Please see these free resources to support the emotional wellbeing of autistic people. You will find a pack of Neurodiversity Wellbeing Cards, designed as an extension to A Therapeutic Treasure Deck. You will also find an illustrated worksheet, available in English and Japanese. You can use these resources personally or with people you work with, as a prompt in wellbeing conversations. Please share the link with anybody who might benefit. Download for free from www.yorksj.ac.uk/emotions
I am a chartered Clinical Psychologist with two doctorate qualifications, in clinical practice (ClinPsyD) and research (PhD).
At York St John, I am a member of the Doctorate of Counselling Psychology programme team. As Deputy Associate Head of School, I lead strategic development and practitioner training in Psychology.
I have worked as a qualified clinician for ten years in a range of settings, including inpatient, hospital, outpatient, community and neurodiversity settings. I have held senior clinician and clinical lead roles. I was delighted to receive an award from the British Psychological Society for my professional practice.
Alongside clinical practice, I have maintained academic working and research with the University of Nottingham, University of York and York St John University. Please view my research pages for an overview of journal and chapter publications, including contribution to best practice guidance. I am a member of the Research on Neurodiversity, Environment, and Wellbeing research group at York St John University.
I teach across BSc, MSc and DCounsPsy programmes and supervise student research projects at undergraduate and doctorate levels.
As a member of the Doctorate of Counselling Psychology programme team, I lead clinical placements and theoretical and practical approaches to psychological assessment. I teach on wider topics of neurodiversity, psychosis, adulthood, integration of models, leadership and clinical supervision. I lead an advanced undergraduate Psychology module on clinical practice.
I provide individual and group clinical supervision.
I am an academic, pastoral and year group tutor across undergraduate and doctorate courses.
My research interests include disentangling emotional distress and mental health conditions from neurodivergence, including understanding how emotion is experienced and expressed by autistic people, and how this relates to a person’s fit in their world. I explore how professional systems such as healthcare professionals and employers can best serve their clients. Methods of interest include ethnographic and mixed quantitative and qualitative approaches, including corpus-based and freelisting methods.
I am active as an undergraduate, postgraduate and clinical research supervisor, with interests in a wide range of applied clinical research topics, including neurodiversity, intersectionality, social justice, identity and mattering, emotional wellbeing, mental health and emotion-focused responsive care, including for people with dementia. I am interested in different therapeutic modalities and their application across the lifespan as a practitioner psychologist and researcher.
I am a UKCGE Recognised Research Supervisor.
Current research
Please get in touch if you think we share research interests.
Current funded projects:
- Project inc. (Inclusive Neurodiverse Campuses). Institute for Social Justice Community Research Grant - in partnership with Spectrum First Education Ltd. (Co-I | £15,000 | 2023-25)
Current PhD students:
- Luciana Lisboa White
- Michele Deakin
- Victoria Dunn
- Kathryn Lewis
I am a chartered clinical psychologist and a Senior Fellow with Advance HE.
I lead psychological and diagnostic assessments of neurodevelopmental conditions at The Retreat York, which is a specialist mental health care provider and registered charity.
I am an external examiner for a Doctorate Programme in Clinical Psychology in Ireland.
