Mental health charity's award for Reading professor
Release Date 16 November 2011
A researcher at the University of Reading has won a national award for her innovative research helping people with mental health problems.
Professor Roz Shafran received the Marsh Award for Mental Health Work 2011 on Saturday November 12, hosted at the National Member's day of mental health charity Rethink Mental Illness, for her contribution to the field of mental health research.
The award, run in a partnership between Rethink and the Marsh Christian Trust, is presented annually and recognises an outstanding contribution by an individual working or volunteering in the field of mental health. The award focuses on the clinical implications of research.
Professor Shafran is a leading academic in her field, working within the School of Psychology and Clinical Language Science and as founder and co-director of the Charlie Waller Institute of Evidence Based Psychological Treatment, at the University of Reading
Her work has included studies of the understanding and treatment of eating disorders and obsessive compulsive disorder.
One piece of work highlighted by Rethink's judges was a study in which she identified a common thinking problem in people with obsessive compulsive disorder relating to magical or superstitious thinking called ‘Thought Action Fusion'. With colleagues, she developed a measure to make it easier to detect.
Professor Shafran said: "I am delighted and honoured to receive such an award. It means a great deal since the main purpose of my research has always been to try to improve the lives of people who suffer from mental health problems. To have some indication that this goal has been achieved is fantastic."
Rethink CEO, Paul Jenkins said: "I'm delighted to present this award to Professor Shafran, who has made a very valuable contribution to the everyday lives of many people affected by mental illness. The research and training she has conducted has had a hugely positive impact on the treatment received by people with mental illness, and we're very pleased to recognise that work."
Nominations for the award were open this summer. The nominees were then shortlisted by Rethink's service user and carer research panel, before the final winner was chosen by the award's funder, the Marsh Christian Trust, both of whom highlighted Professor Shafran's ‘excellent work'.
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For more information, or to arrange interviews, please contact Pete Castle at the University of Reading press office on 0118 378 7391 or p.castle@reading.ac.uk.
Notes to editors:
The Charlie Waller Institute of Evidence Based Psychological Treatment at the University of Reading is a collaborative initiative between the Charlie Waller Memorial Trust, Reading University and Berkshire Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust, and is named in memory of Charlie Waller, a young man who took his own life aged 28. The Institute aims to train therapists in psychological therapies that have been shown to work, and also to ensuring that the training impacts positively on clinician skill and patient outcome.
Among other successes, the Institute is at the forefront of research into obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD) and is the first centre in the UK to train clinicians exclusively in proven psychological treatments recommended by the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE), those commonly used in treating people not only with anxiety problems such as OCD, but also other problems such as depression, psychosis and eating disorders.
The University of Reading was established in 1892 and received its Royal Charter in 1926.
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The University is regularly ranked among the top 200 universities in the world (164th - THE World University Rankings 2011).
87% of the University's research was classified as of international standing in the Research Assessment Exercise (RAE) 2008.
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The University is consistently in the top quartile for the quality of the student experience (89% student satisfaction rating in National Student Survey 2011).