Professor Patrick Smith studied Experimental Psychology at Oxford, followed by clinical training and a PhD at the IoPPN. His PhD (supervised by Bill Yule) was on the psychological effects of war on children. His research since then has focused on psychological interventions for PTSD and depression in children and young people.

With longstanding collaborators, he has contributed to the development and adaptation of Cognitive Therapy for PTSD in young people, and its evaluation in a series of clinical trials. CT-PTSD is now recommended by NICE as a first-line therapy for PTSD in young people. Current work is focused on making this treatment more widely available using a smartphone App. Ongoing research on depression includes co-leading an NIHR funded trial of Mindfulness Based Cognitive Therapy for adolescents.

He collaborates on global mental health projects including his role at the Children and War Foundation, where he helped to develop and trial a group-delivered CBT-based intervention for trauma-exposed young people.

He is a consultant clinical psychologist at the South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust National and Specialist CAMHS Clinic for Trauma, Anxiety, and Depression, a Tier 4 outpatient clinic where assessment and specialist treatment are provided for young people with severe, complex, or hard to treat difficulties.

Research interests

• Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) in children and young people
• Depression in children and young people
• Development and evaluation of psychological interventions
• Digital mental health

Teaching 

• Research Director for the Doctorate in Clinical Psychology (DClinPsy) training programme.

Expertise and public engagement 

• UK Trauma Council (Board member)
• Children and War Foundation (Board member)
• British Association of Behavioural & Cognitive Psychotherapy (Fellow)