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Psychiatry

 

Ayla Humphrey is an Associate Professor in the Department of Psychiatry at the University of Cambridge and the Course Director for the MPhil in Foundations of Clinical Psychology.

A practising Clinical Psychologist in NHS Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services, her work centres on the early identification of mental health and developmental needs in children and young people, and on improving services for families to meet these needs.

She is the co-founder of the Cambridge Centre for Paediatric Neuropsychological Rehabilitation (CCPNR) and the Founding Director of Cambridge Family Social Enterprise. In recognition of her clinical and applied contributions, she received the British Psychological Society’s 2017 Award for Outstanding Contribution to Applied Practice.

Her research spans early developmental trajectories in children with Tuberous Sclerosis, autism, and epilepsy. Current collaborations include Parents and Young Children under Extreme Stress (PYCES), Delivery of Cognitive Therapy for Young People After Trauma (Decrypt), and work as an Affiliated Scientist.

Her publications are available on ResearchGate:

https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Ayla-Humphrey

 

 

Research Group: ChARM

Publications

Key publications: 

Meiser-Stedman, Richard & Allen, Leila & Ashford, Polly-Anna & Beeson, Ella & Byford, Sarah & Danese, Andrea & Farr, Annie & Finn, Jack & Goodall, Ben & Grainger, Lauren & Hammond, Matthew & Harmston, Rebecca & Humphrey, Ayla & King, Dorothy & Lofthouse, Katie & Mahoney-Davies, Gerwyn & Miles, Sarah & Moore, Jessica & Morant, Nicola & Smith, Patrick. (2025). A pragmatic randomised controlled trial of cognitive therapy for post-traumatic stress disorder in children and adolescents exposed to multiple traumatic stressors: the DECRYPT trial. World psychiatry: official journal of the World Psychiatric Association (WPA). 24. 422-434. 10.1002/wps.21355. 

 

B. Coughlan, N. Marshall, M. Woolgar, et al., Typological and cumulative approaches to risk and adversity in Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services (CAMHS): Retrospective cohort analysis in South London, Comprehensive Psychiatry (2024), https://doi.org/10.1016/j.comppsych.2024.152568

Robinson, J; Russell, A; Johnston, K; Acker, L; Crabtree, J; Humphrey, A; Crouch, E; (2024) Expanding and developing the workforce to serve autistic people and people with intellectual disability. Clinical Psychology Forum , 1 (375) pp. 60-74. 10.53841/bpscpf.2024.1.375.60.

Soneson E, Das S, Burn AM, van Melle M, Anderson JK, Fazel M, Fonagy P, Ford T, Gilbert R, Harron K, Howarth E, Humphrey A, Jones PB, Moore A. Leveraging Administrative Data to Better Understand and Address Child Maltreatment: A Scoping Review of Data Linkage Studies. Child Maltreat. 2023 Feb;28(1):176-195. doi: 10.1177/10775595221079308. Epub 2022 Mar 3. PMID: 35240863; PMCID: PMC9806482.

Childs-Fegredo, J., Burn, AM., Duschinsky, R. et al. Acceptability and Feasibility of Early Identification of Mental Health Difficulties in Primary Schools: A Qualitative Exploration of UK School Staff and Parents’ Perceptions. School Mental Health 13, 143–159 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12310-020-09398-3

Allen L, Ashford P-A, Beeson E, et al. DECRYPT trial: study protocol for a phase II randomised controlled trial of cognitive therapy for post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) in youth exposed to multiple traumatic stressors. BMJ Open, 2021;11:e047600. doi:10.1136/bmjopen-2020-047600

Howarth E, Vainre M, Humphrey A, Lombardo C, Hanafiah AN, Anderson JK, Jones PB. Delphi study to identify key features of community-based child and adolescent mental health services in the East of England. BMJ Open. 2019 Jun 19;9(6):e022936. doi: 10.1136/bmjopen-2018-022936. PMID: 31221865; PMCID: PMC6589022.

Humphrey A, MacLean C, Ploubidis GB, Granader Y, Clifford M, Haslop M, Neville BG, Yates JR, Bolton PF; Tuberous Sclerosis 2000 Study Group. Intellectual development before and after the onset of infantile spasms: a controlled prospective longitudinal study in tuberous sclerosis. Epilepsia. 2014 Jan;55(1):108-16. doi: 10.1111/epi.12484. Epub 2014 Jan 13. PMID: 24417555.

Humphrey A, Ploubidis GB, Yates JR, Steinberg T, Bolton PF. The Early Childhood Epilepsy Severity Scale (E-Chess). Epilepsy Res. 2008 May;79(2-3):139-45. doi: 10.1016/j.eplepsyres.2008.01.007. Epub 2008 Apr 2. PMID: 18387786.

Humphrey A, Neville BG, Clarke A, Bolton PF. Autistic regression associated with seizure onset in an infant with tuberous sclerosis. Dev Med Child Neurol. 2006 Jul;48(7):609-11. doi: 10.1017/S0012162206001277. PMID: 16780633.

Course Director, MPhil Foundations of Clinical Psychology
Associate Professor
Practicing Child and Adolescent Clinical Psychologist with an honorary contract in the NHS
Dr Ayla Humphrey
Takes PhD students
Available for consultancy

Affiliations

Classifications: