Dr James Costello

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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 OfficeDads 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

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