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My background includes teaching pre-school children and working with young people as a Youth Training Scheme Tutor.
I spent some years working with adults with learning and physical disabilities before taking up my first post as a social work lecturer.
Recently I worked for the Prison Service as Senior Research Officer at HMP Grendon, a unique prison-based Democratic Therapeutic Community (DTC).
I have also had two Non-executive Director posts, one in a Trust offering residential care to older people, learning disabled and mentally ill people, and the other in an NHS mental health care Trust.
My first degree and doctorate are in psychology which have informed my teaching in the areas of psychology for social workers and counselling skills.
I have a particular interest in how social psychology can help us understand discrimination, oppression and value formation and I have developed teaching materials on working with diversity and how people operate in groups.
I have taught a range of modules relating to practice with adults: mental health, older people, disability, learning disability, substance misuse as well as introduction to social work, study skills, research methods and fitness to practice.
I am interested in how students learn and have developed a series of computer-based learning materials called ‘Communication Skills for Social Workers’ comprising ‘Core Skills’, ‘Communicating with Children’ and ‘Professional Communication Skills’. These are designed to complement the teaching on year one of the Degree in Social Work.
My preferred teaching methods are interactive, experiential and participatory and I gained my Fellowship of the Higher Education Academy through a portfolio evidencing my experience and methods.
I have wide research interests including: social identity; threats to identity in group settings; ethnicity, culture and diversity; service evaluation. I have a particular interest in action research and participatory research and have worked with young people and prisoners to conduct their own research and publish the results. I have supervised PhD students and look forward to continuing that role.
In 2005 I won a grant from the British Psychological Society to run a series of seminars on the topic of ‘Readiness for Treatment’, which brought together experts in the field of Forensic Psychiatry, Forensic Psychology, Psychotherapy and Art Therapy to push forward knowledge and research on readiness for treatment. The group is ongoing and has produced a special edition journal and a public seminar to date.
My preferred research methods are qualitative, but I also employ quantitative methods where necessary. I am a member of the HMP Grendon Research Advisory Group.
Dr Elizabeth Sullivan
E: elizabeth.sullivan@beds.ac.uk
