Social Sciences and Counselling

Hannah has been teaching at University Centre South Devon for the past 5 years. She has helped to develop our range of psychology degrees and has taught across all 3 programmes. Hannah’s background is in Criminology, Sociology and Forensic Psychology. She achieved her BA in Criminology with Sociology in 2014 and her PGCE teaching qualification in 2018. Since working at the college, Hannah has trained to become an accredited Counsellor and now teaches on our range of counselling qualifications that run from level’s 2 to Foundation degree level. Hannah is now the lead for our Access to higher education and counselling qualifications at South Devon College.

After completing a PhD in English Literature I took a range of teaching jobs in FE colleges before being appointed as Curriculum Area Manager of a cross-college Department of Learning Support. I was responsible for introducing and overseeing entry-level courses in all curriculum areas. I also managed the college’s provision of additional learning support at all levels. Following a year’s enforced absence due to a serious car accident I returned to the college as a lecturer in Initial Teacher Education, where I helped set up a PGCE programme with the University of Teesside and other partner colleges. In 2015 I moved to Devon, and took up a part-time post with University Centre South Devon teaching Research Skills and Statistics on the Psychology BA. I’ve since taught on a range of HE programmes, including Marine Technology, Civil Engineering, Criminology and Education. My teaching tends to focus on generic research skills rather than on any specific curriculum area.

I returned to education after having my first son, some 20 years after leaving school with no FE qualifications. I enrolled on the Access to HE Social Science course, which I completed with distinction. By the end of the course, I had changed my degree choice to Criminology and Psychology FdSc, which I would not have considered had it not been for Access. I then went on to the BA (Hons) Education, Development and Society course, for which I received first class honours. I have returned to the classroom teaching the subjects I graduated from, my ambition is to provoke, inspire and educate the next generations of learners.

I initially trained as a musician and then spent twelve years in London working in live music – as an agent, a tour producer/promoter, and a festival organiser. And I loved that work, but as time went on what I loved most about it was less the music and more the people. It was as much about emotional support as it was about negotiating fees. And over the years I got more and more fascinated by the way that mental health could impact on the performance and even the physical health of my artists. So when I moved to Torbay, a few years ago, I decided to lean in to that fascination and re-train as a counsellor. It was a truly life-changing experience and now, alongside my private practice, I’m a passionate advocate for counselling training. The benefits of taking some time out to pause and think about who you are and why you’re doing what you’re doing, really cannot be overstated! And I love being part of that journey. My special interests are in Cognitive Behavioural Therapy and also the treatment of chronic pain and stress illness (I’m a trained practitioner with the Stress Illness Recovery Practitioners Association).