At the intersection of learning, ideas and communication.
Speaking
Clinical Supervision
Introduction to ACT in HE Workshop
Acceptance and Commitment Training for Workplace Settings
Projects
Research
Speaking
-
Corporate Training
Lecturing
Workshop facilitation
Talks
Panels
I am passionate about lecturing and giving talks by creating experiential, engaging and informative learning environments. This has taken me to various universities and communities where I convey my topics with humour and a collaborative approach. I have done talks using simultaneous translation, utilising various media and to many different audiences.
Please contact me if you wish to discuss speaking opportunities.
My favourite themes
Anxiety, anxiety presentations and overcoming anxiety
Imposter Syndrome
Resilience
Change and adaptability
Inclusion and equality
Acceptance and Commitment Therapy
Mindfulness in everyday life
The student experience and student mental health
-
B&Q
The Girls’ Day School Trust (GDST)
Blended leadership learning experiences and training provided.
-
Exeter College Summer Programme
Bespoke student embedded welfare training.
University of Roehampton - PsychD Programme
The clinical presentation of anxiety: Assessment, Formulation and Working Clinically with Anxious Distress.As part of their module on Assessment, Formulation and Clinical Presentations. The workshop was strongly influenced from an ACT perspective.
University of Surrey - MSc Forensic Psychology
The role of the victim in the justice system and Restorative Justice in the United Kingdom.
New School of Psychotherapy and Counselling - PsychD Programme
Working clinically with communication difficulties (working with clients with an Autism Spectrum Condition and working with translators) and with adolescents.
-
Tianjin University
Peer Support for Postgraduate Students: Adapting Peer Support for the student lifespan. International Peer Support Conference.
The Mathematical, Physical and Life Sciences (MPLS) Division
Discussing mental health in academia – breaking down the barriers.
And
Maintaining your own wellbeing while campaigning for change.
The Varkey Foundation
How Can Higher Education Address Its Mental Health Crisis?
Moderator: Chris Havergal, News Editor, Times Higher Education
Michael Huey, Interim Chief Executive Officer, American College Health Association
Tim Knowlson, Peer Support Programme Lead, University of Oxford
Sari Lindblom, Rector, University of Helsinki
Amílcar Sanatan, Steering Committee, Global Student Forum
Shunta Takino, Junior Counsellor and Young Associate, OECDThe 93% Club and Common Ground Oxford
Imposter Syndrome, Access and Psychological Impact at the University of Oxford
-
Brasenose College, University of Oxford
Environmental Research Council DTP, University of Oxford
The Inspire Programme, St John’s College, University of Oxford
Medical Research Council DTP, University of Oxford
Oxford Postgraduate Teaching Network, University of Oxford
Pembroke College, University of Oxford
The Queen’s College, University Of Oxford
Said Business School, Diploma in Organisational Leadership, University of Oxford
St Antony’s College, University of Oxford
St Edmund Hall, University of Oxford
St Peter’s College, University of Oxford
UNIQ+ Summer School, University of Oxford
University of Oxford Doctoral Training Centre, University of Oxford
-
Click here for some feedback from a talk
Click here for even more feedback from a talk
“I found Tim to be fun and engaging as a lecturer. It was nice to be more involved in the lecture rather than just being talked at for 3 hours. Use of ‘roleplay’, group discussions was good and I felt more of an equal with Tim than other lecturers.”
“Most engaging of the whole module. I felt the delivery was most engaging and continuous audience participation made it less death by PowerPoint.”
“Very engaging. Good to have an emphasis on the victims too. Much of the course is offender-focused so this lecture gives a good balance.”
“Engaging and interesting lecture. Thought provoking as never worked with victims before. Good dynamic and involved us in the lecture.”
“Tim was hilarious – he had the whole class laughing the entire 3 hours. He incorporated humour into a sensitive topic perfectly. The topic was very interesting – I enjoyed his lecture.”
“Funny guy. Enjoyed his presentation. Took time out to answer us and talk to us.”
“Very interactive which made the class really enjoyable. Very good lecturer whose personality helped make the class good.”
Clinical Supervision
-
Over 14 years of experience working in Higher Education (HE) settings. I can provide individual or group psychological clinical supervision to the following professionals who work in the HE Sector for university counselling and wellbeing services:
Counselling Psychologists
Clinical Psychologists
Counsellors
Psychotherapists
Please contact me to discuss fees and your requirements. Supervision is provided virtually over Zoom.
-
I believe therapeutic contact is to empower insightfully driven meaningful change where possible and to promote acceptance of the things we cannot change. I encourage values of empathy, respect, confidentiality, curiosity, focus and appropriate challenge. I like to work collaboratively in the supervisory relationship fostering equality and responsibility.
