51cg

People

Professor Kate Smith

Professor Kate Smith
Professor Kate Smith
Professor Kate Smith

Personal Chair

Accepting PhDs

51cg
Email Address
kate.smith@abdn.ac.uk
Telephone Number
+44 (0)1224 272290
Office Address
631 MacRobert Building
Old Aberdeen Campus
581 King Street
AB24 5UA

View on Map

School/Department
School of Education

Biography

I am an academic and practitioner in pluralistic approaches to counselling and psychotherapy.  I am currently the Head of Department for Counselling, Well-being, and Educational Psychology.

Having initially undertaken a degree in the natural sciences, and post-graduate research in comparative psychology, I trained as a therapist in the early 2000s, and obtained a teaching and research post first at St Andrews University and then at Abertay University in Dundee.  I joined the 51cg as a Professor in mental health in 2023.

My PhD focussed on the impact of depression on autobiographical memory and the life-story structures.  More recently my research has focussed on using a pluralistic approach to the application of therapy to different client groups, training for practitioners in mental health, and the process and outcome of pluralistic therapy.

Qualifications

  • PhD Psychology 
    2016 - University of St Andrews 
  • PGCert Higher Education Teaching 
    2014 - Abertay University 
  • BSc Psychology 
    2010 - Open University 
  • PGDip Counselling 
    2009 - Abertay University 
  • PGCert Counselling Skills 
    2007 - Abertay University 
  • MA Natural Sciences 
    2003 - University of Cambridge 

Latest Publications

  • Mental health practitioners’ perceptions of online working: a literature review

    Roddy, J., Gabriel, L., Sheehy, R., Charura, D., Dunn, E., Hall, J., Moller, N., Smith, K., Cooper, M.
    British Journal of Guidance and Counselling, vol. 53, no. 2, pp. 190-205
    Contributions to Journals: Articles
    • [ONLINE] DOI:
    • [OPEN ACCESS]

  • The effectiveness of pluralistic counselling in a primary counselling setting: A pilot study

    Murphie, M., Smith, K.
    Pluralistic Practice, vol. 2025
    Contributions to Journals: Articles
    • [ONLINE] DOI:
    • [OPEN ACCESS]
    • [ONLINE]

  • Research-Informed Counselling and Psychotherapy: Training and Accreditation Agenda

    Cooper, M., McLeod, J., Smith, K.
    Counselling and Psychotherapy Research, vol. 24, no. 4, pp. 1145-1148
    Contributions to Journals: Articles
    • [ONLINE] DOI:
    • [OPEN ACCESS]

  • The role of BACP in maximising the potential of counselling and psychotherapy research in the UK: Benefitting clients, communities, and societies

    Michael, B., Charura, D., Cooper, M., Gabriel, L., Hanley, T., McLeod, J., Moller, N., Reeves, A., Smith, K.
    Counselling and Psychotherapy Research, vol. 24, no. 4, pp. 1133-1140
    Contributions to Journals: Articles
    • [ONLINE] DOI:
    • [OPEN ACCESS]
    • [ONLINE]
    • [ONLINE]

  • Building a Community of Inquiry for Pluralistic Practice

    Blunden, N., Kupfer, C., Smith, K., Cooper, M., Gabriel, L., Martin, B., McLeod, J., Murphie, M., Reeves, A., Schindler-Ord, J.
    Pluralistic Practice, vol. 2024
    Contributions to Journals: Articles
    • [ONLINE] DOI:
    • [OPEN ACCESS]
    • [ONLINE]

View My Publications

Research

Research Overview

I am interested in the process and outcomes of counselling and psychotherapy, and in particular enhancing the role of client responsiveness in practitioners.  I also work with schools counsellors and am interested in how to enhance well-being in educational contexts

I am interested in pluralistic research, whereby collaboration, co-creation and social justice inform the research questions and practices undertaken.  For more on this please take a look at:

 

Research Areas

Accepting PhDs

I am currently accepting PhDs in Psychology, Education.

Please get in touch if you would like to discuss your research ideas further.

Psychology

  • Supervising
  • Accepting PhDs
View Research Area

Education

  • Accepting PhDs
View Research Area

Research Specialisms

  • Mental Health Nursing
  • Psychology
  • Psychotherapy
  • Health Psychology

Our research specialisms are based on the Higher Education Classification of Subjects (HECoS) which is , published under the licence.

Current Research

I have an oversight role at the Bounds counselling clinic at the 51cg, and in partnership with the TRACCS group () I am involved in a number of projects looking at the application of counselling and psychotherapy, in particular process and outcomes in therapy:

- Outcomes of therapy in relation to therapist and client demographics in 

- Impact of process and outcome measures on therapy processes

- Client experiences of online therapy

 

I am also researching the application and effectiveness of pluralistic therapy, and the role of schools counselling.

Supervision

My current supervision areas are: Psychology.

Moulds, D (2014-2021) PhD Talk Your Way to Happiness: an exploration of the reciprocal relationship between emotion and communication

Murphie, M-C (2019-2023) PhD: Processes and Outcomes of Pluralistic Therapy

Adogu, T (2019-2023) PhD: Female survivors of Boko Harem abduction in Nigeria

Mcnally, N (2021-2024) PhD: Creative writing in therapy, fitting the method to the Client

Karagianni, A (2020-2024) PhD: Evidence based practice in therapy for childhood sexual abuse

 

Funding and Grants

 

Start/End Dates

Title / brief details of Project

Project funding

Funding Body

May 2019 -Dec 2019

Validating non-verbal indicators of emotion and rapport during communication

£99,753

DASA

May 2017 - May 2018

Group-work and Abertay Attributes

£6000

ATLEF 5

Apr 2016 – Dec 2016

How inclusive is Abertay’s online learning environment?

£1990

ATLEF 3

Jun 2016 – Oct 2016

Counselling for young people with Diabetes

£4830

BACP

Oct 2014 – Apr 2015

Counselling for Diabetes

£4850

R-LINCS

 

Teaching

Teaching Responsibilities

I teach on the MSc and undergraduate Counselling programmes as well as inputting in to the Education programmes within the School

Update