Personal statement
I have been a lecturer in the School of Social Work and Social Policy at the University of Strathclyde since December 2014. Before coming to the university, I worked for 10 years as a professional social worker in the statutory and voluntary sectors, both in Scotland and the USA. These experiences underpin my current teaching and research and promoting and developing social work practice is a key priority.
I teach on both the undergraduate and postgraduate courses in social work and am on the School’s Ethics Committee. I am actively engaged in a number of research projects and knowledge exchange activities with specific interests in: death, dying and bereavement; loss; public health approaches to palliative care (including compassionate communities); children and young people; participatory research methods; and practice development. Much of my work involves working with a variety of disciplines and I welcome opportunities to work collaboratively. I am a research consultant to the Centre for Youth and Criminal Justice (CYCJ) and the Centre for Health Policy, both based at the University of Strathclyde, and a member of the Primary Palliative Care Research Group at the University of Edinburgh. I am also a stakeholder group member in the Good Life Good Death Good Grief Alliance and the Scottish Representative for the Association of Palliative Care Social Workers.
Teaching
My teaching spans three broad fields: social work, bereavement and loss and research skills. I teach across both of the qualifying social work programmes: the BA(Hons) in Social Work and the Masters of Social Work. I also contribute teaching on bereavement and loss in other settings, academic and practice, to a variety of disciplines.
Research interests
My research mainly focuses on bereavement, loss and end-of-life care with a particular emphasis on developing the resilience of communities to better cope with, and support, related experiences. I have a particular interest in the experiences of children and young people and practice development. I have experience of action research and am committed to participatory research methods that have impact across practice and policy as well as within academia.
I welcome proposals from Masters or potential PhD students with related research interests.
Professional activities
- The role of social work in developing community capacity around end-of-life and bereavement experiences: a case for wider involvement
- Speaker
- 20/4/2018
- A Bereavement Programme for Schools
- Speaker
- 6/3/2018
- Bereavement and Children: What Schools want from their local Hospice
- Speaker
- 21/6/2017
- Cross Party Group in the Scottish Parliament on Palliative Care: Death Education in Primary Schools
- Invited speaker
- 14/12/2016
- Loss and Bereavement in Young people: Theory into Practice
- Speaker
- 18/11/2016
- What Schools Want From Their Local Hospice
- Speaker
- 16/9/2016
more professional activities
Projects
- Examining the Impact of Suicide on Adolescent Survivors (Student - Laura del Carpio)
- Rasmussen, Susan (Principal Investigator) Paul, Sally (Co-investigator)
- Period 01-Oct-2016 - 30-Sep-2019
- Trauma, Bereavement and Loss Services at HMP Polmont YOI: My Life With Others
- Vaswani, Nina (Principal Investigator) Paul, Sally (Co-investigator)
- Period 31-May-2015 - 30-Nov-2016
more projects
Address
Social Work
Lord Hope Building
Lord Hope Building
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