Who Are We?

MU-SoP

 

Currently we are a small group of academics (just me really!) and students working to understand NSSI better. It might be helpful to know who we are.

Dr John Fitzgerald

John is a NZ Registered Clinical Psychologist and Senior Lecturer in Clinical Psychology at Massey University – Wellington (since March 2015). He qualified from Birmingham University, UK in 1988 and has spent most of the intervening years as a practitioner working in Adult Mental Health and Substance Misuse Services in England, and Child & Adolescent Mental Health and general community mental health services in New Zealand. John has wide experience in the training of clinical psychologists (pre and post-qualification), professional practice and ethical issues, clinical psychology in primary care settings, change and outcome evaluation, and working with families. Over the last few years, primarily because of clients he has been working with, he has developed an interest in the area of NSSI.

Students currently working on NSSI research topics:

Louise Edwards – Louise is a doctoral student on the Clinical Psychology Training Programme. Her thesis, which is being co-supervised by Prof Janet Leatham, is entitled, Non-suicidal self-injury (NSSI) and suicide risk among young adults: An examination of the role of perceived burdensomeness.

Dasha Fedchuk – Dasha is a Masters student. She is working on a project provisionally entitled, The experiences of non-suicidal self-harmers in LGBTIQ communities: A qualitative exploration.

Students previously working on NSSI research topics:

Laura KcKegg (2016) – Laura is an Honours student. In 2016 Laura has been working on her project entitled, Exploring the constructs young people hold about non-suicidal self-injury: A pilot study.

Kelly Fisher (2016) – Kelly completed her Masters thesis in 2016. Her project was entitled, Supporting the Supporters: How Adolescent Females Respond to a Friend Who Engages in Non-Suicidal Self-Injury. We are currently working on a journal article based on her thesis. In 2017 Kelly will be at Massey studying for her PGDip in Professional Practice and going on to become a Registered Psychologist.

If you want to find out more about any of these projects please look at Our research on NSSI page.