About
Dr Alison Bennetts is a Deputy Academic Director for the Doctorate in Clinical Psychology (DClin) at The University of Southampton. She also works as a Chartered Clinical Psychologist in the National Health Service (NHS).
I completed my DClin at The University of Southampton, with specialist skills in Family Therapy for Anorexia Nervosa (FT-AN) and a research thesis comprising a systematic review of experimental investigations of paranoia and original empirical research into the role of mental imagery in non-clinical paranoia.
Since joining the DClin programme at The University of Southampton, I have been appointed Deputy Academic Director and acted as Module Lead for Transdiagnostic Processes, and I am involved in teaching and assessment on a number of other modules. I have a keen research interest and supervise projects across the MSc and DClin programmes, as well as generating my own papers on formulation and models of wellbeing. I am particulalry interested in supervising research projects in the following areas:
- Psychological effects of yoga practice and therapy (and other holistic approaches) and the relationship to transdiagnostic processes
- Investigation of alternative holistic approaches, specifically forest bathing and wild/cold water swimming
- Mental health and wellbeing in diversity, with a particular interest in male psychology and spirituality
- Relational trauma
- Clinical practice with high-risk presentations
Alongside my published papers, I have disseminated my research at international (British Association for Behavioural and Cognitive Psychotherapies [BABCP], 2018; The International Association for Yoga Therapists [IAYT] Symposium on Yoga Research [SYR], 2021) UK (Towards Developing Psychologically Led Services: The Comprehend, Cope and Connect book and the Role of the Approved Clinician for Clinical Psychology within Acute Inpatient Wards, 2018) conferences.
I am secretary for the Diversity, Equality, Inclusion and Anti-Racism (DEIAR) in Clinical Psychology group and am representative for the University of Southampton at the Group of Trainers in Clinical Psychology (GTiCP) Planetery Health subgroup.
Alongside my role at the University, I work clinically in the NHS specialising in severe and enduring mental health presentations and indirect ways of working in inpatient settings. I have specialist therapy training in Dialectical Behaviour Therapy (DBT), Compassion-Focused Therapy (CFT), Cognitive Behaviour Therapy (CBT), Mentalization-Based Therapy (MBT) and family and systemic approaches.