Catherine O'Neill

Catherine O'Neill is Principal Lecturer (Research and Knowledge Exchange) in Psychology at Teesside University's School of Social Sciences, Humanities and Law. She is a HCPC-registered Clinical Psychologist and course leader for the BSc (Hons) Psychology with Clinical Psychology programme. Her work bridges academic research, clinical practice, and community engagement, with a focus on co-produced and place-based interventions.

Research Interests: Catherine's research centers on community psychology and community-based mental health interventions, particularly in suicide prevention, loneliness, emotional wellbeing, and post-traumatic growth. She applies Asset Based Community Development principles and place-based approaches to enhance community resilience. Her work explores the role of meaning in life, masculinity, crisis interventions, and the mental health needs of refugees, asylum seekers, and ethnic minorities.

Research Trends: Her recent publications emphasize participatory and co-produced methodologies, with strong themes in peer support, lived experience, and systemic evaluation of mental health services. The articles reflect interdisciplinary work across clinical psychology, public health, and social care, often using qualitative and systematic review methods to inform policy and practice.

• Member of the National Suicide Prevention Alliance
• Member of the Tees Valley Suicide Prevention Task Force
• Lead of the ImpactLab Social Sciences Clinic
• Facilitator of a biannual 'suicide community of practice' with over 130 UK organizations

Supervision and Grants: Catherine supervises multiple PhD and professional doctorate students on topics including masculinity and suicide, therapist experiences, crisis interventions, and access to mental health services. She leads externally funded projects such as 'Time To Care: Self Harm Systemic Evaluation' (PI), 'Stories of Hope' (PI), and the 'National Civic Impact Accelerator Programme' (Co-PI). Her work involves partnerships with local and national organizations including Humankind, CAB, Mens Minds Matter, and public health networks.

Labs and Teams: She founded and leads the ImpactLab Social Sciences Clinic, which connects students and community partners for meaningful research. She also co-leads the 'South Tees Wellbeing Network' and is developing a Disability Community Research Network with CLIP and Hartlepower.