Dr Carolina Campodonico
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Carolina is a former paramedic with a career dedicated to understanding and improving mental health support in emergency professions. She completed her PhD on trauma and resilience in psychosis at the University of Manchester in 2021 and joined the University of Central Lancashire as a Lecturer in Clinical Psychology in the same year. She is now a Senior Lecturer, combining teaching, supervision, and applied research to enhance mental health support for frontline workers.
Carolina holds MSc degrees in Clinical Psychology and in International Disaster Management, reflecting her broader interest in psychological responses to trauma and crisis across diverse settings. At the University, she leads modules on ethics, clinical practice and professional development, supervises undergraduate and postgraduate research, and serves as Course Leader for the BSc Forensic Psychology.
Her teaching is informed by her research and she is passionate about embedding real-world relevance into education and creating inclusive, supportive learning environments.
- PhD Clinical Psychology, The University of Manchester, 2021
- MSc International Disaster Management, The University of Manchester, 2016
- MSc Clinical Psychology, University of Bergamo (Italy), 2015
- BSc Communication and Psychology, University of Milano-Bicocca (Italy), 2013
- Fellowship of the Higher Education Academy, 2020
- Outstanding Student Representative Award, 2019
- Research Impact Scholarship, 2017
- Psychosis
- Trauma
- Post-traumatic Stress Disorder
- PTSD
- Complex PTSD
- Resilience
- Protective Factors
- Post-traumatic Growth
- Fellowship of the Higher Education Academy
Carolina’s research focuses on trauma, resilience, and mental health in high-risk and high-pressure professions, with particular emphasis on the emergency services. Her interest in this area stems from her background as a paramedic, combined with academic expertise in clinical psychology.
She completed her PhD on trauma and resilience in psychosis and continues to explore the complex interplay between post-traumatic stress, post-traumatic growth, and mental health recovery. Carolina currently supervises PhD research on the mental health of paramedics and firefighters, including a national project funded by the Fire Brigades Union that is gathering data from thousands of firefighters across the UK.
She also leads applied research with UK police forces. This includes the development and delivery of UPSKILL, a psychosis training programme for officers, as well as qualitative studies examining police and public perceptions of mental health crisis response. The training was piloted with Lancashire Constabulary and is now being rolled out more widely.
Her broader research interests include trauma-informed care, complex PTSD, protective factors in mental health, and the role of lived experience in shaping psychological practice and training. She is committed to applied, collaborative research that brings about practical change and informs policy and service delivery in mental health care.
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- Complex, Trauma and Resilience Research Unit, Greater Manchester Mental Health NHS Foundation Trust, Manchester Academic Health Science Centre, Manchester (UK)
- European Association of Behavioural and Cognitive Therapies Conference, 2021
- European Association of Behavioural and Cognitive Therapies Conference, 2020
- World Congress of Behavioural and Cognitive Therapies, 2019
- British Association for Behavioural and Cognitive Psychotherapies Conference, 2017
- BPS Division of Clinical Psychology Conference, 2017
Email: Email:Dr Carolina Campodonico
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