Cara Richardson

I studied at the University of Strathclyde, completing a BA (Hons) in Psychology and MSc in Clinical Health Psychology. During my masters I worked as an Honorary Assistant Psychologist in a Clinical Health Psychology service which led to an interest in chronic pain and severe mental illness.

Following this, I worked as a Research Assistant at the University of Dundee collaborating with Pain Services across NHS Scotland to establish a Core Minimum Dataset for Chronic Pain. During this time I also worked as a honorary Assistant Psychologist in a Residential Pain Management programme.

I then pursued a PhD in Psychological Medicine at the University of Glasgow. The focus of my PhD was "Towards an Enhanced Understanding of Suicide Risk in Men". I undertook a mixed methods approach in this PhD to help gain a more in depth understanding of how risk factors present in a man's life and how they cope and recover following a suicide attempt. I also worked as a Research Assistant during this time, predominantly working on the Distress Brief Intervention (DBI) programme with the aim of extending this to younger age groups (16 & 17 year olds).

This increased my interest in clinical research, particularly severe mental illness, and working towards new and innovative ways of treating and self-managing mental illness. I began my current postdoctoral Research Associate position in Prof Sandra Bucci's research group in November 2021. This position involves supporting Professor Bucci in delivering a programme of research based around digital solutions to support people with mental health problems. The role will involve projects supported by a range of funders, using a range of methodological approaches, including quantitiative and qualitative methods and health records research, towards the development and evaluation of novel prediction models and interventions in people with mental health problems.