ACCEPTING ENQUIRIES · PRIVATE DAY INTENSIVE · LONDON SE
DATES FROM SEPTEMBER 2026
A bespoke, evidence-based intensive for high-achieving students at London's highest-performing schools. Delivered by a specialist psychotherapist to resolve the sleep problems that get in the way of everything else.
LIMITED AVAILABILITY
WHO IS THIS FOR
This is for students who have tried everything. The melatonin, the magnesium, the 10pm phone ban. And yet the 3am waking, the racing thoughts, the morning fog — they persist. The harder they try to fix it, the worse it gets.
Predicted top grades. Lying awake rehearsing worst-case scenarios. Falling asleep in afternoon lessons. Convinced their peers are somehow coping better.
Revision done. The work is in. But the brain won’t switch off at night — and by morning, it won’t switch on. Sleep deprivation is quietly undoing everything they’ve put in.
Parents, tutors, and form teachers can all see it. Grades slipping. Mood low. Increasingly withdrawn. Sleep is rarely named as the cause — but it is almost always critical.
THE PROBLEM WITH SLEEP PROBLEMS
Sleep difficulties in high-achievers almost never have a single cause. They sit at the intersection of physiology, psychology, and deeply entrenched behavioural patterns — often reinforced, accidentally, by intelligent coping strategies. In these cases, even the best sleep hygiene can backfire.
“The harder you try to sleep, the further away it gets. This is not a character flaw. It is a learned problem with a learnable solution.”
CBT for Insomnia (CBTi) is the gold-standard, First-line treatment recommended by NICE, the NHS, and the American Academy of Sleep Medicine — consistently outperforming medication in long-term outcomes. In a single focused day, we move through the complete programme.
THE STRUCTURE
This is not a consultation. It is a contained, three-phase intervention designed to create lasting change — not just insight.
ONE WEEK BEFORE · 45 MINUTES
A focused intake call to gather a complete sleep history, identify the specific pattern at play, and brief on what to track in the seven days prior. The student arrives at the day having already started the process. Their sleep diary data makes everything immediately actionable.
THE INTENSIVE DAY · 9.30AM - 2.30PM
A private, unhurried morning and early afternoon working through the complete CBTi protocol — integrated with therapeutic approaches tailored to the individual. The student leaves with a clear verbal summary of their plan, with the full written version delivered the same evening.
TWO WEEKS OF FOLLOW-UP SUPPORT · FINAL 30-MINUTE CALL
After two weeks of follow-up support to successfully embed the plan, a final check-in reviews any last obstacles to effortless sleep and makes refinements. Most people find the first two weeks require small adjustments — this is where we make them.
INSIDE THE DAY
Analysing the diary data. Identifying the personal sleep window, efficiency score, and the specifc mechanisms maintaining the insomnia.
Gradually rebuilding sleep drive using neuroscience — not willpower. Setting the parameters of a personal sleep programme in a way that feels manageable, not punishing.
Reconditioning the relationship between bed and wakefulness. Practical, specific, and immediately implementable.
Lunch. A deliberate pause — itself part of the work of learning to rest.
Identifying and transforming the thought patterns that keep high achievers awake: catastrophising, clock-watching, performance anxiety around sleep itself.
Learning the specific techniques that work for this nervous system — not a generic relaxation script.
A clear walkthrough of the full plan before the session ends. The complete written Sleep Repair Plan follows by email the same evening.
WHAT CHANGES
Head on pillow to sleep within 30 minutes, effortlessly and consistently — without chemical assistance.
The 2am and 4am waking cycles disrupted. The pattern, broken.
The anxiety loop around sleep — anticipating sleeplessness — resolved at its root.
Cognitive clarity, emotional regulation, and memory consolidation — restored. Better sleep is the single highest-leverage thing a student can do for their academic performance.
YOUR PRACTITIONER
Christy Reynolds, MSc
UKCP Registered Psychotherapist
Christy Reynolds is a senior psychotherapist based in South East London — with a rare combination of clinical depth, academic background, and school-community experience. Sleep Repair intensive is her private practice offer: specialist care, at depth, for young people who need it.
Postgraduate-trained to work with the full complexity of sleep difficulties: the anxiety, low mood, hyperarousal, and entrenched patterns that sit beneath the surface and that require genuine therapeutic skill to address.
The gold-standard, first-line treatment recommended by NICE; the same evidence base used in NHS sleep clinics, delivered with the depth of private specialist care, accessed without years on a waiting list.
Where sleep disruption is maintained by trauma, anxiety, or deeply entrenched beliefs about sleep itself, EMDR offers a remarkably efficient route through. Christy brings this alongside CBTi where it is clinically indicated — placing this work at the cutting edge of sleep therapy practice.
Senior NHS clinical experience working with young people across a range of mental health presentations, with specialist expertise in the intersection of sleep, anxiety, mood, and emotional regulation.
Deep specialist knowledge of sleep in ADHD, autism, and high cognitive demand, gained within dedicated NHS neurodevelopmental services — experienced where standard approaches fall short with this unique population of young people.
Deep familiarity with the specific pressures of competitive school environments and the young people navigating them.
An understanding of the culture and weight of high academic expectation from the inside.
Full enhanced disclosure in place. As a qualified social worker with a background in child protection, Christy brings the highest standard of safeguarding to all clinical work with young people.
HONESTY
THE INVESTMENT
There is no menu of add-ons. No hidden costs. One fee covers the complete arc of the intervention.
COMPLETE INTENSIVE— ALL INCLUSIVE
No introductory call required. Send a brief email outlining who the intensive is for and your preferred timing, or book directly using the button below. You will receive a short questionnaire to establish suitability. If there’s a good fit, you’ll be able to book or be offered a date directly.
QUESTIONS
In the student’s home, or a private space of their choosing within South East London. The familiarity of a real environment is often therapeutically useful — we’ll be examining the actual sleep space as part of the process.
Yes — this is the most common route. For students aged 15 and over, the day is delivered directly with them, with a brief separate conversation with parents beforehand and the written plan shared afterwards. The student is always the client; parental involvement is kept light unless the young person wants otherwise.
A contained day creates a different quality of focus and commitment than weekly sessions spread over months. Research on intensive formats shows equivalent or better outcomes in far less elapsed time — and students find it far easier to protect one day in a term than a recurring weekly slot.
Yes — and this is where specialist experience matters most. Standard sleep hygiene advice routinely fails with ADHD, autism, and anxiety profiles. The approach here is specifically adapted for the mechanisms that drive sleep disruption in neurodivergent and high-anxiety individuals.
CBTi has very strong evidence — roughly 80% of people see clinically significant improvement. The consolidation call exists precisely to address this: if the initial plan needs recalibrating, we do it then.
Yes. If you are a pastoral lead or SENCO at a local school and would like to discuss a referral pathway, please get in touch by email. Individual student referrals are welcome.
Christy Reynolds is a registered member of the British Sleep Society and the UK Council for Psychotherapy (UKCP) located in Dulwich, London