Profile

Hello- I’m Danielle, a psychologist working in mental health research. I am originally from Yorkshire but have found myself living and working in Birmingham after completing my PhD at the University of Birmingham. I enjoy nothing more than getting out and about in nature and planning new places to visit and travel too! I also try and keep fit with yoga and plenty of walks. I also have a slight obsession with dogs and can’t wait till I can have one of my own- well when I say one, I really mean a whole team of dogs!!

My PhD research was focused on one mental health disorder called post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). This is a mental health condition that people can suffer with when they go through a really distressing and frightening experience, such as being in a car accident. PTSD can make people feel very anxious, stressed and worried about the future.

What’s interesting is that some people can experience a distressing event and go on to lead their normal everyday lives, whereas some other people will go on to struggle with their mental health and get PTSD. So why do some people recover well after a frightening event and some people do not?

This is something that I have always been interested in. In my PhD research I looked at one way to help prevent someone from developing PTSD, which involved me investigating something called metacognition.

Metacognition, simply put, refers to thinking about one’s thinking….this sounds a bit confusing right? But we all have lots of thoughts running through our minds everyday, but being able to recognise and be aware of our thoughts is an example of metacognition, thinking about your thinking!   

In my NHS research job now, I am researching other mental health conditions such as mood disorders. These refer to disorders whereby people struggle to manage their mood, so they may feel low or down a lot (like in depression) or their mood may swing from being very low to very high (like in bipolar disorder). Some of my research here focuses on developing new treatments to help tackle depression in young people.

I usually wake up and have at least one cup of tea and one cup of coffee before I jump in the shower. I then usually try and eat some breakfast (although I’m not very good at this!) while I go through my emails and see what meetings I have that day. I then try and pick 3 key things that I need to get done that day so I can try and keep on track. I’ll be glued to my computer all morning and then I usually go for a walk around lunch and might ring a friend or family member while I’m out. Then I head back and get stuck into more work – whether that’s analysing data, writing up research studies or in meetings about other projects. I’m a bit of a night owl, so I work best in the evening and then I try and squeeze in some form of exercise before I eat my dinner and try and relax for the evening.