Dr. Karen Goodall

Senior Lecturer

Biography

Background

Dr Karen Goodall is a Senior Lecturer in Applied Psychology in the department of Clinical and Health Psychology. She completed an MA (Hons; 1st class) Psychology at the University of Edinburgh, and a PhD in Psychology, supervised by developmental psychologist Dr. Jennifer Wishart, also at the University of Edinburgh. Her PhD studies focused on the effect of collaborative learning in chidren with Down syndrome and other intellectual disabilities.

Karen has extensive teaching experience at both undergraduate and postgraduate level, predominantly in developmental psychology, attachment theory and developmental approaches to mental health. She is currently course organiser for the MSc core course, Attachment, wellbeing and mental health. She has extensive experience of leadership roles including Programme Director and Director of Postgraduate Research. Karen is  a Chartered Psychologist and associate member of the British Psychological Society. 

Her research has been focused mainly on attachment-based approaches to emotion regulation and mental health in adults, the impact of trauma and adverse experiences on functioning in adulthood and trauma-informed approaches in services. She has published widely on using an attachment framework to understand regulation and emotion in adults, with a focus on mindfulness concepts. A further focus is relationships between childhood adversity, particularly emotional abuse and mental health outcomes. 

Dr Goodall has also been active in researching how services respond to trauma-informed practice, with a focus on the criminal justice system. Past funded projects have included researching trauma-informed practice in police and custody settings. Karen is on the steering group of the Scottish Institute for Policing Research Education and Network. She regularly provides public engagment talks relating to trauma-informed approaches. 

 

CV

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Qualifications

2002 PhD, University of Edinburgh. Title: The effect of collaborative learning on the problem-solving skills of children with Down syndrome. Supervisor: Prof. Jennifer Wishart

1998  MA (1st class, Hons), Psychology, University of Edinburgh.

Responsibilities & affiliations

 

  • Chartered Psychologist, British Psychological Society
  • Associate Member, British Psychological Society
  • Member Scottish Institute for Policing Research Education and Leadership steering group
  • 2021 - 2024 Director of Postgraduate Research, School of Health in Social Science
  • 2016 - 2021 Senior Tutor, School of Health in Social Science, University of Edinburgh
  • 2016 - 2021 Programme Director MSc Children and Young People’s Mental Health and Psychological Practice, University of Edinburgh
  • 2015 - 2016 Academic Co-ordinator MSc Children and Young People’s Mental Health and Psychological Practice, University of Edinburgh

Postgraduate teaching

MSc Mental Health in Children and Young People: Psychological Approaches: Course organiser for  Attachment, Wellbeing and Mental Health and dissertation supervisor

Doctorate in Clinical Psychology: thesis supervisor

MA Health, Science and Society: Attachment and mental and physical health

Previous teaching: MSc Psychology of Mental Health (Conversion), course organiser Conceptual and Theoretical Issues in Psychology; MsC Applied Psychology (Healthcare) for Children and Young People, Developmental Approaches to Mental Health.

Open to PhD supervision enquiries?

Yes

Areas of interest for supervision

I have capacity to supervise PhD students in the following areas: 

  • impact of childhood adversity/abuse/trauma on later psychological functioning
  • attachment and its relationship to mental health in children and adults, and enduring conditions (psychosis)
  • emotional and self regulatory capacity - the development of; correlates of and relationship to mental health in children and adults
  • trait mindfulness and its assoication with self regulatory capacity
  • postive psychology, especially the regulation of positive emotion and aversion to positive emotion 

Internal examiner in the following areas: Developmental approaches to psychosis; attachment and psychosis; developmental approaches to emotion regulation; attachment and mindfulness

External examining experience:

Francesca Fotheringham: A more nuanced investigation into mixed emotion understanding in children: Potential mechanisms and links to resilience, University of St Andrews

Photini Panayiotou: Examination of Dispositional Forgiveness on Mental Health Outcomes and Effectiveness of a Pilot Psychoeducational Group Intervention for Forgiveness in Greek-Cypriot University Students

