Dimitra Theofili is the eating disorders and addictions therapist at Banbury Lodge, and a reviewer for the Sanctuary Lodge website. Dimitra specialises in group therapy, eating disorders, couple's therapy, crisis intervention, anger management and individual counselling. She uses her expertise to assess our pages and ensure all content relating to her field is accurate and digestible, often supporting the writing with quotes from her own experiences. In addition to working with UKAT, she has worked as a systemic family therapist and eating disorder therapist for the last fifteen years in her private practice.
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Dimitra Theofili
In 2004 Dimitra began her professional career in addiction recovery as a social worker for a non-governmental organisation (NGO) in Greece. It was in Greece, where she also completed her bachelor's research in women's alcoholism. The assignment was accredited as "excellent" and went on to be published by the University of Crete.
Title: The women alcoholism in Athens and Heraklion in Crete
Publisher: T.E.I. of Crete, School of Health and Welfare Services (SEYP), Department of Social Work
Authors: Theofili, Dimitra
Thesis advisor: Foustanaki, Ioanna
Publication Date: 28-02-2008
During her research, Dimitra had first-hand experience of the battles people with addiction endure. It was then that she understood the incredible power of group therapy, something which first attracted her to UKAT: "Not many private addiction companies offer the opportunity to take therapy as a group, which I feel is important because addicts need to feel understood and take support from one another – power of the group gives people power".
Dimitra has a proven history of working as a mental health care member of BACP and holds numerous accolades in various fields. Her qualifications include:
- Bachelor's Degree in Social Work (University of Crete)
- An MSc degree in Forensic Psychology and Criminology (Open University of London)
- A Master Practitioner Diploma in Eating Disorders and Obesity at the NCFED London (National Centre for Eating Disorders)
- Completed comprehensive training courses in Systemic and family therapy, systemic counselling (Laboratory for the Study of Human Relations), psychological support for refugees , education psychology, dyslexia (Kapodistriakon University of Greece) , anger management (Anger Management Advanced Counselling Diploma Level- Oplex Careers), self-harm and suicide prevention treatment (The Skills Network) and team leading (NCFE Level 2 Certificate in Principles of Team leading)
Dimitra understands how to effectively free people from the pain of addiction, both the person suffering from the illness and the loved ones who are closely affected. With her help, she has witnessed people transform their lives.
"I have always admired people who find the courage to seek treatment and discover a way to live a life worth living."