Dr James Costello

• Qualifications:BSc(Hons), PGDip Counselling, MSc (Psychotherapy), Doctor of Philosophy, 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 a psychotherapist, supervisor, consultant, author, and researcher.

Registered Accredited member of the British Association for Counselling & Psychotherapy, and Senior Accredited Specialist in Group Supervision.

I facilitate reflective spaces and supervision for mental health professionals working across a diverse range of sectors i.e., clinical practice, training, professional development and Government Inquiries [i.e., Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse, UK Covid-19].

If you are interested in working together then please contact me here.

Community Engagement.

After many years working on behalf the University and College Union resolving workplace conflicts, I distilled what I learnt into my first book:

Workplace Wellbeing - A Relational Approach (Routledge 2020).

I am pleased that it is considered a “must” for anyone interested in how to thrive in the modern workplace (Therapy Today, Feb 2021). Read my interview with BACP Workplace, check-out my podcast about gaslighting, or see me on ITV’s flagship documentary Tonight (Series 24 Episode 20). 

After many years reflecting on being a therapist, supervisor and facilitating the training of psychotherapists, I distilled what I learnt into my second book:

Philosophical Foundations of Psychotherapy: Radical Relationality (Routledge 2024)

Published as part of the Routledge series: Advances in “Theoretical and Philosophical Psychology” it has been nominated for the 2025 BPS Book Award.

I am on the editorial panel of several publishing houses which specialise in mental health, psychology and the philosophy of psychology. I have current research interests in sleep disturbance, and consciousness more broadly, and I am an active member of the British Society for Phenomenology.

I am proud to support (as a Parent Governor) the many brilliant and dedicated teachers and support staff who make Avanti Gardens School such a special place for our children to flourish.

Area of expertise

As a practitioner and supervisor, I have worked for over twenty years in one-to-one, and group settings:

• Private Sector. Co-founder of Born Human – A holistic mental health consultancy.
• Public Sector. For example the UK Home Office, Cabinet Office, HEIs, and various NHS Counselling Services.
• Third Sector.

Bluebell Care – perinatal mental health support for families.

Dementia Care Trust – support for carers of those affected by memory loss.

Kinergy – for the survivors of sexual abuse.

Teaching. I have taught on a range of programmes in psychology and led and developed courses across psychotherapy more generally (i.e., Cert. Counselling Skills, Professional Dip. Counselling; Prof. Doc. & MA in Counselling and Psychotherapy).

I am an established member of the University’s Graduate School and have a wealth of experience supervising postgraduate research (i.e., PhD, Prof Doc, MSc, MRes).  

Interdisciplinarity. Before this I worked in the natural sciences doing a PhD with Sir J Fraser Stoddart, contributing – modestly - to the 2016 Nobel Prize in Chemistry. I consider this to be my tutelage in seeing how creativity and rigour go hand in hand.

I spent time in industry (BP Chemicals), before taking-up fellowships at Oxford University and the Leverhulme Trust. I maintain an active interest in medicinal chemistry and toxicology more generally.

My leadership experience in education spans both FE, and HE. A University Teaching Fellow and an experienced external examiner, I have been awarded Royal Society of Chemistry, and HEFC STEM Teaching Fellowships.

I am lead author of scores of refereed papers and patents in the chemical sciences attracting > £850,000 in external funding for my research.

Publications

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