My preferred modality is Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) and third-wave Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT) approaches. I have trained with Russ Harris and Kirk Strosahl. Of particular interest are brief therapy models, including Focussed Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (FACT) in which I am also trained. I also use Mindfulness concepts in my therapeutic work.
As a result of my counselling psychology training and clinical experience, I remain integratively curious and open to different modalities of assessing, formulating and working with a client. My aim is to provide bespoke supervisee-driven virtual supervision using evidence-based theories, research and strategies.
-
Experience of working with a wide range of clients across the lifespan with many ages, especially with adolescents.
Experience of working with a diverse range of people from different gender identities, ethnic and cultural backgrounds, sexual identities and disabilities.
Experience of working with presenting issues from mild to severe & enduring.
-
Current
Brasenose College, University of Oxford
Queen Mary University London, London
Regent’s Park College, University of Oxford
St Edmund Hall, University of Oxford
Previously
London Metropolitan University, London
Oxford Cognitive Therapy Centre, Oxford
University of East London, London
University of Leeds, Leeds
University of Roehampton, London
Trinity College, University of Oxford
-
Assessment, formulation and treatment plans for various modalities
Transitions to university
Adjusting at university
Leaving university
Leaving home and homesickness
Changing identity and development
Considerations with intersectionality, equality and diversity
Issues with work motivation, perfectionism and procrastination
Performance-base self-esteem and self-worth
Imposter syndrome
Valued living
Loneliness and isolation
Mental health and psychiatric presentations
Risk management
Liaising with internal university services
Liaising with external mental health and non-mental health service
Working short-term therapeutically
Burnout and resilience in the profession
Working and integrating in a multi-disciplinary team
Cross-referrals within the team
-
“Tim is an excellent supervisor, not only is he knowledgeable about a range of models and integrative in his approach, he provides the support necessary to enable you to flourish as a therapist and person. He is very adept at pushing you past your comfort zone, in a containing way so that you are developing and challenging yourself in your work and ideas. He makes you feel understood and heard, helping you through the difficult parts, whilst somehow managing to bring humour too. You very quickly feel at ease with Tim, which allows you to feel open and safe in his hands. A supervision session with Tim is always worthwhile and in the midst of heavy work, you’ll definitely feel lighter for it. I highly recommend him as a supervisor.”
— Avril; Goldsmiths, University of London
“I have had the pleasure of working with Tim for the last 7 years in my role as a Counselling Psychologist and Counselling Service Manager at a busy London University Counselling Service. As my Supervisor, Tim has provided unwavering support along with being instrumental in providing unparalleled clinical knowledge and experience specifically around (a) clinical work; (b) efforts to embed CBT/ACT in the HE sector; (c) service development; and (d) team management issues. Moreover, he has also participated in recruitment and provided highly valued workshops and training to our new hires. I highly recommend him!”
— Dr Lindy Morrison, Counselling Manager, Deputy Head, Advice & Counselling Service QMUL
Introduction to ACT in HE Workshop
-
I can facilitate a bespoke all-day workshop called ‘An Introduction to CBT/ ACT in HE’. This workshop has been used as part of a new starter induction programmes.
My main aim is to help new therapists to the HE Sector adjust to working in a very short way with the university student population. I created this workshop because of the unique elements of working in HE today, the brevity of the work and to help therapists manage large and complicated caseloads.
We explore the following themes in the workshop:
The setting, comparing and contrasting the NHS and the university environment (we discuss culture, identity, learning and failure, and other topics)
Working with the university student (we think about power, risk, clinical examples, transitions, brain development, social environment, student identity, running a group, and other topics)
Integration into the team (we cover being heard in an MDT with varying modalities and ways of formulating presenting issues, how to do presentations and case discussions, and other topics)
Please contact me to discuss the workshop in greater detail, fees and your requirements.
-
“I found the mentoring session to be so useful – thank you again for your time. It was especially helpful to hear about your experience as a behavioural therapist in a (mixed modality) higher education service. Additionally, thinking about our remit, what is possible and about how to utilise our sessions was very useful. The very best information for me was thinking about formulating with the students in short term work. I have been using the Matrix since our meeting and find it such a great tool that is clear and easy to understand for the students – I have already been getting very good feedback from students. Generally what I hoped for from our all-day session was to think about working as a behavioural therapist and integrating in the larger team, how to structure/maximise sessions with students in particular/and to gain any tips from your experience –and I thought we did all that!”
— Lindy
“In regard to the all day session I found that the structure worked really well for us. In particular, I thought the power point structured our discussions and day very well. The pace of the day and the amount of time we gave to each point in our agenda was really helpful. I found the discussion surrounding formulating a patient very useful, particularly the fact that we used a client we were each seeing to do this. It really got me thinking about a new way of working! I particularly found your approach refreshing and normalising- I really liked the way you used your own personal examples from practice (things have worked and approaches that haven’t) to help us learn from this. Therefore I felt I got what I wanted (and more) from the day.”
