Dr Lucy Cooper

Senior Lecturer

School of Health & Wellbeing

01752 636700

lcooper@marjon.ac.uk

Role Summary

I am a lecturer on the BSc (Hons) Psychotherapy and Counselling degree at Plymouth Marjon University, as well as a BACP Accredited Counsellor/Psychotherapist.

The majority of my clinical experience is in supporting students within Higher Education; as a Counsellor/Psychotherapist, a Specialist Mental Health Mentor, or in other Student Support and Welfare roles.

Other than Higher Education settings, I have worked for several mental health charities and services across South Yorkshire. I have also volunteered as an external ethics reviewer for universities. These different, but often related experiences have helped inform my research interests.

Qualifications

PhD in Psychology, Sheffield Hallam University
MSc in Integrative Counselling and Psychotherapy (BACP Accredited), University of Derby
PG Certificate in Counselling Skills, University of Derby
BSc (Hons) in Psychology, University of Sheffield

Teaching

I primarily teach on the Psychotherapy and Counselling degrees, with an interest in Cognitive-Behavioural Therapy, Psychology, Anti-Discriminatory practice and Dissertations/Research Methods (Quantitative and Qualitative). I am also the Placement Coordinator for Psychotherapy and Counselling.

Research

My experience working with students inspired my PhD; invetsigating perfectionism and well-being in UK ndergraduates. Using a large data-set, I explored relationships between students' multi-dimensional perfectionism, anxiety, worry, resilience, well-being and social media use. I also developed, implemented and evaluated a dual-factor intervention for perfectionist students, combining Cognitive-Behavioural Therapy and Positive Psychology.
My research interests include:

Factors that impact students' mental health and wellbeing, e.g., transition to university, social media use, academic attainment and wider socio-political and contextual factors
Higher Education professional and student support services; impacts, challenges and solutions for delivery
Multi-dimensional perfectionism, well-being, procrastination and self compassion.
Counselling and psychotherapeutic interventions
Cognitive, Behavioural and Positive Psychology approaches

I have also worked as a research assistant for projects such as GrowPlus (positive psychology interventions for university students) and a project funded by Royal College of Nursing; a mixed-methods investigation exploring mental health nursing provisions for children and young people.

Publications

Expert Membership of professional bodies

Roles on external bodies

External Examiner for University of Salford - Counselling and Psychotherapy (Professional Training)

Other Interests

Other than enjoying teaching and research, I'm also a keen rock climber, a caffeine-obsessive, a travel-enthusiast, and a frequent-music-festival-goer; rarely am I seen without music or the radio on!