Kuda Kali

Kuda Kali is a Registered Mental Health Nurse at Harbor who specialises in eating disorders. She is also an accredited Cognitive Analytic Therapy (CAT) therapist.

CAT is a talking therapy that focuses on relationships, both with other people and with oneself. Kuda uses it to help people with low self-esteem, low mood or anxiety, as well as those with longer-standing personality difficulties.

Alongside her specialist work, she provides general mental health nursing for people with conditions such as depression and personality disorder. Her nursing skills also carry over to supporting people with addictions, including substance misuse.

Professional Background & Qualifications

Kuda trained as a mental health nurse through a three-year programme at the University of Surrey.

She later spent two years training in Cognitive Analytic Therapy with South London and Maudsley NHS Trust and the Association for Cognitive Analytic Therapy (ACAT) in London.

She is also trained in several treatments designed for eating disorders. These include Family-Based Treatment, which involves the family in a young person’s recovery, as well as Specialist Supportive Clinical Management, the Maudsley Model of Anorexia Nervosa Treatment for Adults (MANTRA) and CBT for eating disorders. Her wider training covers motivational interviewing, along with skills from Dialectical Behaviour Therapy (DBT) and Radically Open DBT, a version designed for people who tend to be overly self-controlled.

Professional Experience

Kuda spent 17 years in an NHS eating disorder service in London, where she held leadership and supervisory roles. She worked with adults as well as young people from mid-adolescence, many of whom were also dealing with other psychological or physical health problems.

Throughout, she combined psychological treatment with specialist nursing, including monitoring clients’ physical health and providing medical support where needed.

Beyond her clinical work, Kuda has contributed to early intervention research. She has also led workshops and conference sessions and helped train and develop multidisciplinary teams.

In addition, she has supported young adults as they move into independent living, helping them cope with academic pressure and learn to look after themselves.

Approach to Care

In CAT sessions, Kuda helps people spot the patterns in how they treat themselves and others, and see how those patterns keep their difficulties going.

Whatever the setting, she meets clients where they are and holds on to hope for their recovery, adapting her approach and drawing on her nursing or her therapy training as the situation calls for.