Professional Experience and Qualifications                

 Medical training and clinical career

I trained as a doctor at St Mary's Hospital Medical School, University of London, graduating with an MB.BS and a BSc in Physiology and Biochemistry. I went on to become a GP in the Royal Air Force, running my own medical centres on RAF flying stations across the UK and in conflict zones abroad. It was there that I first encountered the scale of addiction and trauma up close — soldiers presenting with PTSD, patients struggling with alcohol, prescription medication, and compulsive behaviours around food, work, and co-dependence.

In 2006 I retired from the RAF and completed a Foundation Degree in Addiction Counselling at Bath University, via the Postgraduate Centre for Addiction Treatment Studies at Clouds House, Wiltshire — one of the UK's leading addiction treatment centres. It was a different kind of doctoring, and it changed everything.

Twenty years of specialist addiction and trauma work                                     

My counselling career has taken me across the UK and around the world:

After qualifying, I began with a placement — and then a full-time position — in a prison setting, working with addicted offenders from diverse cultural and ethnic backgrounds, delivering twelve-step day care programmes and using motivational interviewing and interpersonal group therapy to support engagement and relapse prevention.

I then worked within a therapeutic community with addicted health professionals, developing a twelve-step recovery programme integrated with a CBT-based mindfulness and acceptance approach.

For seven years I worked in residential rehabs in Thailand and Malaysia — first as an Addiction Therapist at DARA (Drug and Alcohol Rehab Asia), then as their Intake and Medical Assessment Director, and later as Addiction Programme Director at Solace, a treatment retreat in Borneo.

From May 2016 to December 2019, I served as Lead Therapist and then ran the Intensive Outpatient Programme for The Cabin Addiction Services Group in Hong Kong.

In January 2020, I returned to the UK, opened my own private online practice, and joined Castle Craig Rehab in Scotland as one of their aftercare therapists.

Qualifications and professional accreditations

Dr Shay MacAuley holds the following qualifications:

• MB.BS — Medical Degree, St Mary's Hospital Medical School, University of London
• BSc — Physiology and Biochemistry, Westfield and Queen Mary's College, University of London
• MRCGP — Membership of the Royal College of General Practitioners
• FDSc — Foundation Degree in Addiction Counselling, Bath University / Postgraduate Centre for Addiction Studies
• CSAT3 — Certified Substance Abuse Therapist, Asia/Pacific Credentialing Board
• IFS — Internal Family Systems trained
• EMDR — Eye Movement Desensitisation and Reprocessing trained
• Professional body memberships include: MNCPS (Acc), FDAP (Federation of Drug and Alcohol Practitioners), SMMGP (Substance Misuse Management in General Practice), EMDR Association of Hong Kong, and Addiction Professionals.

 Online addiction counselling and trauma therapy across the UK

I now offer confidential online counselling for individuals and families across the UK and worldwide. Sessions are conducted via secure video call and are available for substance abuse (alcohol, drugs, prescription medication), behavioural and thought addictions, complex trauma (C-PTSD), and the deep overlap between trauma and addiction that so often goes untreated.

Using evidence-based approaches including CBT, Internal Family Systems (IFS), EMDR, motivational interviewing, mindfulness, twelve-step facilitation, and relapse prevention, I tailor every programme to the person in front of me.

Ready to take the first step? Book a confidential consultation today.