On Wednesday 27 February, our AS and A Level Psychology students were privileged to receive a visit from clinical psychologist Dr. Terry Spokes, along with his colleagues and recovery coaches Gary O’Neill and Pip Baddock, from Bali Beginnings Rehab Centre. Dr. Terry earned his doctorate degree in Clinical Psychology from the University of Oxford and has had years of experience “providing therapy to support people experiencing not only problems related to addiction, but also a range of psychological and neurological conditions, including brain injury, post-traumatic stress disorder, depression, and anxiety.”
Dr. Terry’s in-depth insight was invaluable in expanding students’ knowledge on the real-world applications of Psychology in uncovering the underlying causal factors of substance addiction as well as in treating and managing addictive disorders – one of the components of the A Level syllabus.
From the client perspective, Gary and Pip shared wisdom-filled personal accounts of their own journeys of recovery from drug and alcohol addiction, which added to a more holistic picture of the complex reality of battling and recovering from addiction. Dr. Terry was also able to answer questions from several students who are considering to pursue Psychology in university and as a future field of profession.
A big thank you to Dr. Terry, Gary, and Pip for sharing their valued expertise and enlightening personal stories (and for staying back to tend to questions from a long line of inquisitive students!). And to all the Class 11-12 students who joined in the session and participated actively through profound and stimulating questions that further deepened the discussion.
For more information on the wonderful work of the Bali Beginnings team, visit
rehabbali.com.