Highlights

Anna Drescher is a freelance mental health writer and editor with over a decade of experience in the mental health sector and two first-class psychology degrees. Her writing covers psychology, mental health, meditation, and hypnosis, with clients including NGOs, health organisations, startups, and digital wellbeing apps.

She holds a BSc in Psychology (first-class honours) from Goldsmiths, University of London and a Master of Mental Health (Psychotherapy, Distinction) from the University of Queensland, Australia.

Anna’s clinical background spans the NHS, community and in-patient care, prison mental health services, and the charity sector. Roles have included Assistant Psychologist at HMP Swaleside (Oxleas NHS Foundation Trust), Recovery Officer with Richmond Fellowship Queensland, and Co-production and User Involvement Manager at H&F Mind.

In 2017, she qualified as a Solution-Focused Hypnotherapist, holding both the DSFH (accredited by the Clifton Practice) and the HPD (accredited by the NCFE and awarded through the National Council for Hypnotherapy). She also completed the Sivananda Yoga Teacher Training Course in India in 2016 and has maintained a private hypnotherapy and mindfulness practice since 2017.

She has been a professional copyeditor accredited by the Chartered Institute of Editing and Proofreading (CIEP) since 2022.

Professional Experience

• Freelance writer and copyeditor (2021-Present): Research; content, blog and script writing; ghostwriting; editing
• Private solution-focused hypnotherapist/ therapist (2017-Present): Working with individuals with mental health difficulties using techniques from solution-focused hypnotherapy, mindfulness, yoga/ meditation and cognitive-behavioural therapy (CBT)
• Assistant Clinical Psychologist at Oxleas NHS Foundation Trust (2020-2021): Engaging therapeutically with men diagnosed with personality disorders at HMP Swaleside. Leading on audits and assisting in the design and implementation of a research project on the Offender Personality Disorder Pathway
• Recovery Officer, Richmond Fellowship Queensland (2018-2019): Supporting the recovery of individuals with severe and enduring mental health conditions in in-patient and community care
• Co-production and User Involvement Manager, H&F Mind (2016-2017): Implementing and developing H&F Mind’s co-production and user involvement project across two London boroughs
• Community Recovery Worker, Hestia (2015-2016): Supporting the recovery of individuals through managing and facilitating activity groups in the community
• Mental Health Assistant, Alpha Hospital (2014): Supporting patients detained under the Mental Health Act (1987) in a psychiatric low-secure hospital

Education

• Professional Copyeditor, Chartered Institute of Editing and Proofreading (CIEP), 2022
• Master of Mental Health / Psychotherapy (Distinction), University of Queensland, 2018–2020
• Solution-Focused Hypnotherapy Diploma (DSFH) and Hypnotherapy Practitioner Diploma (HPD), The Clifton Practice, 2016–2017
• Yoga Teacher Training, International Sivananda Yoga Vedanta Centre, India, 2016
• BSc Psychology (First-Class Honours), Goldsmiths, University of London, 2011–2014

Publications