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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, researcher, author, and consultant. I started-out in the natural sciences with a PhD that contributed to the 2016 Chemistry Nobel Prize, followed by research fellowships at both Oxford, and the Leverhulme Trust.
I am a Registered Accredited member of the British Association for Counselling & Psychotherapy, a Senior Accredited Supervisor, having gained an MSc by research in Psychotherapy from Bristol University. I work across a range of settings from The Home Office, to Dads in Mind, and Kinergy. I am passionate about what counselling and psychotherapy can offer the workplace, learning and research: they are all creative social processes with the transformative power of relationships at their heart.
My book: Workplace Wellbeing - A Relational Approach (Routledge 2020) is, put simply: "a must for anyone interested in workplace wellbeing" (Therapy Today, Feb 2021). My next title: Exploring Being Human – The philosophical foundations of meaning in psychotherapy, is published in 2022.
I am an experienced Case Worker for the University and College Union promoting workplace wellbeing through the practice of embedded counselling skills. I am co-founder of Born Human, a holistic mental health consultancy promoting the values and philosophy of a Relational Approach at work. To learn more about the future of workplace wellbeing post-COVID, read my interview with BACP Workplace. Also, check-out my podcast with the brilliant Rachel Morris about gaslighting, and the challenges of working in healthcare and other high pressure environments.
Area of expertise
My expertise as a therapist working one-to-one, with groups, and as a Senior Accredited supervisor comes from 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.
I work in the Department of Social Sciences, contributing to: Certificate in Counselling Skills; BACP Accredited MA in Counselling & Psychotherapy; and occasionally BSc(Hons) Psychology and Professional Doctorate in Counselling Psychology.
I collaborate with Dr Vanda Papafilippou of the UWE Business School, developing a trauma-informed theoretical and methodological approach to ameliorate the challenges knowledge-based organisations experience directly or vicariously due to the pandemic.
My leadership experience in education spans both FE (as HoD), and HE, recently leading 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