Jichun Hao: Attachment, Mindfulness, and Social Integration in the Adjustment of Australian and Chinese University Students: A Cross-Cultural Comparison

Current PhD students supervised

Yanming He: Attachment, mindfulness and positive emotion (PhD)

Ally Pax Acari Mair: Grief and bereavement in autistic individuals (PhD)

 Rowan Smith:  The development of a risk assessment tool for under 18-year-olds who display harmful sexual behaviour, both offline and online (PhD)

  Joanna Moy:  Relationships between adult attachment, mindfulness and parental responses to child emotion                 

Past PhD students supervised

PhD

2024 Samar Alzeer (PhD). Intergenerational trauma in Arab refugees

2022 Kiyoshi Nasir Bhuiyan (PhD) Ipad technology in children with Autism Spectrum Disorder

2021 Loukia Bololia  (PhD) Dramatherapy and Autism Spectrum Disorder    

2021 Anna Trejnowska (PhD).  Adult attachment and coping with a brain tumour diagnosis

2019 Melissa Akoral  (PhD).Thesis title: A Mixed Methods Investigation of Distress Related to Psychosis Experiences.

2017 Zara Brodie (PhD). Thesis title: The relationship between adult attachment and the regulation of anger.

2015 Louise Cotton (PhD). Thesis title:  'Mind the Gap: An Investigation into Disfluency and Hesitation Phenomena in Adults with Dyslexia.

2014 Clare Uytman (PhD). Living With Limb Loss: Individuals' and Prosthetists' Perceptions of Amputation, Prosthesis Use and Rehabilitation.

2013 Rahul Sambaraju (PhD). Thesis title: Immigration and Unemployment in the Financial Recession: A Discours Analytic Study on Exclusion of Immigants.

 

D.Clin.Psy

2024 Aiden Duffy (DClin Psy) A Qualitative Investigation of the Impact of an Attachment-focused Training Programme on Intensive Psychiatric Care Staff.

2024 Louise Boland (DClin Psy) Trauma informed approaches in substance misuse services

2024 Sarah Loveridge (D. Clin. Psy.) Attitudes towards trauma-informed practice in a student population: Impact of individual characteristics

2020 Katherine Harrison (D. Clin. Psy.) Identity in OnlyFans content creators

2020Jenni Murray (DClinPsy) - The role of compassion on intrusive thoughts of caregivers of adults with dementia

2020 Gina Murphy (D.ClinPsy) . The impact of loneliness on paranoia

2019 David Carmichael (D.ClinPsy) The Relationship Between Childhood Trauma, Negative Core Schema and Paranoia in People with Persecutory Delusions: A Mediation Analysis 

Masters by Research

2022 Lu Wang (MScR) Correlates of adolescent aggressive behaviours in China

2017 Daria Karbainova (MScR)The Impact of Daily Loving-Kindness Meditation on the Regulation of Positive emotion

2016 Jingya Yuan (MScR)Attachment as a Mediator between Childhood Emotional Maltreatment and Adulthood Regulation in Positive Emotion

                

Research summary

My research focuses predominantly on attachment theory, investigating how intenal working models impact wellbeing and mental health via individual differences in emotion regulation and the reguatlion of thoughts and attention. I am also interested in the contributio of childhood experiences, including adversity, abuse and neglect to wellbeing. Indicative topics include:

  • attachment theory
  • emotion regulation (especially the regulation of positive emotion) from an attachment perspective
  • dispositiional mindfulness and its correlates and antedendents
  • ACEs (adverse childhood experiences), childhood abuse and neglect, especially emotional abuse and emotional neglect
  • trauma informed approaches in services, including police and schools

I am a founding member of the .Trauma, Adversity and Relationships Group which brings together researchers from different areas in the  University and external bodies. 

