Professor in Counselling Professions and Mental Health at the University of Chester
I have researched therapy with suicidal clients and people who self-injure and self-harm for over 25 years and have written extensively about this.
Biography
Andrew has been a counsellor/psychotherapist for over 30 years and has worked across a full range of working contexts, including health, social care, education (secondary and tertiary) and third sector, as well as an independent practitioner. He has additionally supervised practitioners for their work with clients across a full range of settings.
He is Professor in Counselling Professions and Mental Health at the University of Chester.
Prior to becoming a counsellor/psychotherapist Andrew qualified as a social worker and worked in a Social Services setting. Initially with vulnerable adults, he then specialised in working with children and families and with young people, both therapeutically and also as a child protection social worker. He remains a Registered Social Worker with Social Work England. He was Lead Author on the development of the curriculum and content for the MindEd and Counselling MindEd e-learning resource. He was Approved under the Mental Health Act (1983) to undertake statutory Mental Health Act assessments and working for several years in an out-of-hours emergency mental health crisis team.
His specialist area of practice is with young people, men, with people who present with suicide risk and those who self-injure and self-harm. He has written extensively on these subjects, and was the Editor-in-Chief of Counselling and Psychotherapy Research journal for six years.
He is Immediate past-Chair of the British Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy (BACP), which he headed up for 5 years. As such, Andrew is leading a number of national and international initiatives in the development of counselling and psychotherapy, including in the developments of pluralistic therapy and single-session therapy.
He is author of the highly successful Introduction to Counselling and Psychotherapy: From Theory to Practice, 2 Edition with Sage, and the forthcoming text, Standards and Ethics for Counselling in Action, 5th Edition with Professor Tim Bond (Sage) – amongst other books, chapters and professional articles.
Research:
Therapeutic interventions with suicidal clients
Practitioner experiences of working with risk in therapy
Working with self-injury and self-harm
Supervisory tasks and supervisor anxieties when supervising risk in therapy
Clinical interventions with students
Counselling and psychotherapy with children and young people
Men’s mental health and their access to and use of therapy
As an Associate Professor at the University of Chester, he teaches on the DProf (professional doctorate) in Counselling and Psychotherapy / Psychological Trauma and supervise on the PhD programme. Over the years Andrew has delivered highly-regarded workshops to many thousands of therapists, psychologists, mental health workers and teachers and has a national and international reputation for delivering engaging, inclusive, insightful and humorous training workshops.
Andrew has welcoming, warm, practical style and confident delivery of the course. It is great that Andrew is so encouraging to the participants to engage, very inclusive.
