Judith Argent

Senior CBT Therapist and Director.

RGN, RMN, Dip in CBT

Judith is an accredited cognitive behavior therapist with the BABCP (British Association of Behavioral & Cognitive Psychotherapies).

Having initially trained as a general and mental health nurse she managed an NHS Behavioral Psychotherapy in patient unit for 10 years at St. Lukes Woodside Hospital, in Camden and Islington NHS Foundation Trust.

Judith trained at The Maudsley Hospital and then at Goldsmiths University where she obtained a diploma in Cognitive Behavior Therapy in 2001.

She has attended training in working with adolescents at the Oxford Centre of cognitive therapy as well as Mindfulness, Compassion Focused Therapy, advanced therapy for obsessional disorders, EMDR, couples therapy, Acceptance and Commitment Therapy and working with chronic health problems.

In the past 20 years she has worked within her private practice and at The Priory Hospital North London.

Whilst working in The North London Priory Judith initially worked within the general CBT team offering therapy for a wide range of disorders for in-patients and out patients. Following this she managed the Eating Disorders treatment unit which involved setting up a CBT program working with both clients and their families.

In the latter part of her employment at The Priory Judith was involved in working within a small specialist team providing CBT for young people and adults with severe Obsessional Compulsive Disorder and Body Dysmorphic Disorder.

Judith currently specializes in working with mild to severe Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD) and other anxiety related disorders. She has a particular interest in working with adolescents using mindfulness and self-compassion skills to help them to manage their extreme and uncomfortable emotions. When working with adolescents she will include the family and carers in therapy to offer them guidance in supporting the clients difficulties.

Judith has experience in working with the following disorders:

Complex OCD, Body Dysmorphic Disorder (BDD) and other obsessional disorders such as Emetophobia (Vomit Phobia) and Health Anxiety
General anxiety disorder / worry
Social Anxiety
Panic disorder/ Agoraphobia
Eating disorders
Trauma
Depression
Chronic Fatigue
Chronic Health problems
Difficulties experienced by people who are on The Autistic Spectrum

"I started seeing Judith after I was diagnosed with OCD with intrusive thoughts. I’d struck gold that Judith was so local and so experienced. She herself was trained and worked alongside the authors of the book: Overcoming Obsessive Compulsive Disorder: A Self-Help Guide Using Cognitive Behavioral Techniques. Before my first session with Judith, I was full of anticipation and hope that my therapy decision would be positive and life-saving and it definitely was. From the start, she allowed me to take notes and record exposure therapy. Instantly I had a tool to take with me. She totally understood me, listened compassionately to my story and explained my thoughts so well. Quickly the major panic attacks became less frequent. Following that, the fear attached to my thoughts slowly lost its power. The road to recovery wasn’t an easy downward curve. I was set challenging tasks and Judith knew that some triggers were inevitable. However her consistent calm nature always settled me and I always left each session back on track. I will always remember a session where we both burst into laughter and instantly I knew I could tell this woman anything. As time went on, and this was a relatively long time, through repetition, respectful dialogue and expert teaching, my brain did start to make new connections and a year on, these connections are still fixed. I won’t lie, I still have moments of fear and extreme anxiety, but the toolbox Judith has provided me will always be the best gift anyone with mental health issues could wish to receive." J.W North London

"Judith is an intelligent and professional cognitive behavioural therapist who gave me well-tailored advice on how to face and challenge my fears. She was good at understanding and empathising with my anxiety problems and the long history of OCD. Her reasonings with me are usually well supported, logical and rational, which was of great help in convincing me to follow the CBT exposure techniques, since I am normally influenced more easily by logic. Thanks to her application of CBT we were able to tackle the OCD obsessions that were limiting my life and now I am free to do and enjoy things that before I could only imagine. The therapy helped me to push myself out of my comfort zone, "to be more resilient and to live a fuller and freer life."

A.Y East London