Staff profile

Tammi Walker is Professor of Forensic Psychology in the Department of Psychology and Principal of St Cuthbert’s Society at Durham University. She is a Fellow and a Chartered Psychologist of the British Psychological Society and a Registered Senior Fellow with Advance HE. 

She is Chair of the British Psychological Society North East of England Branch representing psychologists across the North East of England. https://www.bps.org.uk/member-networks/north-east-england-branch

Tammi leads the Health and Justice Forensic Research Lab at Durham University. Her lab focuses on adults, particularly women, in contact with prisons and forensic mental health services who have Multiple Long-Term Conditions. Specifically, self-harm, severe mental illness, physical health conditions and addictions issues. 

She has several large grants that aim to reduce health disparities and inequalities but also improve the overall health of these communities adopting mixed methods research designs. She has a multidisciplinary approach to her research, incorporating perspectives from public health, psychiatry, primary care, criminology, and medical humanities.

Her most recent posts at the Ministry of Justice were on the Ministry of Justice Women in Criminal Justice System Expert Group and His Majesty’s Inspectorate of Probation and Prisons expert reference group for the joint thematic inspection of the quality of work undertaken with women. 

From 2021-2025 she launched and was the Series Editor for the Book Series New Frontiers in Forensic Psychology (Routledge). Seven books were published that provided insight into new and original areas of investigation in forensic psychology.

She has published 'Criminal Women' (2022: Bristol University Press), 'Tackling Sexual Violence at Universities: An International Perspective' (2019: Routledge Press) and 'Preventing Self-injury and Suicide in Women's Prisons' (2016: Waterside Press), which won the 2017 British Psychological Society Book Award 2017 for Best Practitioner Text.

Selected Awarded Grants

2025: NIHR School for Primary Care Research: Improving Patient and Public Involvement and Engagement with Imprisoned Women with Severe Mental Illness. Principal Investigator.

2025: NIHR Team Science: A Team Science Approach to examIning the management and Prevalence of multiple Long-Term cOnditions within England's Prison service [TIPTOP]. Principal Investigator.

2024: NIHR [RfPB]: Improving Services for Imprisoned Women with Severe Mental Illness [IPSIS]. Principal Investigator.

2023: HTA Programme: Women Offenders Repeat Self-Harm Intervention Pragmatic Trial: WORSHIP III. Co-Investigator. With Manchester University.

2022: UK Universities: UK-Ukraine R&I twinning grants scheme form. Multidisciplinary approaches to building research capacity and resilence through partnership during conflict. Co-Investigator.

2021: NIHR [RfPB]: Increasing Physical Activity in a Medium Secure Service: The Development and Feasibility of a Physical ACTivity Intervention [IMPACT]. Principal Investigator.

2021: NIHR: WHOLE-SMI - Wellbeing And HOListic Health Promotion For People With Severe Mental Illness. Co-Investigator. With Newcastle University.

2021: NIHR [ARC NENC]: Heroin Assisted Treatment Intervention (HATI): A qualitative exploration. Principal Investigator.

Esteem Indicators

2024-2027: Chair of the British Psychological Society North East of England Branch representing psychologists across the North East of England.

2024-2025: Topic Editor – Frontiers in Psychiatry - Women Offenders: The Challenge of Evidence-based Practice in Correctional and Forensic Mental Health Services.

2021-2025: Founder and Series Book Editor - New Frontiers in Forensic Psychology (Routledge). Seven books were published that provided insight into new and original areas of investigation in forensic psychology.

2024-Current: Invited member to Durham and Darlington’s Combatting Drugs and Alcohol Partnership Expert Group.

2023-Current: Review Editor of Forensic and Legal Psychology (specialty section of Frontiers in Psychology).

• Forensic mental health issues and women in contact with the criminal justice system
• Inequalities in mental and physical health among forensic populations
• Multiple Long-Term Conditions among forensic populations
• Addictions - Drugs and Alcohol Services in Education and NHS

Authored book

• Grace, S., O'Neill, M., Walker, T., King, H., Baldwin, L., Jobe, A., Lynch, O., Measham, F., O'Brien, K., & Seaman, V. (2024). Criminal Women: Gender Matters. (1). Bristol University Press
• Towl, G. J., & Walker, T. (2019). Tackling Sexual Violence at Universities. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781351201995
• Walker, T., & Towl, G. (2016). Preventing Self-injury and Suicide in Women’s Prisons. Waterside Press

