I am a Chartered Psychologist and Associate Fellow of the British Psychological Society. I joined Teesside University in December 2016 as a Senior Lecturer in Mental Health, after 12 years of working within a range of clinical roles with individuals with a vast array of mental health difficulties. My principle teaching and course responsbilities within the University are on postgraduate programmes and continued professional develoment courses, including: PgC/UCAPD Low Intensity Assessment and Intervention Skills for Psychological Wellbeing Practice, UCPPD Approaches to Long Term Conditions for Psychological Wellbeing Practice, UCPPD Supervision for Psychological Wellbeing Practitioners, UCAPD Dialectic Behavior Therapy, & UCPD Integrated Cognitive Behavioral Theory and Interventions in Mental Health Practice. 

My academic background is within Psychology, with a specific interest in Developmental Psychology/Psychopathology, mental health, and low intensity CBT interventions. I completed my degree in Psychology and Masters degree in Developmental Psychopathology at the University of Durham, whilst also working within the field of mental health. I have also completed a Postgraduate Certificate in Primary Mental Health Care at Teesside University, in order to pratice as an accredited PWP, before undertaking a PhD in Psychology at the University of York. Since commencing at Teesside, I have completed a PgC in Learning and Teaching in Higher Education, and am a Fellow of the Higher Education Academy.

I continue to work clinically as a Senior Psychological Wellbeing Practitioner within a forensic setting, alongside lecturing. 

My research interests are relatively diverse; my primary research interest is in the quality of the parent-child relationship, specifically parental mind-mindedness, and its role in predicting children's developmental outcomes, including children's social cognition. I am particularly interested in non-normative groups such as adoptive parents/foster carers/blended families, and families that differ from the typical 'nuclear' set-up.

I am also interested more broadly in mental health and wellbeing, and am involved in several streams of research in the field of mental health. 

Starting 2021          Co-production of an Evidence-Based Framework and Related Guidance for Practitioners on Personalised Risk Management and Safety Planning for Adults Experiencing Suicidality

Funding Body: NIHR Applied Research Collaboration North East & North Cumbria 

The aim of the project is to co-produce (with people with lived experience of suicidality) an evidence-based framework for supporting personalised risk management and safety planning, which is sensitive to the needs, preferences and values of people experiencing suicidality.

2020 - Ongoing        Self-Harm and Suicide Prevention Training – Quality Assurance Framework

Funding Body: North East and North Cumbria Integrated Care System (NENC ICS), Suicide Prevention Network (SPN).

The North East and North Cumbria Integrated Care System (NENC ICS), Suicide Prevention Network (SPN) aim to develop a consistent, multi-agency approach to system wide learning and development, based on Health Education England (HEE) competency frameworks for self-harm and suicide prevention.

The first aim of this funded project was to undertake a scoping review is to identify and collate the available evidence that highlights the best practice in the design and delivery of education and training for people who require self-harm and suicide prevention training. My role within the scoping review has been to double-sift a proportion of the of titles and abstracts, along with full paper sifts, data extraction, analysis and contributing to the write-up of the report.

2020              NHS 111 Mental Health Support Team Service Evaluation

Funding Body: Integrated Care System North East & North Cumbria/Cumbria, Mental Health (MH) workstream

I was part of the academic research team responsible for evaluating the NHS 111 Mental Health Support Team Service, from data provided by Cumbria, Northumberland, Tyne and Wear NHS Foundation Trust and the North East Ambulance Service. The service was set up rapidly to respond to the COVID-19 situation, with the purpose of reducing demand on the emergency care system by providing an accessible mental health and wellbeing support service. I was responsible for reviewing and analysing data, and contributing to the final report, outlining the evaluation findings and themes to inform recommendations.

2019 - Present       University Mental Health Charter; Student Minds 

Funding Body: UPP Foundation and the Office for Students

Recruited as part of an academic research team to collect and analyse the evidence that informed the University Mental Health Charter. Data anaysis still ongoing. 

2019 - Present       Primary Mental Health Care within the North East Prisons: Evidencing 'Recovery' and Patient Satisfaction within a Prison-Based Setting 

Working in collaboration with Rethink Mental Illness to collate practice-based recovery outcomes of their primary mental health care provision, aloing with evaluating patient satisfaction. 

2013 - 2017       Mind-Mindedness in Research and Practice

Funding Body: Economic and Social Research Council 

Project creation and management as part of working towards a PhD. which was completed in 2017; ongoing work to complete several papers for publication. I continue to be a member of the Meins Lab group at the University of York. 

2011 - 2013           Tees Valley Baby Study

Funding Body: Economic and Social Research Council 

Volunteer research assistant; assisted with data collection and analysis at the Wolfson Research Institute. 

British Psychological Society (244957): 

• Chartered Psychologist
• Associate Fellow of the British Psychological Society
• Accredited Psychological Wellbeing Practitioner 

Higher Education Academy:

• Fellow (PR156431) 

External Examiner: 

University of East Anglia; PGCert Evidence Based Low Intensity CBT Psychological Wellbeing Practitioner

• Mental Health and Wellbeing
• Assessment and Treatment of Common Mental Health Problems
• Psychological Therapies
• Clinical and Case Management Supervision
• Low Intensity Cognitive Behavioural Therapy
• Dialectic Behaviour Therapy
• Delivering Psychological Therapies to 'Hard to Reach' Groups
• Forensic Mental Health