The Psychology of Health and Wellbeing (PHeW) research cluster emerged following recent expansion and intellectual development within the School of Psychology & Counselling. It accommodates three distinct yet interlinked themes:
Counselling and psychotherapy, with particular interest in therapy outcomes and processes, as well as forms and histories of talking therapies;
Critical approaches to mental health, with a focus on the dynamics of individual and social-political forces in the formation of mental health;
Wellbeing in contexts, concerned with health issues arising from different working environments, communities and life events.
The cluster has a strong professional grounding as well as theoretical interest in practice and practices. This is either by group members being qualified (as) practitioners (i.e., of counselling or clinical psychology, group analysis, psychotherapy etc), or by alternative ways of engagement with individual, community and political practices that create or hinder wellbeing.