Dr Ceri Wilson

Ceri’s expertise lies in using quantitative, qualitative and creative methods to explore various aspects of mental health and wellbeing and mental health service delivery. Ceri has a particular interest in the role of arts, creative and cultural engagement in promoting mental wellbeing and social connectedness.

Ceri’s research spans various populations, including people with long-term health conditions, mental health service users and staff, women experiencing perinatal mental health problems, and residential care home staff and residents.

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Background

Ceri obtained a first class honours degree in Psychology (BSc) from Loughborough University in 2009, and completed her PhD within the Loughborough University Centre for Research into Eating Disorders (LUCRED) in 2013. She took up post as Research Fellow in Mental Health at ARU in January 2013 and was promoted to Senior Research Fellow in August 2016 and Associate Professor in 2024.

Ceri works across various sectors including health and social care, arts/creative organisations, charities, and academia.

Ceri has expertise in both quantitative and qualitative methods and publishes regularly in journals related to mental health, arts and health, and health and social care. Her paper on patient and staff suggestions for reducing restraint in mental health wards won paper of the year 2018 in the Journal of Psychiatric and Mental Health Nursing.

Ceri was co-investigator on the ‘Creative Journeys’ project funded by Arts Council England, which was awarded an Outstanding Achievement Award at the Essex County Council You Make a Difference Awards 2019. She was the recipient of an Aging and Social Change International Award for Excellence in 2020.

She was a founding member and co-lead of the HeMS Arts and Well-being Research Interest Group, which has now evolved into the cross-faculty Arts, Health and Wellbeing Network, which Ceri continues to co-lead.

Ceri was a key contributor to a 2021 REF Impact Case Study ‘Developing compassion and compassionate resilience in health care workers and family carers’.

Ceri is co-lead of the Quality and Safety Improvement research group which is part of ARU’s Health and Care Research Centre (HCRC). Ceri is co-chair of the Faculty of Health, Medicine and Social Care Athena Swan Self-Assessment Team.

Research interests

• Arts, health and wellbeing
• Mental health promotion
• Mental health services research (including quality and safety improvement in mental health care)
• Experiences and mental health support needs of people living with long-term conditions (including women who experience hyperemesis gravidarum in pregnancy)
• Prevention and treatment of post-natal PTSD (birth trauma)

Areas of research supervision

Ceri would be pleased to consider supervising doctoral students with the following research interests/topics:

• Arts, health and wellbeing
• Mental health promotion
• Mental health services research
• Experiences and mental health support needs of people living with long-term conditions (including women who experience hyperemesis gravidarum in pregnancy)
• Prevention and treatment of post-natal PTSD (birth trauma)

Recent and current doctoral supervision

Completions:

• Gail Sinfield: ‘Lecturers' experience of service user involvement in nurse education’. (First supervisor, Professional Doctorate in Health & Social Care)
• Gabriel Abotsie: ‘Caring for Body and Mind: A Multidisciplinary Approach to Physical Health Promotion in Early Intervention in Psychosis Services’. (Second supervisor, PhD)

Current:

• Mary Hamilton: ‘Neurological patterns of Sensory Integration in children with psychological trauma and their assessment pathway’. (Second supervisor, Professional Doctorate of in Health & Social Care)
• Rachel Lambie: ‘Young people’s conceptualisation of mental health: a participatory enquiry’. (Second supervisor, Professional Doctorate in Health & Social Care)
• Chukwudi Nwoha: ‘A phenomenological exploration of Christianity's role in recovery from depression and anxiety among Pentecostal Christians in South East London’. (First supervisor, PhD)
• Sarah Moore: ‘An exploration of the mental health support needs of women experiencing Hyperemesis Gravidarum in the UK’. (First supervisor, PhD)

Qualifications

• BSc Psychology First Class Honours Degree, Loughborough University
• PhD, Loughborough University

Research grants, consultancy, knowledge exchange

• 2023-2024: ‘Developing the Allied Health Professionals Workforce within Mental Health: Thematic Review of Learning from Quality and Safety Incidents’. Funded by NHS England via the National Workforce Skills Development Unit (NWSDU), which is hosted by the Tavistock and Portman NHS Foundation Trust; £19,774; Principal Investigator.
• 2019-2022: ‘Artists’ Residencies in Care Homes Essex (ARCHE)’. Funded by Paul Hamlyn Foundation; £39,725.62; Co-Investigator.
• 2020: ‘Life during Covid: An archive of lived experiences of older people, those defined as ‘clinically extremely vulnerable’ and unpaid carers, during the Covid-19 pandemic’. Funded by ARU Research & Innovation Support Fund; £5,000; Co-Principal Investigator.
• 2018: ‘Supporting the mental health needs of university students with long-term conditions’. Funded by ARU Research & Enterprise Investment Programme 2018/9; £1,995; Co-Investigator.
• 2016-2018: ‘The role of the arts in building creativity and community for older people in care settings’ (Creative Journeys). Funded by Arts Council England Research Grants Programme Round Two; £125,680; Co-Investigator.
• 2016-2017: ‘Evaluation of South East Essex Recovery College’. Funded by Trust Links, Southend-on-Sea Borough Council, Southend CCG, Castle Point & Rochford CCG; £4,434; Principal Investigator.
• 2016: ‘Exploring the experience of living with a long-term condition in young adulthood’. Funded by ARU Research & Enterprise Investment Programme 2015/6; £1,925; Principal Investigator.
• 2014-2015: ‘PROMISE qualitative study: Exploring the experience of mental health patients and staff members with experience of restraint’; secondment two days a week to Cambridgeshire and Peterborough NHS Foundation Trust (funded by NIHR CLAHRC EoE).
• 2013-2015: ‘Zinc Arts ArtZone project evaluation’. Funded by Comic Relief; £16,169; Principal Investigator.
• 2013-2014: Secondment 2.5 days a week to South Essex Partnership University NHS Foundation Trust.
• 2014: ‘Caregivers' perceptions of the value of the arts in therapeutic and clinical interventions’. Funded by Arts & Humanities Research Council; £23,753.34, Co-Investigator.

