I am a qualitative academic researcher in the field of mental health with a background in social psychology. I collaborate in a number of NHS-based mixed methods research projects funded by National Institute for Health Research programmes. These cover a range of areas of mental health including acute care, psychiatric medication management, early intervention services and mindfulness-based cognitive therapy. I use mainly interviews and focus groups to give voice to the perspectives of mental health service users within these projects, and to explore the views and experiences of various stakeholder groups (service users, carers and professionals). My work spans a range of research contexts including service delivery and evaluation, development and evaluation of clinical tools, randomised controlled trials, and purely qualitative work. Please click for a list of publications and research grant funding.

Research interests

· Psychiatric medication management and shared decision making

· Mindfulness-based cognitive therapy for depression

· Acute psychiatric care, alternative service models and crisis resolution teams

· Involvement of service users and carers in qualitative mental health research

· Early intervention services and experiences of first episodes of psychosis

· Use of qualitative methods in mental health research including mixed methods designs

· Thematic analysis and computer assisted qualitative data analysis

· Recovery from mental ill-health

· The theory of social representations

Current Employment