I am a Chartered Psychologist and Associate Fellow of the British Psychological Society, and also sit on the Register of Applied Psychology Practice Supervisors. I am also a Fellow of Advanced HE (formally Higher Education Academy). I joined Teesside University in December 2016 as a Senior Lecturer in Mental Health, after 12 years of working in a range of clinical roles with individuals with a vast array of mental health difficulties.

My principle teaching and course responsibilities within the University are on postgraduate programmes and continued professional development 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 Integrating 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.

I continue to work clinically as a Senior Psychological Wellbeing Practitioner within a prison-based mental health setting, alongside working in academia. 

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. 

Current Projects

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

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

Role: Researcher

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.

A Predisposition for Perfectionism: Are Trainee Psychological Wellbeing Practitioners Well Beings? (2021-2022)

Funding Body: Unfunded

Role: Principle Investigator 

Thinking about Parenting - Exploring Parent-Child Relationships and Emotional Wellbeing with Biological Parents and Stepparents (2021)

Funding Body: Unfunded

Role: Principle Investigator

Parents' Experience of Children's Emotional and Behavioural Difficulties (2021)

Funding Body: Unfunded

Role: Co-Investigator 

Past Projects

Developing an Audit Tool for Suicide Prevention Training Across North East and North Cumbria (2021)

Funding Body: North East and North Cumbria Suicide Prevention Network.

Role: Lead researcher 

Rapid Scoping Review of Evidence-Based Best Practice in the Design and Delivery of Self-Harm and Suicide Prevention Training (2021)

Funding Body: North East and North Cumbria Suicide Prevention Network.

Role: Researcher 

NHS 111 Mental Health Support Team Service Evaluation (2020)

Funding Body: North East and North Cumbria Integrated Care System (NENC ICS), Mental Health (MH) workstream

Role: Researcher

University Mental Health Charter; Student Minds (2019)

Funding Body: UPP Foundation and the Office for Students

Role: Recruited as part of an academic research team to collect and analyse the evidence that informed the University Mental Health Charter.

Mind-Mindedness in Research and Practice (2013 - 2017) 

Funding Body: Economic and Social Research Council 

Role: PhD Researcher

Tees Valley Baby Study (2011 - 2013)

Funding Body: Economic and Social Research Council 

Role: Volunteer Research Assistant

British Psychological Society (244957): 

• Chartered Psychologist (CPsychol)
• Associate Fellow (AFBPsS)
• Register of Applied Psychology Practice Supervisors (RAPPS)

Advanced HE (RP156431):

• Fellow

External Examiner, University of East Anglia:

Programme: 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