Selected recent publications

Sinfield, G., Goldspink, S. and Wilson, C. (2023). 'Waiting in the wings: the enactment of a descriptive phenomenology study', International Journal of Qualitative Methods, 22. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1177/16094069231207012

Wilson, C., Lane, P., Chandler, R. and Teatheredge, J. (2023) 'Exploring the experiences of high-risk groups during the first UK Covid-19 lockdown through creative methods', Arts & Health. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1080/17533015.2023.2237994

Bungay, H., Wilson, C., Dadswell, A. and Munn-Giddings, C. (2023) 'Arts and creativity: maintaining mental wellbeing during COVID-19 lockdowns in UK universities', Journal of Further and Higher Education, 47(4), pp. 551-562. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1080/0309877X.2023.2175650

Wilson, C., Munn-Giddings, C., Bungay, H. and Dadswell, A. (2022) 'Arts, cultural and creative engagement during COVID-19: Enhancing the mental wellbeing and social connectedness of university staff and students', Nordic Journal of Arts, Culture & Health, 4(1), pp. 1-13. Available at: https://doi.org/10.18261/njach.4.1.2

Wilson, C. and Spencer, G. (2022) 'The mental health support needs of university students with long-term physical health conditions', Health Education, 122(5), pp. 584-598. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1108/HE-01-2022-0004

Wilson, C. and Stock, J. (2021) ''Social media comes with good and bad sides, doesn't it?' A balancing act of the benefits and risks of social media use by young adults with long-term conditions', Health: An Interdisciplinary Journal for the Social Study of Health, Illness and Medicine, 25(5), pp. 515-534. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1177%2F13634593211023130

Bungay, H., Wilson, C., Dadswell, A. and Munn-Giddings, C. (2021) 'The role of collaborative working between the arts and care sectors in successfully delivering participatory arts activities for older people in residential care settings', Health & Social Care in the Community, 29(6), pp. 1807-1814.. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1111/hsc.13290

Dadswell, A., Bungay, H., Wilson, C. and Munn-Giddings, C. (2020) 'The impact of participatory arts in promoting social relationships for older people within care homes', Perspectives in Public Health, 140(5), pp. 286-293. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1177/1757913920921204

Wilson, C. (2020) 'The long and winding road of discontinuing long-term use of antidepressants', Journal of Psychiatric and Mental Health Nursing, 27(6), pp. 850-856. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1111/jpm.12623

Wilson, C. and Stock, J. (2019) 'The impact of living with long-term conditions in young adulthood on mental health and identity: What can help?', Health Expectations, 22(5), pp. 1111–1121. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1111/hex.12944

Wilson, C., King, M. and Russell, J. (2019) 'A mixed-methods evaluation of a Recovery College in South East Essex for people with mental health difficulties', Health & Social Care in the Community, 27(5), pp. 1353-1362. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1111/hsc.12774

Bungay, H., Munn-Giddings, C., Wilson, C. and Dadswell, A. (2019) 'Creative Journeys: The role of participatory arts in promoting social relationships for older people in care home settings' (Chelmsford: Anglia Ruskin University).

Wilson, C., Dadswell, A., Munn-Giddings, C. and Bungay, H. (2019) 'The Role of Participatory Arts in Developing Reciprocal Relationships amongst Older People: A Conceptual Review of the Literature', Journal of Aging and Social Change, 9(4), pp. 1-16. Available at: https://doi.org/10.18848/2576-5310/CGP/v09i04/1-16

Lombardo, C., Van Bortel, T., Wagner, A., Kaminsky, E., Wilson, C., Rae, S., Rouse, L., Jones, P. and Kar Ray, M. (2018) 'PROGRESS: The PROMISE Governance Framework to Decrease Coercion in Mental Healthcare', BMJ Open Quality, 7, e000332. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1136/bmjoq-2018-000332

Wilson, C., Rouse, L., Rae, S. and Kar Ray, M. (2018) 'Mental health inpatients’ and staff members’ suggestions for reducing physical restraint: A qualitative study', Journal of Psychiatric & Mental Health Nursing, 25(3), pp. 188-200. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1111/jpm.12453