Chapter in book

• Hughes, E., & Walker, T. (2022). Gender-based violence and Higher Education partnerships with sexual assault services. In C. J. Humphreys, & G. J. Towl (Eds.), Stopping Gender-based Violence in Higher Education: Policy, Practice, and Partnerships (336-349). Routledge
• Taylor, J., & Walker, T. (2022). Intersectional Inequalities and Women in Secure Settings. In J. Tomlin, & B. Völlm (Eds.), Diversity and Marginalisation in Forensic Mental Health Care. Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781003184768-5
• Walker, T. (2021). Suicide, Self-harm and Imprisoned Women. In Forensic Psychology. (3rd). Wiley
• Walker, T. (2021). Trauma Informed Care in the Criminal Justice System. In D. A. Crighton, & G. J. Towl (Eds.), Forensic Psychology (735-750). (3rd). Wiley
• Walker, T. (2014). Self-Harm. In P. Taylor, K. Corteen, & S. Morley (Eds.), A Companion to Criminal Justice, Mental Health & Risk
• Lavis, V., & Walker, T. (2013). A contemporary reflection on feminist criminology: Whose side are we on?. In M. Cowburn, M. Duggan, A. Robinson, & P. Senior (Eds.), Values in Criminology and Community Justice (57-75)

Edited book

• Grace, S., O’Neill, M., Walker, T., King, H., Baldwin, L., Jobe, A., Lynch, O., Measham, F., O’Brien, K., & Seaman, V. (Eds.). (in press). Criminal Women. Bristol University Press. https://doi.org/10.51952/9781529208443