 In 2021, I initiated Advocates for ACES, a University-funded project to raise awareness of ACEs and their impacts in undergraduate students across a range of faculties including Law, Education and Medicine. This initiative invites speakers from different areas of practice to contextualise how adversity affects the people, with whom students will come into contact in their future roles'

Advocates for Aces

Current research interests

My research is mainly focused on the impact of childhood experiences on adult functioning. A key focus is applying an attachment framework to the understanding of individual differences in self-regulation of emotion, thought and attention, to understand how these impact on wellbeing and mental health. Previous projects, including PhD projects have applied an attachment framework to the following areas: individual differences in dispositional mindfulness, individual differences in trait anger and aggressive behaviour, coping with terminal conditions such as brain tumour and enduring conditions such as psychosis, or psychosis symptoms such as paranoia. A second focus is on the impact of Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACES) on self-regulation, behaviour and mental health. Projects here have focused on the relationship between trauma and abuse (particularly emotional abuse) and mental health; investigating attitudes towards trauma informed practices in the police and schools and evaluation of trauma awareness interventions. A recent project, funded by the Scottish Institute of Policing Research involved working with Police Scotland evaluating an ACEs intervention. I am open to enquiries about PhD supervision in these areas.

Past research interests

Psychosis - use of the attachment framework to understand the development and maintenance of psychosis symptoms such as paranoia. Relationship between childhood trauma and adversity and psychosis. Discourse - investigating how discourse affects interactions, particularly those with healthcare professionals or other professionals, for example in relation to childbirth choices and interactions between emergency call handlers and members of the public dealing with cardiac arrest (Resuscitation Research Group) https://www.rrg.scot/projects/the-first-first-responder/

Knowledge exchange

Public engagement

Midlothian Festival of Science. IKEA, Edinburgh, 16th October, 2019. Public engagement event to promote self soothing and calm. Provided activities on mindfulness.

Television

Invited expert comment to discussion of awareness of and stigma in mental health, BBC Scotland The Nine (aired 20/05/19).

Invited expert, providing psychological opinion on the impact of corporal punishment on children’s mental health to BBC ‘Big Questions’ debate (aired March 2018).

Literature

Commissioned to provide mental health advice on poetry anthology for children on mental health related issues, Brownlee, L, Goodfellow, M & Mucha, L. (2021)Being Me. Otter-Barry https://www.otterbarrybooks.com/books/being-me

Commissioned to provide advice on attachment theory in L. Mucha (2019). Love Factually. Bloomsbury Sigma. https://www.bloomsbury.com/uk/love-factually-9781472954350/

Affiliated research centres

Project activity

Trauma informed services

A significant body of work has examined the impact/attitudes towards being trauma-informed in services. Two projects, funded by the Scottish Institute of Policing Research have examinend police officers' perceptions of Adverse Childhood Experiences and trauma informed approaches in police custody. Ongoing research is examining trauma informed approaches in substance misuse services (with Louise Boland), in the prison service (with Nicola McPherson). 

Attachment and mental health

In collaboration with Katherine Newman-Taylor, Kathy Carnelly and Aiden Duffy, an investigation of attachment-based interaction training within Intensive Patient Care Units

 

