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- Qualifications:BSc(Hons), PGDip Counselling, MSc (Counselling & Psychotherapy), Doctor of Philosophy, Registered Member MBACP (Accredited), BACP Senior Accredited Supervisor (Groups)
- Position:Senior Lecturer
- Telephone:+4411732 82490
- Email:James.Costello@uwe.ac.uk
About me
I am a counselling practitioner, clinical supervisor, author, researcher, and consultant. I started-out in the natural sciences with a PhD contributing to the 2016 Chemistry Nobel Prize, followed by research fellowships at Oxford, then the Leverhulme Trust.
I am a Registered Accredited member of the British Association for Counselling & Psychotherapy, a Senior Accredited Supervisor, with an MSc by research in Psychotherapy from Bristol University. I work across a range of settings including The Home Office, Dads in Mind, and Kinergy, and was a consultant with the historic Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse. I am interested in how psychotherapy and philosophy can inform the workplace, learning and research: they are all creative social processes with the transformative power of relationships at their core.
My last book: Workplace Wellbeing - A Relational Approach (Routledge 2020) is, put simply:
"a must for anyone interested in workplace wellbeing" (Therapy Today, Feb 2021).
My current project with Routledge Advances in Theoretical and Philosophical Psychology series is:
Philosophical Foundations of Counselling & Psychotherapy – A Relational Approach.
I am co-founder of Born Human, a holistic mental health consultancy promoting the values and philosophy of a Relational Approach.
Area of expertise
My expertise as a therapist working one-to-one, with groups, and as a Senior Accredited supervisor comes from over twenty years practice across a range of settings, including:
- Private (i.e., Born Human);
- Third (i.e., Bluebell Care, Dementia Care Trust, and Kinergy), along with
- Public (i.e., The Home Office, HEIs, and NHS Counselling Services) sectors.
An experienced Trade Union Case Worker I promote workplace wellbeing through the practice of embedded counselling skills. Read my interview with BACP Workplace, check-out my podcast with Dr Rachel Morris about gaslighting, or watch me on ITV's flagship documentary Tonight (Series 24 Episode 20).
As a teacher, I contribute to all levels of Counselling & Psychotherapy.
My leadership experience in education spans both FE (as HoD), and HE, leading until recently the Foundation Science Year . A University Teaching Fellow and an experienced external examiner, I have been awarded Royal Society of Chemistry, and HEFC STEM Teaching Fellowships.
Publications
