.

Clarissa smiling and holding a cup of coffee

Amanda Hudson

TCC Clinical Manager

Psychotherapist &ASC Assessor

Amanda has over 10 years of experience in therapy and mental health, working across varied settings. She specialises in Rational Emotive Behaviour Therapy (REBT) and is also trained in Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT) and Compassion Focused Therapy (CFT).

Amanda, has a strong passion for neurodiversity due to her lived experience of ADHD and is dedicated to making mental health care accessible for all.

As Clinical Manager at The Cognitive Collective, Amanda will likely be the first person you hear from when you reach out to us.

She is responsible for coordinating client care, guiding people through their first steps with our services, and ensuring that every individual feels supported from the start.

Victoria McGhie

CBT Therapist

Victoria is an integrative CBT therapist, accredited by the BABCP. She works with adults facing a range of emotional and psychological challenges, and her aim is always to meet you where you are - at your pace, in your own words.

She specialises in helping people with Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD), Trauma, Body Dysmorphic Disorder (BDD), Hoarding Behaviours, Addictions, and issues around Low Self-Esteem.

She also has a particular interest in supporting individuals through the emotional and psychological impacts of perimenopause and menopause.

John Day

Consultant Counselling Psychologist

ASC Assessor

John is part of our assessor team and carries out ADI-R, ADOS-2 , ASC screening assessments and 1:1 sessions for The Cognitive Collective.

John has been a psychologist for 5 years, having lived, trained and worked as a psychologist previously in Cape Town. He is HCPC accredited and a cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) trained psychologist who also works from an existential/humanistic perspective. He also has an interest in working with people who are neurodivergent, and has considerable experience working with and leading ASC assessments in the private sector.

Hannah Lewis

CBT Therapist

Hannah is a BABCP-accredited Cognitive Behavioural Therapist (CBT) and a registered Social Worker with Social Work England. She specializes in supporting children and adolescents (ages 6–18) who are experiencing difficulties such as anxiety, panic, low mood, OCD, school avoidance, exam stress or neurodiversity-related anxieties.

Hannah offers a compassionate, grounding and collaborative approach, integrating CBT with other modalities to help young people build emotional regulation and practical coping strategies. She works with a holistic approach giving consideration to all impacting factors such as sleep, physical health, school and family support.

Hannah is passionate about helping young people feel understood, develop emotional resilience, and build practical skills they can use long after therapy ends.

Denise Gleed

Integrative Counsellor

Denise is an integrative counsellor with a person-centred foundation, specialising in neurodivergence, including ADHD, Autism and Dyslexia. As a late-diagnosed dyslexic and parent of a neurodivergent child, she brings both professional knowledge and lived experience to her work. Her background includes roles with the Wilderness Foundation, Mind and Rape Crisis.

She works with children, teenagers and adults, focusing on emotional regulation, overwhelm, trauma, and supporting families navigating neurodiversity. Her work highlights both the strengths and challenges of neurodivergent experiences in a neurotypical world.

Denise offers a warm, calm and collaborative space. Her visual and relational approach helps clients feel seen, heard and understood, while providing a safe environment to explore experiences, build confidence and move forward.

Tammazine Adcock

Consultant Clinical Psychologist

Tammazine is part of our ASC assessor team and carries out ADI-R assessments for The Cognitive Collective.

Tammazine has worked in the field for over twenty years and is a Chartered Member of the BPS and is HCPC registered. Having worked as a Head of Psychology in different settings, she accomplished in a number of theraputic approaches such as CBT and DBT, and specialises in PTSD, Trauma and Autism.