Katie Russell
Clinical Psychologist
I’m one of those annoying people who knew what I wanted to do at a young age, pursued it and I still love it. Pretty lucky since it took 8 years to qualify! I vividly remember in the late 80’s discovering Psychology; it wasn’t so well known as a subject at the time and I remember being amazed that I could do a degree in what I loved most – people and the science of the mind. After an undergraduate degree in Psychology at Surrey University and some relevant work experience, I went to UCL to complete the 3 year doctoral training in Clinical Psychology.
The majority of my career has involved working with children, teenagers and adults, at a number of NHS services in London, including Great Ormond Street Hospital, St George’s Hospital and in more recent years in independent practice. I have a particular expertise in working with adolescents and the eating disorders and am proud to be co-author of a specialist CBT treatment manual for the eating disorders.
As well as working directly with clients in all areas of adult and adolescent mental health, I have lots of experience in teaching, supervising and the training of others. This includes running workshops in schools and other organisations and presenting at local, national and International conferences. I am now a Director of a growing independent mental health service. I have never lost sight of what a privilege it is to share a part in people’s lives.
Darren Partridge
Veterinary surgeon
Qualified from Bristol as a Veterinary Surgeon and anatomist, Darren has a passion for caring for all animals and strongly believes vets should by definition be independent professionals, not corporate employees subjected to profit as their prime motive. Darren sees all the ‘exotic’ species and have worked in research in marine biology (sharks), arachnology (spiders) in Mongolia and on several palaeontological expeditions. A former aerobatic pilot, motor racer, mountaineer, diver, fellrunner, writer and fitness instructor, he is a 1st Dan blackbelt with the local Abel Karate club and train at CrossFit 2012. He owns four veterinary practices looking after the pets of Molesey, Teddington and Claygate 24 hours a day. Darren has a little border terrier called Archie, two cat brothers Jasper and Flynn and a crested gecko Drift. He has lived in Molesey for twenty years.
Dr Amar Bhogul
Junior doctor
Dr Amar S Bhogal is a Junior Doctor at the Royal Surrey County Hospital in Guildford. He studied Applied Medical Sciences at UCL and proceeded to study Graduate Entry Medicine at the University of Birmingham. Dr Amar S Bhogal has taken up various research positions in London, and is now working towards his speciality training in ENT. He has also previously started up a community interest company and acted as director, and served as commissioning editor for Elsevier for several of their Journals. You can ask him about careers in Medicine and the application process as well as Medical research and publishing in science.