Past project grants

2021 Funder: Scottish Institute for Policing Research (£16,078.97)
Title: Trauma-aware policing in the custody suite: an in-depth case study
PI: Karen Goodall
Co-investigators: Karri Gillespie-Smith, Zara Brodie
2021 Funder: UKRI’s Agile Research and Innovation Response to COVID-19(£182,340).
Title: Road to recovery: Understanding the impact of COVID and recovery phases on children and young people with Intellectual Disabilities and their families
PI: Karri Gillespie-Smith
Co-investigators: Karen Goodall, Doug McConnachie, et al.
Status: Funded, started April 2021
2021 Funder: ESRC Impact Acceleration Grant
Title: Vulnerable Voices: The impact of COVID and transition phases on vulnerable groups.
PI: Karri Gillespie-Smith
Co-investigators: Doug McConachie, Hope Christie, Karen Goodall, Clara Calia, Helen Sharpe, Fiona Duffy, Emily Newman, Matthias Schwannauer
Status: unsuccessful
2020 Funder: Salvesen Mindroom Research Centre: Scientific Advisory Board Research Grants Application (£80,724).
Title: The Neurodiversity Alliance: creating and evaluating a peer support program for neurodivergent pupils in mainstream secondary schools.
PI: Catherine Crompton
Co-investigators: Karen Goodall, Katie Cebula £106,000
Status: Funded, starting February 2021
2019-2000 Funder: Scottish Institute for Policing Research (SIPR; £19,284)
Title: Evaluation of an ACES intervention for police officers in Scotland
PI: Karri Gillespie-Smith
Co-investigators: Karen Goodall, Zara Brodie (University of the West of Scotland)
Status: Complete
2014- 2015 Funder: Resuscitation Council, UK (£21, 045).
Title: The First “First Responder”: Understanding bystander actions, experience, and well-being in out-of-hospital cardiac arrest.
PI: Gareth Clegg
Co-investigators: Christine Houser, Karen Goodall, Chris McVittie.
2012 - 2012 Funder: Scottish Funding Council Innovation voucher (£ 4584.76)
Title: Recruitment and retention of carers of individuals with challenging behaviours.
PI: Karen Goodall
2010 – 2011 Funder: The Robertson Trust (£7880). Title: Evaluation of the Outward Bounds Trust’s Metro Project.
PI: Chris McVittie
Co-applicants: Karen Goodall, Fiona O’May
2010-2011 Funder: The Robertson Trust (£2260).
Evaluation of Alcohol Interactive workshops
PI: Jan Gill Co-investigators: Irvin Allen, Fiona O’May, Karen Goodall.
2010 Funder: NHS Health Scotland (£13,000).
Title: Workplace Violence – Young Workers’ Experiences.
Co-applicants: Chris McVittie, Karen Goodall, Ian Elliott.

Invited speaker

Goodall, K. Trauma-informed police custody: a qualitative investigation. Scottish International Policing Conference 29th November 2023, Edinburgh.

Goodall K. Scottish Police Authority. Policing and trauma roundtable. Glasgow, February 2023.

Goodall K., Centre for Research and Evidence on Security Threats (CREST). Workshop on trauma-informed approaches in security contexts. Online June 2022

Gillespie-Smith, K., Brodie, Z.P. & Goodall, K. NHS Forensic Network – Victims & Trauma Webinar Event ‘Trauma-Informed Police Practice’. June 2022 (online).

Participant

Consortium of European Research on Emotion (CERE), Glasgow, UK, April 4-5 2018

Papers delivered

Goodall K. & Brodie, Z.P.ACEs and trauma-informed approaches in policing: the impact of training programmes on officers. BPS Faculty of Forensic Clinical Psychology (FFCP), Edinburgh, 08 June 2023.

Goodall, K. & Brodie, Z.P. Trauma informed custody suite in Scotland. 6th Policing and Society Conference, UNAK, Akureyri, Iceland, October 4th -5th 2023 (online).

Goodall, K., Gillespie-Smith, K., Brodie, Z., Deacon, K., & Brodie, Z. ‘We are going to do trauma, there’s no doubt about that… A qualitative investigation of officers’ perceptions of ACEs in relation to policing work, 15th to 16th June 2021.           

Christie, H. Egberts, M. Goodall, K. et al Parent mental health and parenting during the pandemic: Results from the UK and the Netherlands. 17th Conference European Society for Traumatic Stress Studies, 16th-19th June 2021.

Goodall, K. (2019). Childhood experiences and fear of happiness: mediating pathways via self-esteem and attachment. Paper presented at the 19th European Conference on Developmental Psychology, August 29 – September 1st 2019.

Goodall, K., & Brodie, Z. P. (2017). The role of emotion in the relationship between attachment and dispositional mindfulness. Paper presented at the 18th European Conference of Developmental Psychology, Utrecht, the Netherlands August 29 – September 1, 2017.

Brodie, Z. P., & Goodall, K. E. (2017). Avoidant suppression and anxious aggression: Attachment-related responses to an anger induction. Paper presented at the 18th European Conference of Developmental Psychology, Utrecht, the Netherlands August 29 – September 1, 2017.

Akoral, M. Goodall, K., Rush, R., McVittie, C. & Harper, S. Attachment to psychosis specific distress: emotion regulation & metacognition as mediators. 18th European Conference of Developmental Psychology, Utrecht, the Netherlands August 29 – September 1, 2017.

