Nicola Moran, Lecturer, Social Work, School for Business and Society
Nicola has been a qualitative researcher for over 20 years, primarily focusing on the evaluation of interventions in health and social care.
She is now a lecturer specialising in mental health and her research interests are around social interventions in mental health, carers and mental health, and mental health in the context of the criminal justice system.
email: nicola.moran@york.ac.uk
Our 60-second interview with Nicola:
Could you please tell us what work you do in the field of mental health?
I work within a fantastic team of people in the International Centre for Mental Health Social Research (ICMHSR) developing and/or evaluating interventions to support people with mental health problems and/or unpaid carers. I also lecture on mental health in the context of the criminal justice system, unpaid carers, and identifying and communicating with people in mental distress.
What do you find most rewarding and inspiring in this work?
This is a rewarding career, working to support people with mental health problems and their carers at a systems level, looking at what helps and what hinders people with mental health problems and carers access support and benefit from support, and helping others to recognise and understand some of the symptoms, behaviours and needs of people in mental distress. For example, co-developing a mental health training package for frontline police officers and watching the delivery of that package and the discussions that ensued between police officers and mental health professionals suggested a better understanding of roles and potential responses to people at their most vulnerable.
What is the most challenging or complicated aspect of this work?
Hearing people’s stories can be distressing but that also motivates me to work harder to try to make a difference. And don’t get me started on the challenges of recruiting people to research studies…
What impact do you hope your work is having - or can potentially have?
I hope my work contributes to improved understanding and support for people with mental health problems and unpaid carers, perhaps through identifying what elements of support or interventions make a positive difference to different individuals or groups of people.
Could you share with us one piece of advice that you follow for your own mental health?
I find it hard to make time for myself with having children, so instead I do things with the kids that we all enjoy doing, whether swimming, reading or playing Cluedo. Time together is important to me and makes me - and them - happy.