Who We Are
Dr Shabana Bashir
Consultant Clinical Psychologist
Hi, I’m Shabana. I’m a Clinical Psychologist. I’ve been working in the field of psychological assessment and intervention with children and adults since 2008, across a range of settings including Assertive Outreach, Early Intervention in Psychosis Services, Adult Learning Disability Services, and Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services.
I’ve specialised in working with children, young people and families, with a particular focus on attachment and developmental trauma related experiences and their impact.
I’m a strong advocate of systemic working and the importance of strengthening the network around children and families, and have offered consultation, supervision, training and reflective practice spaces to a range of other professionals and organisations over the years including schools/colleges, residential homes, fostering and adoption services, NHS services and more.
In my work I have particularly enjoyed finding creative and fun ways to engage with children, young people and actually adults too, and set up Bulby Psychology to be able to create and develop more opportunities for this.
I hear you ask, “Why ‘Bulby’…?” Let me take this opportunity to share the story behind the name.
So, the Bulby story goes back almost 20 years ago. I was looking through my belongings that had been collecting dust in the loft along with my husband, where I came across a secondary school book that had a classroom activity in it which asked us to bring in an object that represented ourselves. You might be able to guess the object I took in… for those that guessed ‘a bulb’ you would be correct! A BULB - and not just any bulb, but a solar powered cube with a bulb inside!
Why? My reasoning at the time was that the bulb represented bright light, a positive environment and an optimistic outlook on everything. The name Bulby stuck, and since then I’ve embraced it and use it to describe an outlook on life that brings joy and hope in any darkness.
Dr Maddy Roberts
Clinical Psychologist
Hi, I’m Maddy, and I’m an associate Clinical Psychologist working with Bulby Psychology.
I qualified as Clinical Psychologist in July 2023. After a career change, I started my journey volunteering as a Psychology Intern at my local Child and Adolescent Mental Health Service and haven’t looked back since! I have always been drawn to supporting young people and families and during my doctoral training, this was my chosen speciality.
My particular passion is working systemically — not just with an individual child, but with the network around them: families, schools, and communities as healing and growth are most powerful when we work together. I try to bring a balance of compassion, curiosity, and a touch of humour into my practice — laughter and light-heartedness can go a long way in difficult moments.
Outside of my clinical work, I’m deeply connected to animals and nature. One of my hopes is to weave those passions into my professional work one day, whether that’s through animal-assisted therapy, outdoor therapeutic spaces, or simply finding more ways to help people reconnect with the natural world around them.
Above all, I aim to create a safe and supportive environment where children, young people, and families feel heard, valued, and empowered. I feel extremely privileged to have the opportunity to work with Bulby Psychology as well as the folk they support.
Uqbah Saqib
Office Manager
Right then, I’ve been asked to write a bio for this site. Where should I start?
I’ve had an extensive and varied career spanning decades, in both professional and voluntary work (I’m not as young as I look). During this time, I’ve been a teacher, communications lead, and then ended up running my own writing and editing company through which I provided services to international development agencies such as UNICEF, UNDP, DFID/FCDO, Education Commission, Malala Foundation and even LEGO Foundation. Unfortunately, that last one didn’t include any actual play with LEGO, which was genuinely quite disappointing.
Was this enough? No, because I do have a passion, and that’s promoting wellbeing in my community. This itch was scratched through my voluntary work, which consisted of many years of youth mentoring, community radio presenting and outreach, charity work with refugees, marginalised and vulnerable people, and in general pursuing my passion advocating for the rights and needs of underrepresented populations. By advocating, I don’t just mean fighting and working hard for the people we serve – I also mean helping them to create their own solutions, led by themselves. For me, that would be the true meaning of empowerment.
Ultimately, this led me to become interested in counselling, which is where the overlap happened with Bulby Psychology. I’m now responsible for the administration of the business side of things here, while also being a counsellor in training.
Wow, you’ve read this far? Thanks. Here’s some stuff about what I bring to Bulby Psychology: I believe my key strengths are business leadership with strong organisational and communication skills. At the core, I hope I also bring compassion, for myself and for others. Upon that is built a keen sense of advocacy and service to those in greatest need of help and assistance within the community. That would be a job well done.
