Richard Craven

I registered as a (then) Mental Nurse in 1988 in Leeds, West Yorkshire. I worked in an acute mental health setting before moving to work in Substance Use services variously in the NHS, Third Sector and various partnership arrangements for several years. I returned to the NHS in 2002 where my role mainly concerned practice development in Dual Diagnosis (comorbid substance use and mental health problems) covering direct clinical work, staff development and service provision. During this period I also worked as a therapist delivering integrated CBT and Motivational Interviewing in a large research study and offered mental health screening to students in HE. Latterly I worked in a Clinical Lead role for Central and North West London NHS Trust in Westminster. I was also Programme Lead for the BSc (Hons) Mental Health Nursing at Abertay University for 5 years.

I am a member of the Motivational Interviewing Network of Trainers (MINT) with a continuing interest in Addictions and CBT. I have worked alongside service users and patient leaders and am interested in their sphere of influence in the fast changing, increasingly (more and less) integrated world of health and social care.