About Us
Psychological Minds
Dr Chris Burke
Director and Lead Clinical Psychologist
Dr Chris Burke is a Chartered Clinical Psychologist with almost 30 years’ experience supporting children, young people, and adults. He has worked across the NHS and private sector, with a particular focus on trauma, attachment, and the needs of vulnerable children.
Chris spent seven years at the Centre for the Vulnerable Child and has completed extensive specialist training, including postgraduate study in therapeutic work with children and young people. He is co‑author of the Safe and Meaningful Contact Guidelines, now widely used to help practitioners understand the impact of contact on a child’s wellbeing.
As an expert witness, Chris provides clear, thoughtful medico‑legal assessments and regularly gives evidence in court. He also offers consultation, supervision, and training to practitioners and caregivers who support looked‑after children.
Sarah Burke
Director and Lead Occupational Therapist
With 20 years of experience in CAMHS, Sarah brings a deep and nuanced understanding of child and adolescent development, attachment, developmental trauma, neurodiversity, and the experiences of children in foster care kinship care and adoption.
Sarah has held senior roles, including Team Lead in a large Child and Adolescent Mental Health Service, where she worked clinically and provided supervision and training to colleagues. She led a consultation team supporting the network around care‑experienced children to make sense of behaviour in the context of earlier life experiences. She has extensive experience in neurodevelopmental assessment for Autism and ADHD and has a specialist interest in assessing neurodiversity in the context of trauma. Sarah has contributed to the development of the Safe and Meaningful Contact Guidelines
Alongside Occupational Therapy models of practice, Sarah has specialist training in a variety of therapeutic approaches, including specialist Play‑based Occupational Therapy, Mentalization‑Based Treatment for Children, CBT‑informed interventions, and solution‑focused therapy.
