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Dr Tom Cawthorne is a Senior Clinical Psychologist within the National Conduct Adoption and Fostering Team (CAFT). In this role, he conducts psychological assessments and interventions with children and adolescents who are adopted or fostered and young people presenting with significant behavioural difficulties.  

Prior to joining the team Dr Tom Cawthorne worked within the Intensive Treatment Programme of the Maudsley Centre for Child and Adolescent Eating Disorders, which is a national service for young people with severe anorexia that has not responded to outpatient treatment. He has also previously worked within a specialist clinic for adopted and fostered children at the Anna Freud Centre and in different CAMHS and Paediatric services. 

Dr Tom Cawthorne has a specialist interest in working with young people with neurodevelopmental conditions, including autism and ADHD. He is trained in conducting diagnostic neurodevelopmental assessments and providing adapted psychological interventions for the co-occurring mental health problems commonly experienced by young people with these conditions. 

In addition to his position in CAFT Dr Tom Cawthorne has an honorary contract at Great Ormond Street Hospital, where he works part-time in a specialist clinic for young people with functional symptoms (physical symptoms without an obvious medical cause), tics and Tourette’s. He is also actively involved in research, teaching and training, including lecturing on the MSc in Child Mental Health and Doctorate in Clinical Psychology at Kings College London and being a trainer in Mentalization Based Treatment with Families (MBT-F) at the Anna Freud Centre. 

Education and Training 

• BSc (Hons) Psychology, Durham University 
• MSc Developmental Psychopathology, Durham University 
• Doctorate in Clinical Psychology, Royal Holloway, University of London 
• BABCP Accredited Cognitive Behavioural Psychotherapist 
• Mentalization-based Treatment for Families (MBT-F), practitioner, supervisor and trainer, Anna Freud Centre 

Publications 

Cawthorne, T., Käll, A,. Bennett, S., Baker, E., Andersson, G., Shafran, R. (2023). The development and preliminary evaluation of CBT for Chronic Loneliness in young People. Behavioural and Cognitive Psychotherapy. 

Cawthorne, T., Käll, A,. Bennett, S., Baker, E., Shafran, R. (2023). Do single-case experimental designs (SCEDs) lead to randomised controlled trials (RCTs) of CBT interventions for adolescent anxiety disorders recommended in the NICE guidelines? A systematic review. JCPP Advances, e12181. 

Cawthorne, T., Käll, A,. Bennett, S., Anderrson, G., Shafran, R. (2022). The Development of Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT) for Chronic Loneliness in Children and Young People: Protocol for a Single-Case Experimental Design. PLOS One. 

Charman, T., Palmer, M., Stringer, D., Hallett, V., Mueller, J., Romeo, R., … & Simonoff, E. (2021). A novel group parenting intervention for emotional and behavioral difficulties in young autistic children: Autism spectrum treatment and resilience (ASTAR): A randomized controlled trial. Journal of the American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry, 60(11), 1404-1418. 

Palmer, M., Paris Perez, J., Tarver, J., Cawthorne, T., Frayne, M., Webb, S., … & Charman, T. (2021). Development of the Observation Schedule for Children with Autism–Anxiety, Behaviour and Parenting (OSCA–ABP): A new measure of child and parenting behavior for use with young autistic children. Journal of autism and developmental disorders, 51(1), 1-14. 

South, M., Hanley, M., Normansell-Mossa, K., Russell, N. C., Cawthorne, T., & Riby, D. M. (2021). “Intolerance of uncertainty” mediates the relationship between social profile and anxiety in both Williams syndrome and autism. Autism Research, 14(9), 1986-1995. 

Palmer, M., Tarver, J., Perez, J. P., Cawthorne, T., Romeo, R., Stringer, D.,  & Charman, T. (2019). A novel group parenting intervention to reduce emotional and behavioural difficulties in young autistic children: protocol for the Autism Spectrum Treatment and Resilience pilot randomised controlled trial. BMJ open, 9(6), e029959.