About me
I'm a mum of three and a specialist perinatal Psychotherapist. I support individuals and couples through pregnancy and the early years of parenting— online from wherever you are, or in person in Sheffield. Find out more about my therapeutic approach as well as my training and experience below.
Hello, I’m Elizabeth Siddell
My Approach
Specialist therapy tailored to your journey through pregnancy, the postnatal period and beyond.
My work draws on a range of approaches so I can tailor therapy to maximise the effectiveness for the difficulties you’re bringing and develop a way of working that feels right for you. I am trained in Cognitive Behavioural Therapy, Integrative Couples Therapy for Depression (Perinatal training) and Narrative Exposure Therapy. These are all evidenced based therapies recommended by NICE Guidelines and used in the NHS. I have further training in Compassion Focused Therapy, and Dialectical Behaviour Therapy amongst others.
What I bring to therapy is both professional expertise and a genuine understanding of just how challenging and complicated this stage of life can be. I am passionate about providing a safe space to be frank and honest about the hard bits, so that, together, we can help you find your way through.
Is my approach right for you?
I know that finding the right therapist for you is important.
I might be a good fit if…
For individual therapy,
becoming a parent is bringing up difficult experiences or trauma from your own childhood
you want to understand your own childhood experiences and feel able to do things differently for your baby / children
you / your partner experienced a difficult or traumatic birth when your baby was born and you’re stuck thinking about it and reliving it in your mind
becoming a mother or father has left you feeling anxious or re triggered old anxieties
you want to understand where your difficulties stem from, and also work on making changes in the here and now
For couples therapy,
becoming parents has changed your relationship and you would like some support to get things back on track
your find you’re arguing more since becoming parents
you’re feeling hopeless about finding a way back to the relationship you used to have
you’re stuck in patterns of resentment
your struggling to communicate in a way that feels helpful
The difficulties in your relationship are getting you down or affecting your mood
You want to understand your difficulties better, and you’d like some practical way to improve your relationship
A little about my training and experience
I have almost 20 years experience working in mental health services in the NHS. Throughout this time my passion has been working with parents in the early stages of parenthood and I’ve worked in a specialist Perinatal Mental Health Team since 2022 — working exclusively with people navigating pregnancy, birth, and the early years of parenthood, individually and as couples.
Alongside my clinical work I’ve worked on Postgraduate courses at universities training CBT Therapists for the NHS and continue to deliver specialist perinatal teaching at the University of Sheffield as well as delivering lectures on the Clinical Psychology Doctorate course. I've also spent time delivering specialist perinatal training to a broad range of health professionals including teaching for the British Psychological Society at the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists.
I hold a First Class Honours degree in Psychology, a Postgraduate Diploma in Cognitive Behavioural Psychotherapy, and have completed further specialist training in Integrative Behavioural Couples Therapy for Depression with Tavistock Relationships. I'm a fully accredited member of the British Association for Behavioural and Cognitive Psychotherapies (BABCP), which means my practice is continually reviewed against professional and ethical standards, so you can feel confident in my approach.
Much of my post qualification training has focused on what has always been my passion - perinatal work - including training in Birth Trauma, Postnatal Depression, perinatal loss, perinatal OCD, Tokophobia, working with partners, working with parents of toddlers and bonding and attachment.
Over the years I've worked with many parents and parents-to-be — supporting people through birth trauma, postnatal anxiety and depression, relationship strain after a baby arrives, and the difficult feelings that early parenthood can bring up from our own childhoods. I've also held perinatal lead roles in NHS services, supervised and trained other therapists, and contributed to published research on effective psychological support for anxiety and depression.
Qualifications & Training
Integrative Behavioural Couples Therapy for Depression — Tavistock Relationships, 2025
Postgraduate Diploma in Cognitive Behavioural Psychotherapy (Merit) — Royal Holloway, University of London, 2014
Postgraduate Certificate in Evidence-Based Psychological Therapy — University of Reading, 2010
BSc Psychology (First Class Honours) — University of Kent at Canterbury, 2007
BABCP Accredited Cognitive Behavioural Psychotherapist
Experience Highlights
Perinatal Cognitive Behavioural Psychotherapist, Perinatal Mental Health Team (2022–present)
Talking Therapies Teacher, University of Sheffield (2019–present)
Perinatal Psychological Therapist and Senior CBT roles across several NHS Talking Therapies services, including Perinatal Lead positions
Associate Tutor, University of East Anglia
Published researcher — British Journal of Clinical Psychology (2021)
Conference speaker, Perinatal Mental Health Annual Conference; perinatal trainer at the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists
I’m fully Accredited with the British Association For Cognitive and Behavioural Psychotherapy (BABCP), an accredited member of the Professional Standards Authority. You can check the BABCP register by searching my full name (Elizabeth Siddell) online here
