Best practice and personal experience formed the basis of a recent lecture which was delivered to undergraduate psychology students by two St Andrew’s Healthcare staff members.

Dr Michelle Huggins, Consultant Clinical Psychologist teamed up with Recovery Partner Jo York to speak to final year students at Loughborough University.

Speaking in front of a packed audience, they discussed the application of Cognitive Behaviour Therapy (CBT) to anxiety and depression.

Dr Huggins said: “Together we created a learning opportunity that paired Jo’s experience of depression and anxiety, with best practice guidelines and the evidence base behind it. We weaved examples of research literature through Jo’s recovery journey which enabled us to bring the application of the literature to life.

“We were delighted to see how engaged our audience were and we had a really positive teaching experience. Students stayed behind after the lecture to thank Jo for sharing her recovery journey and commented on how ‘courageous’ she had been to discuss such an emotive subject in front of them all. One of the students also said that they had been ‘very impressed’ by the lecture and had learnt a lot from attending, which is all you want to hear.”

Jo added: “It was initially a daunting experience as neither of us are used to speaking to such a large audience. The lecture theatre was packed and I believe there were more than 100 students in the hall so it felt rather intimidating at first. But everyone was really engaged and listened well and we felt really well supported by the University team. Additionally, it helped knowing we were both confident in our knowledge of the material that we were delivering.

“We both felt very proud to represent St Andrew’s Healthcare and to share our passion for the work that we do.”