— Roxy
“I thought all the content was relevant and useful and sparked lots of thought for me around the university structures, developing an identity for myself in the team, being aware of dynamics currently present. It was really useful to consider differences between work here and the NHS, what has been successful for me in the past and considering our role as psychologists within the university space and the expectations and limitations of that. Hearing first-hand experience from you of student presentations relating to culture and subject was really interesting and considering the broad range of work ahead was exciting. The discussion around helping students tolerate distress really stuck with me and I have been trying to hold onto that, whilst not getting too drawn into the urgency students bring with them of wanting you to fix their problems, I’m working on it! It also was a nice balance between being relaxed and structured and your humour and manner made it engaging.”
— Avril
Projects
-
Consultant and member of Purrble @ Oxford team on an active research project with King’s College London exploring adolescent emotional regulation using an electronic animal called a Purrble while also developing an additional wrap-around Single-Session-Intervention based on CBT (and 3rd wave theories such as ACT and Mindfulness) to compliment the Purrble interactions.
https://www.kcl.ac.uk/news/purrble-at-london-design-biennale
-
Initiated a successful bid to the University of Oxford IT Innovation Fund winning a £25,000 budget. Designed and project managed a mobile website dedicated to reducing exam panic for Oxford students and delivered a successful project which has gone live and is being used by students with over one thousand unique sessions and over two thousand page views; the project won an OxTalent Award 2017 (out of 87 entries) and I represented the Student Welfare and Support Services on the Innovation Fund interview panel.
-
Scripted and recorded a podcast on overwork and self-care for Oxford students using student experiences, available from iTunes and University of Oxford podcast pages, and has been downloaded over 1000 times.
-
Created a successful bid and received £3000 from the University of Oxford Innovation Fund to introduce new technology into the Peer Support Programme to help students find Peer Supporters, only 4 out of 22 staff projects were funded.
-
Collaborated with The Bodleian Library and two college libraries to establish a fund purchasing 45 counselling e-books for the university population and networked to create a specific home for the collection resulting in a page on the Bodleian website and increase in student access to therapeutic self-help literature even when off-site. Click Here for More Information
Research
-
Project managed a £60,000 project in collaboration with Office for Students and Research England with a focus on University of Oxford PGR students, especially PGRs from STEM subjects, to improve wellbeing and resilience in developing Peer Support communities. The project resulted in the successful recruitment of Peer Supporters from STEM and non-STEM subjects, a comprehensive literature review and a research report.
-
ACT-BE-ME
Consultant and external research supervisor on a ground-breaking research project involving the University of Roehampton and the charity sector. The project involved trialling a self-guided support programme with weekly email coaching/ encouragement for adolescents using Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) skills.
I provided access to this cutting-edge research to Oxford students who are interested in working on their emotional resilience and capacity to change using the brand-new ACT programme. I helped the researcher access the Oxford student population, and I also carried out clinical supervision for the email coaches, to help them work with adolescents remotely with asynchronous email communication from an ACT perspective. I also assissted with feedback on academic writing and preparing the candidate for the viva voce.
-
Please contact me if you would a consultation regarding your research project.
Acceptance and Commitment Therapy
Adolescence and adolescent mental health
The university experience, especially transitions
Emotional resilience
Values and meaningful living
Clinical presentations of anxiety
-
Knowlson, TJ & Milton, M (2012). A thematic analysis of Youth Offending Team employees’ experiences of preparing victims to meet the offender. The British Psychological Society. Paper presented at The Division of Counselling Psychology Annual Conference, Leicester, United Kingdom.
Knowlson, TJ & Milton, M (2012). Some of my best friends are psychoanalysts: Reflections on the British Psychoanalytical Council Conference. (January 2012), Psychology of Sexualities Review, 3(1), 65-70. Reflections on the British Psychoanalytical Council Conference on working clinically and ethically with diverse sexual identities.
Knowlson, TJ (2012). Borderline Personality Disorder: Ending with diagnosis. In M. Milton (Ed.), Diagnosis and beyond: Counselling psychology contributions to understanding human distress (pp. 86-101). PCCS Books. An exploration on borderline personality disorder, diagnosis, misdiagnosis, gender bias and some case-study examples. Therapeutic implications are explored around ending therapy.
Knowlson, TJ & Gozna, L (2010). Towards a grounded theory of how victims of crime consider their sense of readiness and preparation for a restorative justice meeting with the offender. The British Psychological Society. Paper presented at the Division of Counselling Psychology Annual Conference, Glasgow, United Kingdom.