Lesley Simpson-Gray

Lesley is an experienced Child and Adolescent Psychotherapist and certified Cyber-Therapist. She has used her long-held passion for imagery, music and the creative arts to underpin her professional training at the Institute for Arts in Therapy and Education.

She has run her private psychotherapy practice since 2017 and she moved from ‘in-person’ therapy to a 3D virtual playroom in 2020. Her therapeutic framework combines neuroscience, digital creative arts, and a blend of the physical and virtual worlds to deliver playful, immersive interventions.

Lesley’s lived experience as a black, British professional has led to her special interest in raising the profile of neurodiversity, especially amongst care-experienced children and young people with a cultural connection to the African diaspora. For several years she worked for a national UK charity as a young people’s advocate and independent mental health advocate.

Lesley designs and delivers her own series of cyber-creativity workshops and training programmes. Her goal is to help mental health professionals to gain IT skills and confidence for online creative arts therapy.