Dr Yvonne Melia

• Registered with the HCPC
• Fellow of the Higher Education Academy
• Steering Group Member, West Midlands Therapy Network
• External Examiner, University of Sheffield Doctorate in Clinical Psychology, 2022-
• External Examiner, University of Southampton Doctorate in Clinical Psychology January 2019 –
• Ad hoc DClinPsych viva examiner (University of Bath, 2019; Teeside University, 2020).
• Member of the College of Reviewers, Staffordshire University

• Doctorate in Clinical Psychology, University of Sheffield
• PgDip in Psychoanalytic Observational Studies, University of East London (completed at the Tavistock Centre, London)
• PgDip in Psychological Research Methods, Open University
• PgDip in Clinical Neuroscience, University of Surrey
• PgCert in Higher Professional Education, Staffordshire University
• BSc (hons) Applied Psychology, Liverpool John Moores University

• Clinical psychology
• Mental health of Looked After Children (LAC) and adopted children
• Assessment of attachment insecurity including the Story Stem Assessment Profile (SSAP), Child Attachment Interview (CAI), and Attachment Style Interview (ASI)
• Intervention for attachment difficulties with a focus on children in substitute care or who have experienced developmental trauma, using approaches such as Dyadic Developmental Psychotherapy (DDP), theraplay and DBT
• Consultation, training, reflective practice and group supervision related to children in care
• Child and adolescent mental health
• Harmful sexual behaviour

• Attachment relationships
• Developmental trauma
• Applications of clinical psychology in social care contexts
• Psychological issues pertaining to Looked After Children and adopted children, including improving the screening of mental health difficulties and psychological outcomes for children and young people, developing relevant measures to assess coping and parenting in carers, issues of inappropriate diagnosis, appropriate placement matching and trauma in sibling relationships
• Mental health difficulties in young people, including self-harm, Eating Disorders, personality difficulties, gender identity
• Systemic factors in mental distress and recovery e.g., how identity issues influence recovery and change in respect to mental health and the role of possible peer identification and group processes on emotional well-being
• Gender and mental health
• Trauma in organisations
• Qualitative research methodologies especially IPA and thematic analysis

Undergraduate

• Psychological interventions to improve the well-being of looked after children
• Contemporary issues in clinical psychology

Postgraduate

• Module lead for three modules on the Professional Doctorate in Clinical Psychology; Assessment, Formulation, Intervention and Evaluation 2 (AFIE1), Assessment, Formulation, Intervention and Evaluation 3 and Leadership, Organisational and Systemic Influence (LOSI).
• Module lead for the Introduction to Applied Therapeutic and Clinical Skills module for the MSc Foundations in Clinical Psychology and MSc Health Psychology programmes.
• I contribute to teaching sessions across all of the modules I am module lead for.
• Additional teaching on the Professional Doctorate in Clinical Psychology:
• Foundations of therapeutic practice
• Attachment and relationship dynamics in therapeutic practice
• 3 x therapeutic skills workshops
• Introduction to assessment and formulation
• Impact on the self of practice and learning
• Self care
• Third year specialist workshop on assessment and intervention for attachment difficulties with a focus on looked after children
• Lived experience days
• Service evaluation
• Single case experimental design

Coleman, J. & Melia, Y. (2023). Me, My Tics and I: An Exploration of Self-Identity and its Implications for Psychological Wellbeing in Young Women with Tourette’s Syndrome. Journal of Developmental and Physical Disabilities Published online 12th May. DOI: 10.1007/s10882-023-09911-x

Scott, L. Dolan, E. Baker, N. & Melia, Y. (2023). Exploring attitudes of healthcare professionals towards those with fibromyalgia: A Q-methodological approach. British Journal of Pain. Published online 23rd February. https://doi.org/10.1177/20494637231159502

Hall, S. & Melia, Y. (2022). What is known about the role of friendship in adolescent self-harm? A review and thematic synthesis. Child & Youth Care Forum. Published 25th March 2022. DOI: 10.1007/s10566-022-09686-w

Hall, S. & Melia, Y. (2021). I Just Pulled Myself Together and Realised I had to be Responsible: Adolescents’ Experiences of Having a Friend Who Self-Harms. Child & Youth Care Forum, 51(2), 291-311. Published 10th June 2021. Doi: 10.1007/s10566-021-09629-x

