The team
Dr Duncan Gillard
Duncan is a HCPC (Health and Care Professions Council) registered Senior Educational Psychologist and an experienced ACT & DNA-V practitioner and trainer. Duncan is the author of Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) for Dummies and The Science of Children’s Wellbeing and of several peer-reviewed articles on the subjects of ACT and Contextual Behavioural Science (CBS). Duncan is the Lead Psychologist for the Enable Inclusion Team, which works with young people at risk of permanent exclusion from School, and young people who are anxious about and avoidant of School.
Dr Corinna Grindle
Corinna is an Associate Professor at the Centre for Educational Development, Appraisal and Research (CEDAR) at the University of Warwick. Corinna has taught numerous university courses for psychologists and educationalists regarding autism, behaviour change, curriculum design and effective instruction. Her research has been published in several peer reviewed journals including the Journal of Autism and Developmental Disabilities and Research in Developmental Disabilities. Her book Teaching Early Numeracy to Children with Developmental Disabilities was published in November 2020.
Dr Nic Hooper
Nic is an expert in clinical psychology who is employed primarily as a Senior Practitioner and Research Lead at Enable Inclusion Trust, where he works with families and schools to ensure the best outcomes for young people. Nic also provides consultancy in various forms (workshops, trainings, wellbeing events, writing support, research analysis and coaching), lectures at Cardiff University and spends a fair amount of time writing. For example, Nic has authored many scientific articles, book chapters, and magazine articles, and have written five books.
Dr Louise Hayes
Louise is a clinical psychologist, author, speaker and active humanitarian. Together with Joseph Ciarrochi, Louise is the originator of the DNA-V model. She is a Senior Fellow with The University of Melbourne (The National Centre of Excellence in Youth Mental Health), and is the co-author of many best-selling books. For more information on Louise go to – louisehayes.com.au or for information on DNA-V go to thrivingadolescent.com
Katie Parker
Katie is a Board Certified Behaviour Analyst (BCBA). Katie provides consultation and training to Schools and Colleges; and Early Intensive Behavioural Intervention (EIBI) Programmes in home and educational settings. Katie is an ACT & DNA-V practitioner and trainer, her work focuses on combining school-wide values and positive behaviour support, with the DNA-V model. It’s important to Katie that her work reflects values of compassion, flexibility, equality and authenticity.
Dr Emily Searle
Emily completed her PhD at the University of the West of England (UWE), investigating the acceptability of an early prototype of Connect. In other words, Emily researched how possible it would be to situate a wellbeing curriculum inside a PSHE curriculum (within the UK). Emily now works as Psychology Lecturer and Researcher at UWE, and her ongoing role within Connect is to advise on research efforts, as it is pivotal that the curriculum we develop be continually evaluated.
Dr Freddy Jackson Brown
Freddy is an HCPC (Health and Care Professions Council) registered, chartered clinical psychologist with 20 years experience working with children and families in the NHS. He has published a range of peer reviewed articles / book chapters on ACT, behaviour analysis, disability and sexuality, and Acceptance and Commitment Therapy for Dummies. His interests include child development, language and communication, challenging behaviour, staff systems, emotional literacy and supervision.
Dr Geetanjali Basarkod
Geet was awarded her PhD in 2019, for which she developed the Six Ways to Well-Being Questionnaire (6W-WeB). Geet has published papers on a variety of topics, including mindfulness, psychological flexibility, body image, academic achievement and self-beliefs. She is currently a Senior Research Fellow at Australian Catholic University and continues to play a notable role for the Australian and New Zealand Chapter of the Association for Contextual Behavioural Science.
Dr Joseph Ciarrochi
Joseph is professor at the Institute for Positive Psychology and Education, Australian Catholic University. Joseph has published over 150 scientific journal articles and many best selling books, including Get out of your mind and into your life teens, and The Thriving Adolescent. He has been honoured with over four million dollars in research funding, and his work has been discussed on TV, and in magazines, newspaper articles, and radio.
