Joint Programme Director

David is a registered Clinical Psychologist within Health and Social Care and Programme Director for the Doctorate in Clinical Psychology programme. His research interests include the Mediating Role of Trauma appraisals between Traumatic Experiences and Trauma related distress. Examining the role of compassion in predicting both resilience and psychological difficulty among a sample with a history of childhood adversity.

 

Clinical Director

Olwyn is a Consultant Clinical Psychologist and Clinical Director for the Doctorate in Clinical Psychology. She is also Training Director of a schema therapy certification training programme. Olwyn is currently a Consultant Clinical Psychologist in the Northern HSC Trust Psychological Therapies Service, was previously lead clinician and service manager of the Northern HSC Trust Acute Mental Health Psychology Service and has also worked as a senior clinician in Eating Disorders. Her research interests include psychological interventions for complex mental health difficulties, and client and staff experiences of mental health services. Within this, specific areas of interest include eating disorders and schema therapy.

Academic Director

Kevin is a Consultant Clinical Psychologist and Academic Director for the Doctorate programme. He has held a number of lead clinician positions, including Head of Adult Mental Health in the Northern HSC Trust and Psychology Lead of the Northern Ireland Regional Trauma Network. His research interests include (1) Complex Trauma phenomenology, theory, and treatment; (2) the role of “Troubles”-related trauma in mental health issues of the Northern Ireland population; (3) psychological therapy outcomes; and (4) innovative interventions for PTSD and OCD (e.g., phase-oriented therapy, virtual reality paradigms).

Interim Research Director

Mary is the Interim Research Director on the Doctorate programme and a Senior Lecturer in Education. Her research focuses on communication and social interaction in healthcare contexts. This includes communication in mental health conditions (e.g. psychosis) and in clinical contexts, where communication is critical to patient safety.  

Research lead for Year Two

Katrina is Research Lead for second year trainees on the Doctorate programme and a Lecturer in Education. Her research focuses on parenting and childhood adversity. She is particularly interested in how adversity affects parenting and familial processes, and the impact on parent, child and family outcomes. She has significant experience in the design and evaluation of interventions aimed at improving outcomes for vulnerable parents and children. 

Research Director

Ross is a Professor of Clinical Psychology on the Doctorate programme. He has expertise in Global Mental Health, and has collaborated with the World Health Organization and the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees in developing and evaluating psychosocial interventions for refugees. He has a keen research interest in supporting the mental health and wellbeing of adults working in high-performance environments including elite level athletes.

 

 

Clinical Teaching Fellow

Alex is a registered clinical psychologist and teaching fellow on the Doctorate programme. His clinical areas of focus are working with adults who experience mood disorders, trauma, anxiety, personality disorders, and burnout/compassion fatigue. His research expertise and passions include men and masculinities, men’s mental health, transitions to fatherhood and peripartum mental health, psychodynamic psychotherapy, gender studies, and effectiveness in clinical supervision.

Clinical Teaching Fellow

Sharon is a registered Clinical Psychologist and Clinical Teaching Fellow on the Doctorate programme. She is interested in working therapeutically with children and young people who have physical health conditions, as well as with both children and adults who have been diagnosed with an ID. She is particularly interested in psychological adjustment, the experiences of parents and of parenting children with physical health / ID diagnoses, the impact of medical trauma on children and their families and in the experience of trauma in an ID population. 

Clinical Teaching Fellow

Kelly is a registered Clinical Psychologist and a Clinical Teaching Fellow on the Doctorate programme. Her clinical area of focus is providing psychological therapies to adults in the community experiencing difficulties with low mood, anxiety, relational patterns and complex trauma. Kelly has previously worked as a psychologist in respiratory and stroke settings and has an interest in the application of ACT (Acceptance and Commitment Therapy) across adult clinical health, neuro-rehabilitation and mental health settings.

Clinical Teaching Fellow

Jenny is registered Clinical Psychologist and Clinical Teaching Fellow on the Doctorate programme. Her clinical area of focus is within paediatric psychology and neurodevelopmental services (including Autism Spectrum Conditions and ADHD), working with children and young people, and their families or carers, who are experiencing difficulty with a physical health condition and / or a neurodevelopmental condition. She is particularly interested in examining aspects of physical health and neurodevelopment, primarily in children and young people but also in adults and in exploring the impact of physical health and / or neurodevelopmental diagnoses on families and family functioning.

Clinical Teaching Fellow

Annie is registered Clinical Psychologist and Clinical Teaching Fellow on the Doctorate programme. Her clinical area of focus is in the Psychology of Older People Services which encompasses the provision of psychological assessment and intervention services to older adults with mental health difficulties, and people with a diagnosis of dementia. She is particularly interested in the use of Compassion Focused Therapy in supporting older adults and their caregivers and embedding the use of non-pharmacological interventions in response to behavioural and psychological symptoms of dementia. 

 

 

 

 

Lecturer (Education)

David is a Lecturer (Education) in Clinical Psychology. From November 2021 to October 2024, he served as the Clinical Director for the Doctorate in Clinical Psychology Programme. Whilst still involved on the academic side of the programme, he is currently the Joint Course Director for the Postgraduate Certificate, Foundations in Clinical Psychology. His research includes clinical child and family psychology, with a particular interest in psychological trauma and post-traumatic stress symptoms in children and parents.