Introducing Stirling Moorey

Dr Stirling Moorey is a CBT therapist, trainer and supervisor and mindfulness teacher. He recently retired as a consultant medical psychotherapist at South London and Maudsley NHS Trust. He was Professional Head of Psychotherapy for the Trust for 8 years. He trained in medicine at the Middlesex Hospital Medical School and qualified in 1980. He became interested in cognitive therapy whilst doing an intercalated BSc in psychology at medical school, and in 1979 he did his student elective with Dr Aaron Beck at the Centre for Cognitive Therapy − being one of the first British therapists to visit when CBT was in its infancy. He had the good fortune to be trained and supervised by two major contributors to the field of cognitive therapy: David Burns (www.feelinggood.com) the author of Feeling Good and Art Freeman (drartfreeman.com). He has been closely involved with CBT ever since, organising visits to the UK by Dr Beck during the 1980s and 90s and training many psychiatrists and other health professionals in the model.In addition to CBT Stirling has also trained in cognitive analytic therapy, schema therapy, Mindfulness Based Cognitive Therapy and Mindfulness Based Compassionate Living.

Stirling trained in psychiatry at the Maudsley Hospital. From 1986 to 1992, he was a research psychiatrist at the Royal Marsden Hospital and from 1992 to 1999, he was a consultant psychiatrist in psychotherapy at City and Hackney Teaching Primary Care Trust, from where he moved back to the Maudsley. From 1999 until 2013 he worked at the Maudsley Psychotherapy Service, spending some years as clinical manager of the service and as Professional Head of Psychotherapy. In the first role he was involved in facilitating major redesign and change in the psychotherapy services and in the latter was part of the Trust Executive. Following his retirement from full time NHS work he was a trustee for MHM, one of the leading 3rd sector providers of talking therapies in the UK (www.mentalhealthmatters.com/). Having worked in public services for so many years it was a privilege to see how a 3rd sector organisation offering low intensity interventions functioned with a high level of governance and effectiveness.

Stirling has clinical interests in CBT for people with life-threatening illness, applications of schema focused ideas and techniques to CBT, and Mindfulness Based Cognitive Therapy. He has a deep interest in training clinicians from all professions in CBT. He was co-founder with Mrs Ruth Williams and Dr John Cobb of the Institute of Psychiatry Cognitive Behaviour Therapy Course, which was the first cognitive therapy course in the country. He is still actively involved with this course and was closely involved with its transition to an IAPT training. He has made many contributions to the training of psychiatrists, psychologists and other professionals in CBT and psychotherapy. He regularly contributes workshops on the clinical practice of CBT online and at national and international conferences. His Massive Online Open Course (MOOC) introducing CBT to psychiatrists and others, commissioned by the European Psychiatric Association, was accessed by over 7000 people.

His main research interests are in CBT as applied to cancer and physical illness: in this area he has been involved with several RCTs. He is the author, with Dr Steven Greer, of Cognitive Behaviour Therapy for People with Cancer which has been through 3 editions and translated into 7 languages. His papers “When Bad Things Happen to Rational People’ and ‘The Six Cycles Model of Depression’ are widely cited and used. His most recent contribution to clinical practice: ‘Three Ways to Change Your Mind: A Framework for Cognitive Restructuring’ will be appearing in Behavioural and Cognitive Psychotherapy in 2023.

Stirling is currently President Elect of the British Association for Behavioural and Cognitive Psychotherapy. Click here to view his manifesto.

Qualifications and accreditations:

BSc, MBBS, MA (History), FRCPsych
Honorary BABCP Fellow and BABCP accredited therapist, supervisor and trainer.
BAMBA registered MBCT practitioner and registered Mindfulness Based Compassionate Living Teacher.