Emma Cernis

I am the co-ordinator and therapist for the SleepWell trial, run by Dr Felicity Waite, based in Prof Daniel Freeman's Oxford Cognitive Approaches to Psychosis (O-CAP) research group.

The SleepWell trial is a randomised controlled trial (RCT) assessing the feasibility and acceptability of a CBT intervention for insomnia for young people (aged 14-25 years) with At Risk Mental State. At Risk Mental State presentations may include sub-clinical symptoms of psychosis such as hallucinations, hearing voices, or feeling significant mistrust of others (paranoia).

I have a long-standing interest in working with people with psychosis, having previously worked in the O-CAP team as a trial therapist on clinical trials of persecutory delusions including Feeling Safe and SlowMo. I also previously held an honorary clinical psychologist role within the Oxford Early Intervention for Psychosis service, where I specialised in working with people experiencing a first episode of psychosis and significant dissociative symptoms.

My other key clinical and research interest is the psychological understanding and treatment of dissociation. I recently completed a 3-year Wellcome Trust Clinical Doctoral Fellowship supervised by Prof Daniel Freeman and Prof Anke Ehlers which focused on dissociation in the context of psychosis. This research followed on from my clinical psychology training doctorate at the Oxford Institute of Clinical Psychology Training, where my dissertation also focused on dissociation, and where my specialist training was in youth trauma.

I am an HCPC registered clinical psychologist.

More information about the SleepWell study can be found here.