Wormald, C. & Melia, Y. (2021). How effective are interventions for enhancing empathy in service users with an Intellectual Disability who engage in sexually abusive behaviour? A Review of the Literature. Journal of Applied Research in Intellectual Disabilities. 34(6), 1373-1392. Published 22nd March 2021. doi: 10.1111/jar.12883

Balmain, N. Melia, Y. John, C. Dent, H. & Smith, K. (2021). Experiences of receiving Cognitive Analytic Therapy for those with complex secondary care mental health difficulties. Psychology and Psychotherapy: Theory, Research and Practice. Mar;94 Suppl 1:120-136.

doi: 10.1111/papt.12326. Epub 2021 Jan 23. 

Vandewalle, K. & Melia, Y. (2021). Psychosocial and behavioural factors associated with self injurious behaviour (SIB) in individuals with autism spectrum disorders (ASD), Research in Autism Spectrum Disorders, 81 (March 2021), published 29th December 2020, DOI: 10.1016/j.rasd.2020.101713

Balmain, N. Melia, Y. Dent, H. & Smith, K. (2021). A systematic review of service user’s experience of Cognitive Analytic Therapy (CAT). Psychology and Psychotherapy: Theory, Research and Practice, 94(S1), 36-63.  Published 15th September 2020, https://doi.org/10.1111/papt.12305.

Woodward, K. Melia, Y. & Combes, H. (2021). Exploring Carers’ Experiences and Perceptions of Special Guardianship Orders (SGOs) over Time, from the Point of Applying to Now. The British Journal of Social Work, 51(6), 1963-1982. Published 4th August 2020. https://doi.org/10.1093/bjsw/bcaa086

Carlson, L. Hutton, S. Priest, H. & Melia, Y. (2020). Reunification of looked-after children with their birth parents in the United Kingdom: A literature review and thematic synthesis. Child & Family Social Work, 25(1), 192-205. Published 27th June 2019. https://doi.org/10.1111/cfs.12663

Melia, Y. (2016). Feminine and masculine personality traits: reflections on opportunities and challenges to a career in clinical psychology. Clinical Psychology Forum, 285, 20-24.

Worthington, A. Matthews, S. Melia, Y. & Oddy, M. (2006). Cost benefits associated with social outcome from neurobehavioural rehabilitation. Brain Injury, 20(9), 947-57. DOI: 

• 10.1080/02699050600888314

Worthington, A. & Melia, Y. (2006). Rehabilitation is compromised by arousal and sleep disorders: results of a survey of rehabilitation centres. Brain Injury, 20(3), 327-32. DOI: 

• 10.1080/02699050500488249

Contributing author to: Brain and Spine Foundation (2004). Headstrong. All about brain tumours. Brain and Spine Foundation.

Melia, Y. (2001). Research and consultation with children and young people. Considerations for good practice in projects involving children with brain tumours. Brain and Spine Foundation.

Conference papers

Workshop presentation: Children and Mental Health Nursing Conference, 16th August 2019, Staffordshire University ‘Working with hard-to-engage young people: insights from Attachment Theory’

Panel member, Special Event: Fostering Focus “Team Parenting for Children in Foster Care: A Model for Integrated Therapeutic Care by Jeanette Caw & Judy Sebba” An exploration of this book and the issues raised. Northern LAC Forum, Leeds, 23rd May 2014.

Melia, Y. & Nattrass, A. Routine Evaluation and Research in Practice: experiences in a LAC CAMHS Service, Northern LAC Forum, Leeds, 15th February 2013.

Melia, Y. & Eaden, T. ‘Preventing Placement Breakdown among Looked After Children with Complex Mental Health Needs,’ Looked After Children Matter. Delivering Excellent Services for Children in Care, 3rd July 2012, ICO Conference Centre, London.

Melia, Y. & Nattrass, A. ‘Case study: Improving Mental Health Services for Looked After Children – Developing a New Model of Care,’ Inside Government Conference: Looked After Children: Improving the Outcomes for Young People in Care, 14th March 2012, 1 Wimpole Street, London.

Posters

Callaghan, A. Melia, Y. Rutterford, N. Hussain, I. and Worthington, A. (2003) Ascertaining needs and levels of psychological symptoms of family members of brain injured individuals in a residential setting: implications for service development (conference poster), Brain Injury – the Quality Agenda, The Jury’s Inn, Birmingham, 27-28 February 2003.