Dr Kim Dent-Brown DipCOT, BSc(Hons), PGDip(Dramatherapy), PhD
Postdoctoral Research Fellow in Psychological Therapies
Address:
Centre for Psychological Therapies Research, ScHARR
University of Sheffield
Regent Court, 30 Regent Street
SHEFFIELD S1 4DA
UNITED KINGDOM
Tel: (+44) (0)114 222 0867
Mobile: (+44) (0)7904 456031
Fax: (+44) (0)114 222 0785
Email: K.Dent-Brown@sheffield.ac.uk
Biography
I originally trained as an Occupational Therapist and then as a Dramatherapist, and have spent most of my working life in mental health settings in the National Health Service. Latterly this has been in an NHS psychotherapy department specialising in working with people with complex psychological problems (personality disorders.) As a dramatherapist I became particularly interested in a projective storymaking technique known as the 6-Part Story Method (6PSM). In 1999 I won a travelling Fellowship from the Winston Churchill Memorial Trust to travel to Israel and Palestine and work with the developers of the 6PSM.
On my return I applied for a Research Training Fellowship from the then NHS regional executive, which I was successful in obtaining in 2001. This award allowed me to work full time on a PhD researching the validity and reliability of the 6PSM. I was awarded my PhD by the University of Hull in 2004.
I joined the mental health section of ScHARR in 2004, with the priority task of managing a randomised controlled trial of psychotherapy for Borderline Personality Disorder. The SPeDi trial (Sheffield Personality Disorders) is now under way and the first participants have entered the trial. Subsequently I am also project managing (as co-applicant) an evaluation of the Improving Access to Psychological Therapies programme, a response to the proposals of Lord Layard as well as an evaluation of the Community Veterans' Mental Health Pilots, funded by the Ministry of Defence.
Research Interests
My research interests are in the arts therapies, particularly in a mental health context, in personality disorders and in the 'real-world' delivery of psychological therapies. I would be very happy to hear from arts therapists of any orientation to discuss possible PhD or other research projects.
Current Projects
- PsyReNN (Psychological Therapies Research Network North), comprises NHS Trusts and Universities in the north of England with shared research interests. We have applied for £2 million NHS research programme funding (outcome awaited early 2007)
- The IAPT evaluation is a collaboration led by Sheffield but including colleagues from Leeds, Manchester and Southampton Universities
- I work with colleagues from the Community Stress Prevention Centre in northern Israel on researching storymaking techniques with vulnerable groups. 1999 Winston Churchill Memorial Trust Travelling Fellowship awarded to observe the 6-Part Story Method during a four-week visit to Israel(value £5,000)
- 2001 NHS Regional Executive (Northern and Yorkshire) Research Training Fellowship awarded for two years towards a PhD project to validate the 6-Part Story Method (value £81,000)
- 2006 NHS Service Delivery & Organisation R&D programme Co-investigator with Parry et al. to evaluate a new model Improving Access to Psychological Therapies (IAPT) across three years (value £498,000)
- 2006 NATO Advanced Research Workshop Principal applicant for a conference to be held in Israel in 2007 entitled “The social stress of the immigrant/member of a minority group as a factor in terrorist behaviour” (value €37,500)
- 2008 Ministry of Defence Co-applicant for an Evaluation of the Community Veterans' Mental Health Pilots (value £120,000)
Key Publications
- Dent-Brown, K (2003) Six Part Storymaking in the assessment of personality disorder: History, practice and research. In: Community Stress Prevention Vol 5 (pp 43-60), O. Ayalon, M. Lahad & A Cohen (Eds), Kiryat Shmona, Israel: Community Stress Prevention Centre.
- Dent-Brown, K & Wang, M. (2004) Developing a rating scale for projected stories. Psychology and Psychotherapy: Theory, Research and Practice 77: 325-333
- Dent-Brown, K. & Wang, M. (2004) Pessimism and failure in 6-part stories: Indicators of Borderline Personality Disorder? The Arts in Psychotherapy 31: 321-333.
- Brazier, J., Tumur, I., Holmes, M., Ferriter, M., Parry, G., Dent-Brown, K. and Paisley, S. (2006). Psychological therapies including Dialectical Behaviour Therapy for Borderline Personality Disorder: A systematic review and preliminary economic evaluation. Health Technol Assess 10 (35).
- Dent-Brown, K. & Wang, M. (2006) The mechanism of storymaking: A Grounded Theory study of the 6-Part Story Method. The Arts in Psychotherapy 33: 316-330.
- Finklestein, M. and Dent-Brown, K., Eds. (2008). Psychocosial Stress in Immigrants and in Members of Minority Groups as a Factor of Terrorist Behavior. NATO Science for Peace and Security Series. Amsterdam, IOS Press.
- Dent-Brown, K., Parry, G. and Kerr, I. (2009). Personality disorder in community settings. In: Mental Health: From Policy to Practice. C. Brooker and J. Repper. Edinburgh, Churchill Livingstone: 96-107.
Section
I am based in the section of Health Services Research and contribute to the inter-school Centre for Psychological Services Research (see link at right).