Ann Hardy
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Email
ah25880@essex.ac.uk -
Location
Colchester Campus
Profile
- Neurodiversity in couples
Biography
Ann Hardy trained as an individual and couple psychodynamic psychotherapist at Tavistock Relationships, the internationally renowned centre of excellence in relationship therapy, where she remains a visiting clinician. Ann also trains and supervises NHS therapists as part of Tavistock Relationships' Couple Therapy for Depression intervention, as well as working in private practice in South West London. Ann has a particular interest in neurodiverse couples, and the strengths as well as challenges that neurodivergent people bring to relationships. PUBLICATIONS Hardy, A. (2024) You dont need to be fixed: working with a neurodiverse family. Couple and Family Psychoanalysis, 14.2, 146-160. Wallace, S., Parr, J., and Hardy, A. (2013). One in a Hundred: putting families at the heart of autism research. Autistica. Hardy, A. (2026) Looking for Merope: some ways in which experiences of second mothers impact on couple relationships, Couple and Family Psychoanalysis, 16.1. ARTS REVIEWS Hardy, A. (2024) Diva at the V&A: a joyous, bold, and juicy assault on the patriarchy. Couple and Family Psychoanalysis, 14.2, 224-5. Hardy, A. (2019) In a Lonely Place, directed by Nicholas Ray, USA, 1950. Couple and Family Psychoanalysis, 9.1, 86-87. EVENTS Autism, attachment and couples Invited presentation. Supporting connection: attachment and autism, the 28th Annual John Bowlby Memorial Conference, October 2025 You dont need to be fixed: working with a neurodiverse family. Tavistock Relationships Association of Psychotherapists and Counsellors (TRAPC), Meet the Author event. February 2025. You dont need to be fixed: working with a neurodiverse family. Invited lecture. Polish Psychoanalytic Psychotherapy Society. November, 2025. Working psychodynamically with cross-neurotype couples. Invited lecture. Johannesburg Psychoanalytic Couples Therapy Upcoming: "Loving others: an intercultural approach to working with neurodiverse couples" XI International Congress of Couple and Family Psychoanalysts, Guadalajara, Mexico. July 24, 2026
Qualifications
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MA in individual and couple psychodynamic psychotherapy Tavistock Relationships (2020)
Research and professional activities
Thesis
Can neurodiversity affirming psychodynamic psychotherapy improve relationship satisfaction in cross-neurotype couples
This research project aims to answer the question: can neurodiversity affirming psychodynamic therapy improve relationship satisfaction in cross-neurotype couples? While, on the surface, the question appears binary, in reality it will involve an exploration of the adaptations needed for psychodynamic practice to be considered neuro-affirmative and of how cross-neurotype couples subsequently respond. This will require an analysis of the psychodynamic therapeutic encounter: what happens when a
Supervisor: Joanne Emmens