Ms Nicola Ryan

About

I am a senior lecturer in mental health nursing specialising in child and adolescent mental health, neurodevelopmental disorders and cognitive behavioural therapy. I teach undergraduate and post graduate mental health nurse students within the school of nursing and lead on the MSc and BSc modules Coordinating Care of those with Complex Mental Health Needs. I also teach other fields of nursing students about child mental health and Neurodevelopmental Disorders as well as teaching and supervising MSc research projects in other departments such as the school of Education, Social Work and Paramedic Sciences. I'm part of the Elective placements team for students taking a placement outside of their field of study nationally and internationally. 

I have worked in NHS specialist CAMHS community teams and local borough children's services alongside youth offending teams, safeguarding and young peoples substance misuse teams as a clinical nurse specialist and CBT therapist for 12 years, and in private practice for a further 5 years offering CBT therapy and CBITS behavioral therapy for a range of mental health difficulties and tics disorders.  I continue to do diagnostic assessments for Autism (as a freelance Consultant for the National Autistic Society)  as well as ADHD & Tourettes Syndrome assessments . I am an occasional speaker at a local ADHD charity for parents and teachers and have been a clinician advisor for Young Minds parent helpline .I have developed a needs assessment for  a children's charity in Uganda to include neurodevelopmental and emotional behavioral screening and I'm currently developing training for staff with colleagues from Education Psychology and Child and Adolescent Psychiatry with an aim to support staff to place Ugandan orphan children who have a range of physical, emotional and learning difficulties with Ugandan families.

Academic responsibilities

Senior Lecturer Mental Health Nursing

Qualifications

  • BSc Psychology University of Surrey
  • MSc Mental Health Studies Kings College
  • Dip HE Mental Health Nursing for Graduates Kingston University & St Georges
  • PGDip Cognitive Behavioural Therapy Kings College & Anna Freud Centre
  • Fellow of Higher Education Academy Kingston University
  • Comprehensive Behavioral Intervention for Tics (CBITS Therapy) Tourettes Action via Great Ormond Street Hospital
  • Accredited to use diagnostic tools for Autism; 3DI DISCO. ADOS and ADHD validated assessments

Teaching and learning

I teach mainly on both BSc and MSc Mental Health Nursing courses. I also teach about child and adolescent mental health and neurodeveopmental disorders across other fields of Nursing as well as teaching on postgraduate and undergraduate courses at the school of Education , Social Work and Paramedic Science. 

Undergraduate courses taught

Postgraduate courses taught

Research

Ooms, A., Chandler, K., Chavrimootoo, D., Crighton, E., Francois, J., Gale, J., Howard, L., Inch, J., Nash, T., Price, J., & Ryan N. (2020, July). Clinical Placement Experiences of Nursing Students during COVID-19. Paper presented at the Mobilising Research in Response to Covid-19 Online Conference, 2020 Kingston University Festival of Research, Kingston University, UK.

All Means All Erasmus Plus project: International open book resource for teacher training with a focus on anti-bias and inclusive education. Developed along with academics, researchers and social activists from across the world. 

Current PhD research exploring attitudes, knowledge and skills of students in the faculty of health and education, towards working with people with neurodevelopmental disorders.

Leadership and management

I am currently one of the two Disability Champions for the Faculty and a member of the Disability Taskforce Team. 

Videos of my work