Journal Article

• Gutridge, K., Robinson, L., Mitchell, H., Meacock, R., Ranote, S., Shaw, J., Walker, T., & Abel, K. M. (online). Medical skin camouflage for women in prison with self-harm scars (COVER): randomised feasibility study. The Journal of Forensic Psychiatry & Psychology, https://doi.org/10.1080/14789949.2024.2420965
• Swift, J., Walker, T., & Moon, L. (online). Female service user’s experiences of collaborative HCR-20V3 risk assessment on a low and medium secure ward. The Journal of Forensic Psychiatry & Psychology, https://doi.org/10.1080/14789949.2025.2469698
• Lewis, K., Roden-Lui, G., Faulkner, G., Gibbon, S., Hewitt, C., Hughes, E., Khan, W., Lucock, M., Singh, B., Walters, P., Watson, J., & Walker, T. (2025). Barriers and facilitators to increasing physical activity in medium secure mental health settings: an exploration of staff perceptions. Mental Health and Physical Activity, 28, Article 100663. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.mhpa.2024.100663
• Poulter, H. L., Moore, H. J., Ahmed, D., Riley, F., Walker, T., & Harris, M. (2024). Co-located Heroin Assisted Treatment within primary care: A preliminary analysis of the implications for healthcare access, cost, and treatment delivery in the UK. International Journal of Drug Policy, 126, Article 104367. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.drugpo.2024.104367
• Poulter, H., Moore, H., Crow, R., Ahmed, D., & Walker, T. (2024). Diamorphine assisted treatment in Middlesbrough: a UK drug treatment case study. Journal of Substance Use, 29(1), 61-67. https://doi.org/10.1080/14659891.2022.2120433
• Poulter, H., Walker, T., Ahmed, D., Moore, H., Riley, F., Towl, G., & Harris, M. (2023). More than just ‘free heroin’: Caring whilst navigating constraint in the delivery of diamorphine assisted treatment. International Journal of Drug Policy, 116, Article 104025. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.drugpo.2023.104025
• Riley, F., Harris, M., Poulter, H., Moore, H., Ahmed, D., Towl, G., & Walker, T. (2023). ‘This is hardcore’: a qualitative study exploring service users’ experiences of Heroin-Assisted Treatment (HAT) in Middlesbrough, England. Harm Reduction Journal, 20, Article 66. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12954-023-00785-y
• Turner, M., King, N., Mojtahedi, D., Burr, V., Gall, V., Gibbs, G. R., Hudspith, L. F., Leadley, C. B., & Walker, T. (2022). Well-being programmes in prisons in England and Wales: a mixed-methods study. International journal of prisoner health, 18(3), https://doi.org/10.1108/ijph-03-2021-0021
• Walker, T., Wainwright, V., Dunlop, B., Forrester, A., Senior, J., & Shaw, J. (2022). A qualitative exploration of the views of people with lived experience of suicide within the criminal justice system. The Journal of Forensic Psychiatry & Psychology, 33(6), 868-882. https://doi.org/10.1080/14789949.2022.2149418
• Walker, T., Edmondson, A., Riley, F., Harper, M., Lucock, M., & Wright, N. (2021). Using mixed methods to explore diabetes care in a medium‐secure setting in England: A case study. Health Science Reports, 4(4), Article e462. https://doi.org/10.1002/hsr2.462
• Walker, T., Foster, A., Majeed-Ariss, R., & Horvath, M. (2021). The justice system is failing victims and survivors of sexual violence: A response to the 2021 rape review. The Psychologist, 34(8), 42-45
• Walker, T., Kallevik, J., Hard, J., Mastrocola, E., & Chew-Graham, C. (2021). The role of primary care in supporting imprisoned women with mental illness. British Journal of General Practice, 71(710), 392-393. https://doi.org/10.3399/bjgp21x716813
• Walker, T., Shaw, J., Gibb, J., Turpin, C., Reid, C., Gutridge, K., & Abel, K. (2021). Lessons Learnt from the Narratives of Women Who Self-Harm in Prison. Crisis: The Journal of Crisis Intervention and Suicide Prevention, 42(4), 255-262. https://doi.org/10.1027/0227-5910/a000714
• Tucker, S., Hargreaves, C., Cattermull, M., Roberts, A., Walker, T., Shaw, J., & Challis, D. (2021). The nature and extent of prisoners’ social care needs: Do older prisoners require a different service response?. Journal of Social Work, 21(3), 310–328. https://doi.org/10.1177/1468017319890077
• Dawson, A., Wainwright, V., Shaw, J., Senior, J., Fazel, S., Perry, A., Walker, T., & Pratt, D. (2021). Processes and challenges associated with establishing a linked national suicide database across the criminal justice system. International Journal of Population Data Science, 6(1), 1-13. https://doi.org/10.23889/ijpds.v6i1.1376
• Walker, T., Majeed-Ariss, R., Riley, R., & White, C. (2020). Women’s experiences of attending an English sexual assault referral centre: an exploratory study. The Journal of Forensic Psychiatry & Psychology, 31(1), 123-136. https://doi.org/10.1080/14789949.2019.1683217
• Walker, T., Shaw, J., Edge, D., Senior, J., Sutton, M., Meacock, R., Wilson, H., McNair, L., Mitchell, H., Gutridge, K., & Abel, K. M. (2019). A qualitative study of contemporary secure mental health services: women service users’ views in England. The Journal of Forensic Psychiatry & Psychology, 30(5), 836-853. https://doi.org/10.1080/14789949.2019.1646305
• Majeed-Ariss, R., Walker, T., Lee, P., & White, C. (2019). The experiences of sexually assaulted people attending Saint Mary's Sexual Assault Referral Centre for a forensic medical examination. Journal of Forensic and Legal Medicine, 66, 33-37. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jflm.2019.06.001