How dare you! I hear you cry. Well, check out my credentials: I hold a Bachelor's degree in Medieval and Modern History from the University of Birmingham (more relevant than you think) and a Postgraduate Certificate in Education Studies from the University of Warwick. After completing preliminary qualifications in the field, I’m now studying for a Master’s degree in Counselling from Birmingham Newman University. How will you understand what I’m saying? Well, I’m natively proficient in English, fluent in Urdu, Hindi and Punjabi, and conversational in Arabic. I’m also well travelled and culturally literate, adept at navigating spaces where teams from diverse backgrounds and geographies work together. Most importantly, I’m ten times more humble than this bio suggests.
Above all, I’m excited and happy to be here, and would be delighted to meet you too.
Friends of Bulby Psychology
Dr Jonathan Baylin
Clinical Psychologist
Dr. Baylin is a Clinical Psychologist who has been practicing for over fifty years. For the past twenty years, he has immersed himself in the study of neuroscience with the goal of developing a brain-based model of mental health and a neuroscience-based approach to therapeutic interventions. He has given numerous workshops on “Putting the Brain in Therapy” and has delivered keynote addresses at a number of international conferences dealing with attachment and developmental trauma. He is the coauthor with Daniel Hughes of Brain Based Parenting, 2012, and The Neurobiology of Attachment-focused Therapy, 2016, and with Petra Winnette of Working with Traumatic Memories to Heal Adults with Unresolved Childhood Trauma, 2016.
Dr Baylin has facilitated a six-session group through Bulby Psychology where he has been presenting material about the neurobiology of various mental health issues, including developmental trauma, depression, anxiety, autism spectrum, and psychosis. Dr Baylin has been introducing participants to his integrative model of the processes of change combining relational processes, intrapersonal processes, and “neuromodulation” processes from newer developments in medication to neurofeedback.
Bilal Sheikh
Advanced Practice Physiotherapist, Co-owner and Director of Creative Physiotherapy Ltd
Bilal Sheikh is co-owner and director of Creative Physiotherapy Ltd. He has a long history of leading rehabilitation teams in headway accredited inpatient neuro rehab and service development projects including:
CQC initial registration of a service in the Northeast
Pilot Scheme to extend spinal cord injury rehab from the Midlands Centre for Spinal Cord Injury in Oswestry into Birmingham
Development of competency and learning guidelines for physiotherapy staff working in neuro rehab.
Bilal is an advanced practice physiotherapist with an interest in helping people return to recreational sports activities after brain and orthopaedic injury, aquatic physiotherapy, use of technology in rehabilitation as well as planning the rehabilitation or long term care plans for people with profound and complex needs.
He also enjoys developing health care staff and professionals skills working in neuro rehab and offers training days including:
An introduction to spinal cord injury
Introduction to acquired brain injury
Moving and handling of people with neurological injuries
Postural management for carers and staff new to neuro rehab
To find out more about Bilal and the services he and his colleagues offer, visit creativephysiotherapy.com.
Dr Sidra Aslam
Educational and Child Psychologist
Dr Sidra Aslam is a highly experienced Child Psychologist who is passionately committed to improving the psychological wellbeing of children and adolescents. Dr Aslam has a First-Class Honours degree in Psychology, Postgraduate Certificate in Education and Doctorate in Applied Educational and Child Psychology.
She has worked over the last 15 years in Children’s Services. This includes working with schools, children and families to problem solve and offer them access to practical resources and tools to support them with the next steps. Dr Aslam has significant experience in delivering consultations, training and supervision regarding children and young people.
Dr Aslam conducts expert assessments and interventions of children and young people with a range of conditions, including autism spectrum, anxiety, trauma, depression, school issues and behavioural difficulties. Dr Aslam specialise in working with families to overcome difficulties and is trained in therapeutic approaches such as Dyadic Developmental Psychotherapy and Theraplay. Dr Aslam uses consultation as a supportive approach when working with families to improve relationships and family functioning. Dr Aslam has a published chapter titled 'Safe Therapy' in the book "Supporting the Mental Health of Children in Care" (Jessica Kingsley Publishers, 2017).
Dr Aslam comes highly recommended from her respective peers, described as having a wealth of experience, along with a lively and friendly personality, able to adapt her communication when working with different children and families. Dr Aslam is willing to broach difficult questions when necessary, always acting with a warm and open manner.
