Sporting Chance is delighted to welcome Dr Shanaz Ali Sawyer to its staff as a full time therapist working in the clinical team.
The charity has a consultant network of over 200 therapists across the UK but also has its own full time internal therapists - Barry Trott, Marcia Ewen and Andy Escott who work primarily in our residential facility for addictive disorders and now Dr Sawyer, who replaces Alison McLean, as an additional internal therapist. All our therapists work in the team led by our Head of Clinical Services, Craig Dexter.
Dr Sawyer will have her own caseload of clients assigned to her from the range of different sports we work with as well as conducting clinical assessments and creating and co-ordinating treatment plans and she will be based down at our Hampshire site. She will also be working alongside Craig to develop our offer to clubs, providing clinical guidance and consultation to staff, overseeing client case discussions and MDTs, and working to improve pathways for support for athletes within clubs and training programmes across the country.
As a mental health therapist with more than 20 years of experience, Dr Sawyer's educational pursuits include: a B.Sc. in psychology (University of Florida), M.Sc. in psychology with a focus on mental health counselling (Nova Southeastern University), Ph.D. in clinical mental health (University of Florida), and JD law degree (Stetson University College of Law). She is a registered member with BACP and holds a license to practice in Florida.
She has extensive experience of working in clinical and private practice settings with clients in recovery from addiction, abuse trauma, domestic violence, couples and family therapy, career development, anxiety, depression, grief and loss, social anxiety, and life transitions to name a few presenting concerns and has worked with clients and athletes from a wide range of national, cultural and religious backgrounds.
Dr Sawyer is passionate about mental health advocacy, addressing stigma and equity in mental health care and helps clients address today’s social justice issues that impact mental health and wellbeing. She has spent the last five years working with athlete mental health within one of the largest university athletic associations in the US, with clients in many different sports who they compete nationally and internationally.