Our experts

Area of Expertise

• Young people with complex mental health needs and where there is considerable risk of harm to self, others and from others, including:
  • self-harm and suicidal behaviour, childhood sexual abuse and exploitation, interpersonal violence, harmful sexual behaviour and fire setting.
• Vulnerable witnesses and defendants within the criminal justice system.
• Multi-systemic assessment and intervention for vulnerable young people, and families at risk of breakdown.

Biography

Dr. Rhianna Watts is a Principal Clinical Psychologist for the CAMHS Adolescent At-risk & Forensic Service, which assesses and treats young people who are engaged in, or present significant risk of, serious violence, fire-setting and/or harmful sexual behaviour and/or who are at risk of harm or exploitation from others. She has a special interest in working with the system (including parents, families and professionals) around such young people.

Dr. Watts is a chartered psychologist with the British Psychological Society, in the division of clinical psychology, and a practitioner psychologist with the Health Care Professions Council.

Dr. Watts has previously worked within a Multisystemic Therapy Team for young people at risk of antisocial behaviour, and the Children and Young People’s Havens Service providing specialist psychological assessment and intervention for children, young people and their families who have experienced recent sexual assault / abuse or exploitation. Dr. Watts additionally provides a forensic interview service at the Havens, in collaboration with the Metropolitan Police Service, for children and young people reporting sexual assault / abuse or exploitation to the Police.

 

Education and Training

• BSc (Hons) Psychology (University College, London), 2005
• Doctorate in Clinical Psychology (Institute of Psychiatry, King’s College London), 2010
• Multi-systemic Therapy
• Dialectical Behaviour Therapy, including adaptation for PTSD
• AIM2 and AIM3 Assessment and Intervention for harmful sexual behaviour
• Forensic interviewing of children and young people

 

Publications

Watts, R and Medin, E (2017). Child friendly forensic interviewing led by clinical psychologists – A pilot service for children who disclose sexual abuse. Oral Presentation: Forensic Psychology Conference 2017.

Johnston, K., Prentice, K., Whitehead, H., Taylor, L., Watts, R., Tranah, T. (2016). Assessing effective participation in vulnerable juvenile defendants, The Journal of Forensic Psychiatry & Psychology, 27, 6, 802-814.

Watts, R and Sarhane, M. (April 2014). Supporting the primary caregivers of young offenders with complex psychiatric and/or neurodevelopmental diagnoses. Poster Presentation: Research in Forensic Mental Health Services Conference, Institute of Psychiatry.

Schlottmann, A., Cole, K., Watts, R., White, M. (2013). Domain-specific perceptual causality in children depends on the spatio-temporal configuration, not motion onset. Frontiers in Cognitive Science, Special Research Topic on Time and Causality (M.Bühner, Ed.), 4, 365.