Dadswell, A, Wilson, C., Bungay, H. and Munn-Giddings, C. (2017) 'The role of participatory arts in addressing the loneliness and social isolation of older people: A conceptual review of the literature', Journal of Arts & Communities, 9(2), pp. 109-128. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1386/jaac.9.2.109_1

Wilson, C., Rouse, L., Rae, S. and Kar Ray, M. (2017) 'Is restraint a ‘necessary evil’ in mental healthcare? Mental health inpatients’ and staff members’ experience of physical restraint', International Journal of Mental Health Nursing, 26, pp. 500-512. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1111/inm.12382

Boyce, M., Bungay, H., Munn-Giddings, C. and Wilson, C. (2017) 'The impact of the arts in healthcare on patients and service users: A critical review', Health & Social Care in the Community, 26(4), pp. 458-473. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1111/hsc.12502

Wilson, C., Secker, J., Kent, L. and Keay, J. (2017) 'Promoting Mental Wellbeing and Social Inclusion through Art: Six Month Follow-up Results from Open Arts Essex', International Journal of Mental Health Promotion, 19(5), pp. 268-277. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1080/14623730.2017.1345688

Wilson, C. and Sharpe, D. (2017) 'Promoting young people’s mental health and wellbeing through participation in the arts: A mixed-methods service evaluation of the Zinc Arts ArtZone programme', Journal of Applied Arts & Health, 8(1), pp. 39-56. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1386/jaah.8.1.39_1

Wilson, C., Bungay, H., Munn-Giddings, C. and Boyce, M. (2016) 'Healthcare professionals' perceptions of the value and impact of the arts in healthcare settings: A critical review of the literature', International Journal of Nursing Studies, 56, pp. 90-101. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijnurstu.2015.11.003

Wilson, C. and Kent, L. (2016) 'A qualitative study of 2Create: a mental health service user-led art group', Arts & Health: An International Journal for Research, Policy & Practice, 8(2), pp. 169-181. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1080/17533015.2015.1048697

Wilson, C. and Secker, J. (2015) 'Validation of the Social Inclusion Scale with Students', Social Inclusion: Special Issue Indicators and Measurement of Social Inclusion, 3(4), pp. 521-62. Available at: https://doi.org/10.17645/si.v3i4.121

Wilson, C., Kent, L. and Secker, J. (2014) 'Arts participation, mental wellbeing and social inclusion: mixed methods evaluation of an Open Arts studio for people with mental health needs', Journal of Applied Arts & Health, 5(3), pp. 341–354. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1386/jaah.5.3.341_1

Wilson, C. and Wallis, D.J. (2013) 'Attentional Bias and Slowed Disengagement from Food and Threat Stimuli in Restrained Eaters Using a Modified Stroop Task', Cognitive Therapy and Research, 37(1), pp. 127-138.

Recent presentations and conferences

Wilson, C., Bungay, H., & Dadswell, A., 2023. Artists Residencies in Care Homes (ARCH): Supporting artists and care homes to work together to deliver best artistic practices for residents. Oral presentation at the International Health Humanities Conference, Derby, UK. September 2023.

Wilson, C., 2021. How a university community engaged with arts and cultural activities during lockdown: Creative lockdown, Poetry in our research, Power of Haiku. Oral presentation at the International Culture Health and Wellbeing Conference. June 2021.

Munn-Giddings, C., Bungay, H., Wilson, C., Dadswell, A., 2019. Participatory Arts and Social Relationships for Older People in Care Settings. Oral presentation at the Arts in Society International Conference, Lisbon, Portugal. June 2019.

Bungay, H., Wilson, C., Dadswell, A., Munn-Giddings, C., 2019. Creative Journeys: The role of the arts facilitator in building community in residential care home settings. Oral presentation at the ‘Building Bridges’ in Applied Arts and Health, Education and Community: An International Arts & Wellbeing Conference, Telford, UK. Aug 2019.

Bungay, H., Munn-Giddings, C., Wilson, C., Dadswell, A., 2018. Participatory arts & social relationships for older people in care settings. Oral presentation at the 7th International Health Humanities Conference, Southampton, UK. Aug 2018.

Bungay, H., Munn-Giddings, C., Wilson, C., Dadswell, A., 2017. Creative Ageing: Arts & Social Relationships. Poster presentation at the Culture, Health & Wellbeing International Conference, Bristol, UK. June 2017.

Wilson, C., Rouse, L., Rae, S., Kar Ray, M., 2016. PROMISE qualitative study: mental health patients’ & staff members’ experience of restraint & suggestions for reducing its use. Poster presentation at the World Psychiatric Association International Congress, Cape Town, South Africa. November 2016.

Wilson, C., Rouse, L., 2016. PROMISE qualitative study: Staff and patient experiences of the use of restraint. Oral presentation at the West London Collaborative ‘The Power of Being Held’ evening symposium, London, UK. May 2016.

Wilson, C., 2015. Preliminary findings from the PROMISE qualitative study. Oral presentation at the PROMISE Charter: Global Vision for Local Agendas, Cambridge, UK. Oct 2015.

Media experience

Birth trauma is a growing problem – experiencing it myself revealed how few people understand it, The Conversation, 30 August 2023.