Uytman, C., McVittie, C & Goodall, K (2017).   “If you’ve never been through it, you can’t understand” An IPA exploration of prosthetist--patient communication.  Conference of the European Health Psychology Society, Padua, Italy, 29th Aug – 2nd Sept.

Uytman, C., McVittie, C & Goodall, K (2017).   Living with limb loss: An IPA exploration of individuals’ and prosthetists’ perceptions of limb loss, prosthesis use and rehabilitation following amputation.  The International Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis Conference, Glasgow, 18-19 May.

Trejnowska, A., McVittie, C., Ellison, M., Rush, R., Goodall, K. (2017). A mixed methods investigation of the experience of being diagnosed with a brain tumour. 31st Conference of the European Health Psychology: Innovative Ideas in Health Psychology, Padova, Italy, 29 Aug – 2 Sept 2017.

Trejnowska, A., McVittie, C., Ellison, M., Rush, R., Goodall, K. (2017). Experiences of living with a brain tumour diagnosis from the individuals’ and caregivers’ perspectives: an Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis. Paper presented at the International Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis Conference, Glasgow Caledonian University, 18-19 May 2017.

Trejnowska, A., McVittie, C., Ellison, M., Rush, R., Goodall, K. (2017). Adjustment to a brain tumour diagnosis: the role of attachment style and social support. British Psychosocial Oncology Society Annual Conference, Oxford, 16-17 March 2017.

Akoral, M., McVittie C., Goodall, K. E., Harper, S. (2016, July). ‘Psychosis-specific distress experiences: An interpretative phenomenological analysis’. Paper presented at PsyPAG Annual Conference, University of York, England. Abstract available at https://drive.google.com/file/d/0BwQCsoTS48S5dWFXLTg0WTIwRjg/view

Brodie, Z. P., Goodall, K. (2015). Attachment insecurity as a predictor of dispositional anger in adulthood. European Conference on Developmental Psychology, Braga, Portugal.

Goodall, K.  (2014). Children’s knowledge about factors associated with the maintenance of normal bodyweight. European Health Psychology Society, Innsbruck, Austria 26th-30th August, 2104.

 Goodall, K, Grünwald, L. & Darling, S. Attachment, emotional abuse and physical abuse predict schizotypy in a nonclinical sample. International Psychological Applications Conference and Trends, Madrid, 26th-28th April, 2013.

Uytman, C. McVittie, C. Goodall, K. & McKinlay, A. (2013). Communication and Control: An investigation of prosthetist and amputee relationships. Paper presented at the meeting of the 2nd International Psychological Applications Conference and Trends Conference, Madrid, Spain, 26-28 April.

McVittie, C., McKinlay, A., Sambaraju, R., Goodall, K. & Uytman, C. (2013,). ‘Hamas practises its right to resist the occupation’: Negotiating culpability for the Palestinian/Israeli conflict. Paper presented at the meeting of the 2nd International Psychological Applications Conference and Trends Conference, Madrid, Spain, 26-28 April.

Goodall, K., McVittie, C. McKinlay, A. & Uytman, C. (2012). Predictors of positive emotion regulation strategies: attachment and self esteem. Paper presented at the 26th Conference of the European Health Psychology Society, Prague, Czech Republic, 21-25 August.

Goodall, K., McVittie, C., McKinlay, A. & Uytman, C. Predictors of positive emotion regulation strategies: attachment and self esteem. 26th Conference of the European Health Psychology Society, Prague, Czech Republic, 21st-25th August 2012.

Goodall, K., Darling, S., Myles, J. and Hutt, A.   The contributions of adult attachment and schizotypy to working memory. The 12th European Congress of Psychology, Istanbul, Turkey, 5th-8th July 2011.

Goodall, K. & Trejnowska, A. The role of adult attachment style and emotion regulation in predicting mindfulness in non-meditators. . The 12th European Congress of Psychology, Istanbul, Turkey, 5th-8th July 2011.

