Psychology
Profile
Background
In 2004, I graduated with a BSc (Hons) in Psychology with Criminology from the University of Portsmouth and continued my studies here by completing an MSc in Forensic Psychology the following year. I was delighted to graduate with a distinction and the Elizabeth Loftus Prize for research for my project which considered why some offending children desist from criminality and some do not.
After graduating I worked as a Psychological Assistant in the Prison Service working in a category C male establishment where I was a facilitator on the Enhanced Thinking Skills programme (ETS). I was then promoted to the role of a Trainee Forensic Psychologist and worked predominantly with Indeterminate Sentenced Prisoners; conducting risk assessments and individualised interventions.
The work I experienced in these two positions inspired me to return to academia, to explore the development of criminality and the appropriateness of popular methods of rehabilitation. After gaining financial backing from Kids Company, a pioneering charity helping children and teenagers with emotional and behavioural needs, I was granted a CASE studentship with the Economical and Social Research Council (ESRC) and have now commenced my research degree.
Research
My research aims to investigate whether research findings from the 1970 showing deviant children to have deficits in their thinking patterns are still valid with children in 2010. This finding forms the basis of much rehabilitative work conducted in the UK and North America. This research also aims to explore the concept of self-identity and its relationship to cognitive deficits and criminal attitudes in the same children. By establishing whether there is evidence of cognitive deficits” forming in childhood and examining how they are developing and how this can be prevented can inform academics, politicians, teachers and parents of interventions appropriate to child offenders in the fight to prevent criminality. This project also aims to determine whether the Good Lives Model (in contrast to the Deficits model) can offer a more pro-social explanation for the difference between offending and non-offending children, including their sense of identity and cognitive functioning.
PhD Project
Title: Identity Formation and the Development of Cognitive Deficits in Children.
My Director of Studies is Dr Claire Nee, with Dr Aldert Vrij and Dr Kevin Howells (University of Nottingham) as additional supervisors.