Sukhdev Sembi

About

I am a qualified psychotherapist supporting adult mental health issues and also have experience of working as a parent-infant-psychotherapist. I am passionate about how unconscious early childhood experiences shape the adult we have become; become accepting of the coping strategies we have adopted, some which may not be helpful to us in as we would like to believe.

My therapeutic journey started with my training as a person-centred psychotherapist. I followed this by undertaking a post-graduate diploma in Infant Mental Health, forging psychoanalysis into my integrative practice. I trained in providing support in my mother tongue, Punjabi and have some experience of Pakistani, Hindi and Urdu.

Research Interests

My doctorate in Health Sciences was a mixed methods randomised controlled trial, my thesis was based on a research study evaluating the impact of telephone-based peer-support for postnatal depression, the ‘Mums4Mums’ study. My interest was in providing support for new mothers, helping them to regulate their emotions so that they in turn, could emotionally regulate their babies emotions. I also worked on the Parents under Pressure Study which again supported vulnerable parents of children, who used substances to help them manage difficult challenges in life and their child was under the age of 2.5. Again, my interest was to provide support for the parents so that they could support the relationship with their child. “The time of greatest influence, for good or ill, is then the brain is new. If we want to help the next generation we should be working with their parents while they are babies now” (Balbernie 2001).

Trainee Supervisor

Practice, clinical, and professional supervision are centred around supporting and enhancing the personal well-being of frontline professionals. This involves empowering individuals to reflect on and assess their work.

The essence of this supervision lies in being led by the supervisee, enabling them to identify and separate emotions related to service users from their own. Moreover, it helps individuals discern unconscious processes, fostering a deeper understanding of their actions, particularly in roles that continually expose them to traumatic events.

I am currently studying for a Diploma in clinical supervision. To support this, I can provide supervision for a nominal fee. Contact me for details.

Publications Barlow, J., Sembi, S., Parsons, H., Kim, S., Petrou, S., Harnett, P. and Dawe, S., 2019. A randomized controlled trial and economic evaluation of the Parents Under Pressure program for parents in substance abuse treatment. Drug and Alcohol Dependence, 194, pp.184-194.

Sembi, S., 2018. Mums4mums--structured telephone peer-support for women experiencing postnatal depression: a pilot RCT to test its clinical effectiveness (Doctoral dissertation, University of Warwick).

Barlow, J., Sembi, S. and Underdown, A., 2016. Pilot RCT of the use of video interactive guidance with preterm babies. Journal of Reproductive and Infant Psychology, 34(5), pp.511- 524. Barlow, J., Sembi, S., Gardner, F., Macdonald, G., Petrou, S., Parsons, H., Harnett, P. and Dawe, S., 2013. An evaluation of the parents under pressure programme: a study protocol for an RCT into its clinical and cost effectiveness. Trials, 14, pp.1-11.

Caramlau, I., Barlow, J., Sembi, S., McKenzie-McHarg, K. and McCabe, C., 2011. Mums 4 Mums: structured telephone peer-support for women experiencing postnatal depression. Pilot and exploratory RCT of its clinical and cost effectiveness. Trials, 12, pp.1-6.

Schlaghecken, F., Rowley, L., Sembi, S., Simmons, R. and Whitcomb, D., 2007. The negative compatibility effect: A case for self-inhibition. Advances in Cognitive Psychology, 3(1-2), p.227.