I am a chartered Counselling Psychologist registered with the Health and Care Professions Council (HCPC), chartered and accredited by the British Psychological Society (BPS), and a senior fellow of the Higher Education Academy (SFHEA). I am a senior lecturer and programme director of the Doctorate of Counselling Psychology, which aims to train practitioner psychologists as clinicians and researchers. I undertake doctoral and undergraduate teaching, PhD supervision and research. I have 10 years experience as a clinician, working with adults, children and young people in the NHS and in private practice. I am a humanistic practitioner and educator, with an interest in trauma-informed care.
My areas of expertise are qualitative research methods, including Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis (IPA), and the contemporary psychological therapies. My passion lies in developing Yoga-integrated Psychotherapy (YiP) where I aim to bridge the gap between Eastern and Western science and philosophy for the benefits of clients suffering with mental health difficulties.
At York St John University, I teach extensively on a BPS & HCPC accredited doctoral programme in counselling psychology as well as undergraduate psychology.
My areas of teaching are in developing core clinical skills, qualitative research methods, and psychological therapies.
I have several international and national research collaborations to develop Yoga-integrated Psychotherapy (YiP) and contemplative practices into healthcare. These are the Contemplative Practices Center at the University of Melbourne, The National Institute for Mental Health and Neurosciences (NIMHANS, India), and Birkbeck, University of London. I have been an invited speaker to various institutions to consider how to integrate yoga and spirituality into healthcare.
At the beginning of my career I carried out a post-doc at the University of Cambridge which fostered good links and understandings of developing research. These projects focused on the early identification of mental health issues in schools and mindfulness.
Going forwards I am keen to translate research into clinical practice and vice versa - making the most of the clinician-scientist role.
Recent publications
I am a doctoral research supervisor, and carry out work as an internal and external VIVA examiner.
I am the external examiner at the New School of Psychotherapy and Counselling (NCPC), and VIVA examiner at Teesside University.
