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Dr Sonja Falck

Senior Lecturer in Counselling and Psychotherapy

Sonja is a UKCP Accredited Psychotherapist and Supervisor and BACP Senior Accredited. She joined UEL in April 2016, where she teaches on undergraduate and postgraduate programmes and provides clinical and research supervision to trainee counsellors. In her role as Clinical Director for the BSc Counselling programme she oversees the clinical requirements of the training and liaises between the university and organisations who provide placements for trainees.

    Sonja combines teaching, research, and writing with a private practice working as a psychotherapist in Harley Street since 2004 and as an executive coach and organisational consultant. She integrates several theories and techniques in her work to respond collaboratively to each individual client’s needs, but holds an overall relational psychodynamic framework based on contemporary neuroscientific findings.

    Sonja is a South African who has long been settled in London. She graduated with a BSocSc(Hons) in Clinical Psychology from the University of Cape Town, then completed an MA in Psychoanalysis (with distinction) at Middlesex University. She completed her coaching training, at EMCC (European Mentoring and Coaching Council) Senior Practitioner level, through the Tavistock. Her DPsych – Doctorate in Psychotherapy by Professional Studies – was gained through Metanoia Institute and Middlesex University. She used interviews, textual analysis, and a Constructivist Grounded Theory methodology for her final dissertation, which was titled “The Child, the Emperor, and the Fabulous Clothes: Constructing a theory of how interpersonal difficulty in gifted adults arises, is perpetuated, and can be overcome”.

    What underpins all of Sonja’s work is fascination with relationships of all kinds (parenting, siblings, romantic, workplace, etc), and how these play out in pairs, in groups, and in whole organisations, and her particular research and practice specialism is with gifted/high-IQ/high ability individuals. She has presented at the SENG (Supporting the Emotional Needs of the Gifted) conference in the USA and has given several presentations for British Mensa.


    Highlights

    Overview

    Most recently Sonja has completed mixed methods, and qualitative, research projects on the psychosocial implications of living and working with giftedness/high ability/very high IQ. This area continues to be her research focus, with a large-scale quantitative project currently being worked on.


    Collaborators

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    Research

    'Fake it 'til you make it: Can deliberately adopting secure attachment behaviour lead to secure attachment organisation?' in Shemmings, D. and Shemmings, Y. (Eds). Disorganized Attachment Behaviour in Children - An Evidence-Based Model for Understanding and Supporting Families.

    Falck, S. and Shemmings, D.. 2014. Jessica Kingsley Publishers. Chapter 17, pp.212-223.

    'Making the most of your mind'. In Mensa Magazine

    Falck, S.. 2016. York.

    Highlights

    Publications

    • Attachment Theory
    • Relational Psychoanalysis
    • Systemic-psychodynamic coaching and organisational consultancy
    • Improving personal and workplace relationships
    • The interpersonal relating of gifted/high IQ/high ability adults, developmentally and in personal and work relationships.

    Highlights

    Interests

    • Attachment Theory
    • Relational Psychoanalysis
    • Systemic-psychodynamic coaching and organisational consultancy
    • Improving personal and workplace relationships
    • The interpersonal relating of gifted/high IQ/high ability adults, developmentally and in personal and work relationships.


    Highlights

    Teaching