Staff profile

I am a doctoral researcher in the Department of Psychology at Durham University. My thesis asks how societal norms shape the processes and outcomes of psychological therapy for gender, sexuality and relationship diverse (GSRD) adults, and how the psychological mechanisms linking those norms to clinical harm or repair are conceptualised, operationalised and examined.

The work is organised around an integrative framework of minority stress, structural stigma, internalised stigma and system justification, with identity salience as a linking construct. I treat intersectionality as analytically central rather than demographic, so race and racialisation, migration status and socioeconomic disadvantage are examined as part of the account rather than added to it.

The programme has 3 linked studies. Study 1 is a scoping review conducted using JBI methodology and reported in line with PRISMA-ScR, covering 64 studies published between 2001 and 2025. Study 2 examines GSRD clients' lived experiences of psychological therapy. Study 3 examines how therapists working with GSRD clients conceptualise these mechanisms in practice. A final chapter integrates the findings across the 3. Study 2 uses constructivist grounded theory with a new materialist orientation. Study 3 combines reflexive thematic analysis of therapist interviews with a vignette-based quantitative strand, so that the framework can be disconfirmed as well as supported. My supervisors are Dr Sophie Hodgetts, Dr Monique Botha and Professor Simon Forrest.

Alongside my doctoral research I am a Teaching Assistant in the department, supporting undergraduate teaching on Academic Skills Development for Psychology and Advanced Research Methods and Statistics. I am also Co-Chair of the Durham University LGBT+ Staff and Postgraduate Network and a Postgraduate Research EDI Representative, and I review for Psychology of Sexual Orientation and Gender Diversity.

I hold an MSc in Psychology and a BA (Hons) in Counselling, both from the University of Sunderland. I have been in practice since 2019 as an integrative psychotherapeutic counsellor, clinical supervisor and civil and commercial mediator, and I am founder and Clinical Director of Marking Therapy. I am an Accredited Registrant of the National Counselling & Psychotherapy Society, a Registered Member of the British Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy, an Accredited Member of the National Hypnotherapy Society, a Graduate Member of the British Psychological Society, a Graduate Student member of the American Psychological Association and an Associate Mediator of the Civil Mediation Council. I volunteer with Cruse Bereavement Support and I am a trustee of the West End Refugee Service.

• Gender, sexuality and relationship diversity (GSRD) and mental health
• Minority stress, structural stigma and internalised stigma
• Intersectionality: race and racialisation, migration and socioeconomic position
• Psychological therapy processes and outcomes
• Therapist conceptualisation, competence and clinical supervision
• Qualitative methods: constructivist grounded theory and reflexive thematic analysis
• Vignette-based experimental designs
• Evidence synthesis and scoping review methodology
• Grief and bereavement

• 2026: When 'Staying Strong' Silences Grief: Supporting Bereaved Men in Telephone Conversations, CPD training for Cruse Bereavement Support: A continuing professional development session written and delivered for Cruse Bereavement Support volunteers, on how expectations of staying strong can silence grief in men and how that presents in telephone bereavement support. It covers masculinity and help-seeking, alexithymia, instrumental and disenfranchised grief, and evidence-informed questioning and pacing that create emotional permission.
• 2026: Reviewer, Psychology of Sexual Orientation and Gender Diversity: Peer reviewer for Psychology of Sexual Orientation and Gender Diversity, a journal of the American Psychological Association.