A report into the Politicisation of Clinical Psychology Training Courses

October 10, 2022November 29, 2022Leave a comment

I am very pleased to have contributed to a report examining the extent to which UK clinical psychology training courses have been taken over by political ideology. Unfortunately, the news isn’t good. We found that all courses have adopted a politicised stance in their teaching of clinical psychology – an approach that is exceptionally dangerous for both training and patient care.

Our report has been mentioned in The Critic, Cieo, Critical Therapy Antidote and Psychreg.

To view the full report, see here.

The Free Speech Union in Scotland

April 22, 2022May 1, 2022Leave a comment

I was very lucky to be able to attend the Free Speech Union’s Scottish launch – a much needed event – and a much needed move for Scotland.

The Free Speech Union offer support to anyone who has faced penalty for exercising their right to free speech. This is a right that has become increasingly threatened, especially in Scotland where the government is attempting to implement restrictive legislation regarding acceptable speech.

I have previously spoken at a Free Speech Union event about the chilling impact of the Scottish government’s policies on our children – a summary of which was recently published in The Critic. However, much more work needs to be done to challenge the restrictive and controlling nature of the SNP’s legislation, and the Free Speech Union will no doubt be helping us to lead to the charge.

If you are concerned about being penalised for exercising your right to free speech, please consider joining – where professional Unions can fail to support their own members if they are on the ‘wrong side’ of fashionable opinion, the Free Speech Union will offer support and legal counsel regardless of your perspective.

Article in ‘The Critic’: Teaching by the Critical Race Book

April 7, 2022April 28, 2022Leave a comment

This month I had an article published in The Critic Magazine. The Critic is Britain’s monthly magazine for politics, ideas, art and literature, and I am delighted to have been able to contribute my thoughts on the current state of Scottish Education.

Having worked at a number of stages in the Scottish education system, I have been horrified about the low education standards and poor mental health of students. Rather than addressing this, our government has chosen to promote political ideology in schools – one that actively prevents effective education, and damages mental health. To read more, please see the April 2022 edition of The Critic.

BBC Presentation

July 2, 2020July 4, 2020Leave a comment

Today I gave a presentation to colleagues at the BBC about the psychological impact of COVID. While we talked a little about the immediate effect of COVID on mental health, our main focus was the long term psychological impact of the disease. I provided a summary of the research findings to date and we then talked about things that we could do to protect our own mental health.

As well as looking at lifestyle changes, we also practiced psychological exercises based on Cognitive Behavioural Therapy principles to help us reflect on our own thought processes. This is a crucial thing to do regardless of whether one is experiencing psychological difficulties or not, as it helps to develop and strengthen healthy ways of thinking. I would argue that this is crucial at all times, and that we have a responsibility to care for our mental health in the same way as our physical health. However, given the current pressures on the NHS (especially relating to mental health), even more than ever, we have a duty to do everything we can to protect our mental health and take as much pressure off the system as possible.

This was a great opportunity to talk about some of the psychological issues that COVID has raised and one of the heartening things that we learned was that it’s not all been negative (as I have also spoken about previously)! This is really a key time for us to keep building upon the positives, and work to manage and control the negatives as much as possible.

Publication in Areo Magazine

February 21, 2020Leave a comment

I am delighted to have had an article published in Areo Magazine – an outlet I have long admired. Areo is on online magazine focussing on current affairs, in particular, humanism, reason, science, politics, culture and human rights. Named after Milton’s speech in defence of freedom of speech, Areo publishes essays from a variety of political and social perspectives – something I have previously highlighted the importance of. As a result, I am proud to have been published by an institution that promotes ‘the unfettered freedom to explore, think, and challenge ideas and concepts’.

I wrote my piece following the death of Caroline Flack by suicide at the weekend. Caroline was a popular British presenter who had received exceptional public and media attention throughout her career. Since her death, there has been a great deal of criticism levelled at the British media and this led to me to consider the extent to which we can (or should) hold others responsible for our mental health.

The article is available here, but if you are unfamiliar with Areo’s work, please take some time to have a look around while you are there. Do also feel free to leave any comments, as I’d be keen to hear your thoughts!

Worth So Much More

January 28, 2019May 9, 2019Leave a comment

I’m very proud to have been involved with No1 Magazine’s Body Campaign #worthsomuchmore.

This is something that I feel very passionate about (as readers of my blog will know!), and in this article, I have offered some advice to help readers work towards feeling better about themselves (mostly by focussing on things other than appearance!).

I think the No1 Team (and Ida who wrote the article) deserve a great deal of credit for approaching the ‘body image’ issue in a different way from how it is usually discussed in the media.

Friendship on the BBC

December 1, 2018Leave a comment

I recently had another lovely chat with Gillian Russell on BBC Scotland’s Personal Best programme. This time we were talking about the benefits of friendship, with tips on how keep and make friends.

Please do get in touch if you have any questions or comments!

Putting things off… BBC discussion about procrastination

October 9, 2018Leave a comment

I was delighted to again be invited to contribute to BBC Scotland’s Personal Best programme; this time discussing a phenomenon that most of us are familiar with: procrastination! In the programme I chat to Gillian Russell about various reasons why we procrastinate, as well as ways to overcome it.

You’ll find the programme here (or below), do let me know what you think!

Golf Channel feature

May 23, 2018June 3, 2018Leave a comment

All golf-lovers will know that one of the biggest golf tournaments of the year is coming to Carnoustie this summer. The Open Championship is one of the ‘major’ events on the golfing calendar, and Carnoustie is considered to be one of the toughest golf courses in the world. As a result, there is a certain aura around Carnoustie that strikes fear into the hearts of amateur and professional golfers alike. It was this that I had the pleasure of talking to legendary golfer and commentator David Feherty about in a feature for NBC’s Golf Channel. I greatly enjoyed the opportunity to do something a little different, and it was a pleasure to work with David and the Golf Channel crew. The piece will be aired in The States in July during The Open.

Anxiety chat with The Kilted Coaches

February 9, 2018June 3, 2018Leave a comment

I was lucky enough to have a chat with local YouTube sensations, The Kilted Coaches today. The boys had spoken a little about their experiences with anxiety, and had had a great response from their viewers, so we thought it would be good to talk about it in a little more depth.

I was delighted to be involved with this because mental health can still be a tough thing to talk about, especially for men. I think it was incredibly brave for Rab and Stephen to discuss their experiences so openly and candidly. We had some fantastic comments, and I really hope that our discussion will help others to open up about their mental health too…