Specialist Psychological Medicine Service
for Children with Persistent Physical Symptoms

Covid 19 Update – Business as usual by state-of-the art online mental health assessment (DAWBA) and video/telephone appointments

Welcome to Mind and Body London

Mind and Body London are the only private specialist mental health service in the country which focuses on children with a combination of physical and mental health problems. We are a multi-disciplinary team of specialist clinicians led by Professor Isobel Heyman.

What we do

Mind and Body London offer services for children and adolescents with physical symptoms and who are distressed or having difficulties with day-to-day life. This may be because their symptoms are stopping them doing things they would like to be doing, or they have emotional or behavioural problems in the context of physical ill-health, such as epilepsy and chronic pain. They may have functional symptoms (symptoms that are not caused by a serious underlying disease), which can also be referred to as ‘conversion symptoms’ or ‘medically unexplained symptoms’.

Our Aim

The emphasis is on individual assessment and meeting the needs of each child and family. Our comprehensive assessments are designed to ensure that our range of services best meets your child’s needs. Our philosophy is to involve all the services needed for regaining good quality of life, and we will liaise with your local services, school and other colleagues as needed as we know that this is the key to successful on-going outcomes. If treatment is requested and needed, we may be able to offer this. An ongoing package of treatment will always include us working closely with a local team of professionals.

Dr Heyman’s multidisciplinary approach ensures that she and her colleagues will arrange consultations with additional Great Ormond Street professionals as needed in each individual case – including paediatricians, physiotherapists and occupational therapists.

‘I am doing very well in school and at home, I haven’t collapsed for over 8 months now!! J And I am getting top marks in all of my subjects….. Many many thanks’

“You will not believe it but I don’t think we need another session. My child had their vaccination today! …. thank you for the fantastic work you did. It was extremely helpful — both for dealing with the anxiety around needles but also more broadly learning calming techniques in case of anxieties”

“Thank you for the very informative appointment. It was so helpful and reassuring too. The doctors who assessed my child were truly amazing! Thank you so much.”

“Thank you so much for the letter. It summarises everything about our child and is just what I need to send to their future school. Thank you once again for all yours and Dr Liang’s help. It really has been life changing for us and our child and hopefully now they can reach their full potential.”

“We were seen quickly, our concerns as parents were listened to and most importantly our child was listened to. For the first time they felt heard. You provided an excellent report following our child’s assessment.

Out of all the wellbeing and mental health professionals that my child had come into contact with, you were the only ones to bring up the fact that our child may have autism. Thank you for helping us get to the cause of their mental health problems. As parents we are now able to support them better and have seen their mental health and life improve.”

Mind and Body London ​

Specialist Psychological Medicine Service for Children with Persistent Physical Symptoms