• Gutridge, K., Dunlop, B. J., Patterson, M., Mitchell, H., Philbin, J., Walker, T., Ranote, S., Robinson, L., & Abel, K. M. (2019). An exploratory study of women prisoners’ attitudes towards their self-harm and the use of medical skin camouflage. The Journal of Forensic Psychiatry & Psychology, 30(1), 167-184. https://doi.org/10.1080/14789949.2018.1530285
• Mitchell, H., Abel, K. M., Dunlop, B. J., Walker, T., Ranote, S., Robinson, L., Edgar, F., Millington, T., Meacock, R., Shaw, J., & Gutridge, K. (2019). Acceptability and feasibility pilot randomised controlled trial of medical skin camouflage for recovery of women prisoners with self-harm scarring (COVER): The study protocol. BMJ Open, 9(1), Article e021891. https://doi.org/10.1136/bmjopen-2018-021891
• Green, R., Shelly, C., Gibb, J., & Walker, T. (2018). Implementing seclusion in forensic mental health care: A qualitative study of staff decision making. Archives of Psychiatric Nursing, 32(5), 764-768. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.apnu.2018.04.008
• Hargate, R., Howden, S., Tarpey, E., & Walker, T. (2017). The PARALLEL Study (imPAct of expeRiencing Another’s seLf harm and suicidaL bEhaviour in hospitaL). The Journal of Forensic Practice, 19(4), 258-268. https://doi.org/10.1108/jfp-01-2017-0001
• Walker, T., Shaw, J., Hamilton, L., Turpin, C., Reid, C., & Abel, K. (2017). ‘Coping with the job’: prison staff responding to self-harm in three English female prisons: a qualitative study. The Journal of Forensic Psychiatry & Psychology, 28(6), 811-824. https://doi.org/10.1080/14789949.2017.1331369
• Walker, T., Edge, D., Shaw, J., Wilson, H., McNair, L., Mitchell, H., Gutridge, K., Senior, J., Sutton, M., Meacock, R., & Abel, K. (2017). Contemporary women's secure psychiatric services in the United Kingdom: A qualitative analysis of staff views. Journal of Psychiatric and Mental Health Nursing, 24(9-10), 660-670. https://doi.org/10.1111/jpm.12416
• Walker, T., Shaw, J., Turpin, C., Reid, C., & Abel, K. (2017). The WORSHIP II study: a pilot of psychodynamic interpersonal therapy with women offenders who self-harm. The Journal of Forensic Psychiatry & Psychology, 28(2), 158-171. https://doi.org/10.1080/14789949.2017.1301529
• Edge, D., Walker, T., Meacock, R., Wilson, H., McNair, L., Shaw, J., Gutridge, K., Mitchell, H., Robinson, L., Senior, J., Sutton, M., & Abel, K. (2017). Secure pathways for women in the UK: lessons from the women’s enhanced medium secure services (WEMSS) pilots. The Journal of Forensic Psychiatry & Psychology, 28(2), 206-225. https://doi.org/10.1080/14789949.2016.1244279
• Walker, T., Logan, C., & Shaw, J. (2017). Women in secure care. The Journal of Forensic Psychiatry & Psychology, 28(2), 155-157. https://doi.org/10.1080/14789949.2016.1276714
• Walker, T., Shaw, J., Turpin, C., Roberts, C., Reid, C., & Abel, K. (2017). A qualitative study of good-bye letters in prison therapy: Imprisoned women who self-harm. Crisis: The Journal of Crisis Intervention and Suicide Prevention, 38(2), 100-106. https://doi.org/10.1027/0227-5910/a000411
• Walker, T., Shaw, J., Hamilton, L., Turpin, C., Reid, C., & Abel, K. (2016). Supporting imprisoned women who self-harm: exploring prison staff strategies. Journal of Criminal Psychology, 6(4), 173-186. https://doi.org/10.1108/JCP-02-2016-0007
• Towl, G., & Walker, T. (2015). Prisoner suicide. The Psychologist, 28(11), 886-889
• Walker, T., Shaw, J., Ranote, S., Doyle, M., Poursanidou, K., Meacock, R., & Abel, K. (2014). Medical skin camouflage: A recovery intervention for female prisoners who self-harm?. Criminal Behaviour and Mental Health, 24(5), 317-320. https://doi.org/10.1002/cbm.1943
• Bartlett, A., Walker, T., Harty, M. A., & Abel, K. M. (2014). Health and social care services for women offenders: current provision and a future model of care. The Journal of Forensic Psychiatry & Psychology, 25(6), 625-635. https://doi.org/10.1080/14789949.2014.944202
• Walker, T. (2013). Voices from the Group: Violent Women's Experiences of Intervention. Journal of Family Violence, 28(4), 419-426. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10896-013-9509-x
• Walker, T. (2009). 'Seeing beyond the battled body'- An insight into selfhood and identity from women's accounts who self-harm with a diagnosis of borderline personality disorder. Counselling and Psychotherapy Research, 9(2), 122-128. https://doi.org/10.1080/14733140902909174
• Whitaker, S., Walker, T., & McNally, C. (2004). The use of time base lag sequential analysis to look at the relationship between environmental events and challenging behaviour in people with learning disabilities. Behavioural and Cognitive Psychotherapy, 32(1), 67-76. https://doi.org/10.1017/S1352465804001079
• Walker, T., Stead, J., & Read, S. G. (2003). Caseload management in community learning disability teams: Influences on decision-making. Journal of Learning Disabilities, 7(4), 297-321. https://doi.org/10.1177/1469004703074001

Other (Print)

• Roden-Lui, G., Chew-Graham, C. A., Hard, J., Harriott, P., King, H., Mastrocola, E., & Walker, T. (in press). Improving primary care services for imprisoned women with severe mental illness (IP-SIS)