Dr. Shannon Seymour is a clinical and developmental psychologist with over 25 years of clinical experience. She earned a PhD in Psychology with an emphasis in Infant and Early Childhood Mental Health. She also has a Masters in Clinical Psychology, a second Masters in Developmental Disabilities and a Bachelors (Honors) in Psychology. She is a Registered Psychologist with the Council for Professionals Allied with Medicine in the Cayman Islands. She is a member of the Canadian Psychological Association and the American Psychological Association.
Dr. Seymour has extensive experience in the assessment, diagnosis and treatment of neurodevelopmental disorders, including Autism, ADHD and Social Communication Disorder. She is trained in multiple clinical modalities for the treatment of mental problems in children and adults, including EMDR, CBT, ACT and is a Certified SPACETM therapist. SPACETM is an attachment based treatment of anxiety disorders and OCD in children and adolescents that focuses intervention on the role of parental accommodation in the maintenance of anxiety symptoms.
As a certified ZeroToThreeTM instructor for The Growing BrainTM Dr. Seymour has partnered with various NPOs and Government departments to deliver this important professional development programme. The Growing BrainTM is a 21-hour early childhood educator curriculum developed to equip our early childhood educators with the neuroscience of early brain development and to teach developmentally appropriate strategies to give our young children the strongest foundation possible. Dr. Seymour believes strongly in the importance of early childhood as a critical period of brain development that not only supports future learning and academic outcomes, but acts as a buffering period for future mental health and wellbeing.
Dr. Seymour is an endorsed Reflective Supervisor and a strong community advocate for early career mentorship. She provides summer internships to young psychology students, and offers career development opportunities for newly qualified Caymanian mental health professionals.
She has a passion for community development as evidenced by a history of volunteerism and service. In 2002 was a founding board member of the Cayman Islands Crisis Centre, and served as Vice-Chairperson of the board until 2008. She served from 2010 – 2018 on Academy Sports Club’s Board of Directors where she held the position of Child Safeguarding Officer, and she currently serves as a Director of one2one (formerly BigBrotherBigSister-Cayman). Dr. Seymour is a Co-Founding Director of the Cayman Islands Psychological Association, and currently serves as President of the Board of Directors.
Dr. Seymour founded The Wellness Centre in 2004 out of a passion for responsive community based mental health treatment. As Director she leads a multidisciplinary team of psychologists, mental health therapists, developmental and behavioural specialists and is proud of the many ways in which The Wellness Centre contributes to the development of the Cayman Islands community and the growth and sustainability of the field of psychology and mental health treatment.
Shannon is the mother of two adult sons, one of whom was diagnosed with ADHD at age 8. She loves walking, swimming, gardening and all things football!