Goodall, K. & Binnie, L. (2010). Theory of mind in children in Nurture groups. Annual Conference for Educational Psychologists in Scotland, Edinburgh, UK, 30th Sept -1st  Oct 2010.

Wilson, S., Goodall, K. & McVittie. (2010). Sceptical believers. The British Psychological Society Qualitative Methods in Psychology Conference, Nottingham, UK, 23rd-25th August 2010.

Elliott, Ian and Goodall, Karen and McVittie, Chris and Trejnowska, Anna (2010) Young workers’ experiences of abuse in public-facing jobs [invited speaker]. In: STUC Congress, 19th April, Dundee. (Unpublished)

Goodall, K.  (2009) Adult attachment and Schizotypy. British Psychological Society Scotland, Edinburgh, UK, 28th-29th November, 2009.

McVittie, C., Hepworth, J. & Goodall, K. (2009). Gender identities and health: how partners construct masculinities and femininities in relation to older men. In C. McVittie & A. McKinlay (Chairs), Discourses of health and illness. Symposium presented at the 6th Biennial Meeting of the International Society of Critical Health Psychology, Lausanne, Switzerland.8th-11th July 2009.

Magill, M. & Goodall, K. (2006). To cut or not to cut: an interpretative phenomenological analysis of birth choice after caesarean. The British Psychological Society Social Psychology Conference, Birmingham, UK, 6-8 September, 2006.

Goodall, K.E. (2004). Children’s understanding of overweight and obesity. The British Psychological Society Developmental Conference. Leeds Metropolitan University, 2-5 September, 2004.    

Goodall, K.E. (2003). A comparison of a direct teaching method and contingent assistance on the spatial problem-solving skills of children with Down syndrome. Annual conference of the Developmental section of the British Psychological Society. Coventry University, 11-14 September 2003.

Goodall, K.E. (2000). Collaborative learning in typically-developing children and children with learning disabilities. European Conference on Educational Research, The University of Edinburgh, 20-23 September 2000.

Goodall, K.E. (2000).  The effect of collaboration with a peer on understanding of concept of number and matter in children with Down syndrome. The British Psychological Society Developmental Section Annual Conference. The University of Bristol, 14-15 September, 2000.

Goodall, K.E. (1999). Peer learning in children with Down’s syndrome and children with non-specific learning difficulties. The British Psychological Society Education Section Annual conference. The University of Greenwich, 6-7 November 1999.

Goodall, K.E. (1999). A preliminary investigation of collaborative learning in children with Down syndrome. The British Psychological Society Postgraduate Affairs Group Conference, University of Lancaster, October.

ESRC Festival of Social Science. Happy Days: the science of positive emotion through attachment theory. November, 2023, Voodoo Rooms, Edinburgh https://2023.festivalofsocialscience.com/events/holding-on-to-happiness-how-your-attachment-style-affects-your-happiness/

ESRC Festival of Social Science Online exhibition: Road to Recovery: Covid-19 and the impact on children with Intellectual Disabilities and their families. 2021

Depression Detectives, citizen science project. Trauma and Depression: A Q and A with Karen Goodall, Hope Christie and Rachel Happer. https://blogs.ed.ac.uk/depressiondetectives/2021/06/14/trauma-and-depression-a-qa-with-karen-goodall-hope-christie-and-rachel-happer/Facebook live session on Trauma and Depression with Depression Detectives: https://blogs.ed.ac.uk/depressiondetectives/

Midlothian Festival of Science, Keep Calm.  IKEA, Edinburgh, 16th October, 2019

BBC Scotland The Nine. Invited expert comment on awareness of and stigma in mental health, broadcast 20th May 2019.

BBC ‘Big Questions’ debate. Invited expert to televised debate on the impact of corporal punishment on children’s mental health (aired March 2018).

International Programme for Psychosocial Health Research, Brisbane, Australia. 'It's up to you..’.How doctors influence women's birth choice following a Caesearean section. https://soundcloud.com/ipp-shr_podcasts_08/ippshr_podcast_084

Happy Day! Exploring Positive Emotions through attachment theory. Festival of Social Science event. 2nd November 2023

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