Dr James Costello

Qualifications:

BSc(Hons), PGDip Counselling, MSc (Psychotherapy), PhD, CChem, Registered Member MBACP (Accredited), BACP Senior Accredited Supervisor (Groups)

Position:

Senior Lecturer

Department:

College of Health, Science and Society

Telephone:

+441173282490

Email:

James.Costello@uwe.ac.uk

Social media:

About me

I am an author, educator, psychotherapist, supervisor, and consultant whose work spans health, professional practice, leadership, philosophy, and organisational life.

For more than two decades, I have worked across mental health services in the NHS, third, and private sectors, as well as in higher education and UK Government Inquiries, including the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse (IICSA) and the UK COVID-19 Inquiry. This work has involved psychotherapy, supervision, teaching, research, programme leadership and development, organisational consultation, and reflective practice across a wide range of professional settings.

My work in higher education has included teaching, supervision, research, programme leadership, curriculum development, and doctoral supervision across undergraduate, postgraduate, and doctoral contexts. For much of this time, my focus was counselling and psychotherapy. That experience continues to inform my current contributions to health, professional practice, leadership, qualitative inquiry, and the study of human experience.

My writing and research explore how people practise, lead, learn, care, and remain responsible in situations where certainty is unavailable and straightforward solutions cannot be assumed. Drawing on phenomenology, hermeneutics, and relational thought, I am interested in questions of judgement, understanding, and ethical response, particularly where established frameworks prove insufficient to the complexity of lived experience.

Area of expertise

Practice, Leadership, and Supervision

My work centres on supervision, reflective practice, and dialogue with experienced practitioners, leaders, and teams, particularly where the work carries significant ethical, emotional, or organisational weight.

·      Clinical supervision

·      Reflective practice

·      Group supervision (BACP Senior Accreditation)

·      Organisational reflection

·      Leadership and professional judgement

·      Professional ethics

·      Qualitative and phenomenological inquiry

·      Relational, phenomenological, and hermeneutic approaches to practice

Much of this work takes place in environments where uncertainty, competing responsibilities, and difficult decisions are part of everyday practice. The focus is less on providing answers than on creating space for careful reflection, sound judgement, and responsible action.

Research and Writing

I am the author of:

·      Workplace Wellbeing: A Relational Approach (Routledge, 2020)

·      Philosophical Foundations of Psychotherapy: Radical Relationality (Routledge, 2024)

·      Entwined Selves: Relational Encounter in Psychotherapy (with Niall Keane, Routledge, 2026)

Current research and writing includes:

·      Hermeneutic approaches to psychiatric understanding

·      Reflection, self-account, and therapeutic encounter

·      A HEIF-funded study exploring the lived experience of insomnia and sleep disturbance

·      Organisational reflection, leadership, and professional practice in complex settings

·      Responsibility and professional practice beyond the limits of influence

I originally trained as a chemist, completing a PhD and subsequently holding research fellowships at Oxford University and with the Leverhulme Trust. Scientific research continues to inform and occupy my work, particularly where established explanations encounter their limits. Alongside later work in psychotherapy, philosophy, and professional practice, this background has fostered enduring interests in careful observation, disciplined inquiry, and the possibilities and limits of human understanding.

Publications

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