Sue McAndrew

I have worked as a qualified mental health nurse since 1975, working in managerial roles in rehabilitation, neuropsychiatry, community mental health and primary mental health. In 1987, I qualified as a sex and marital therapist, specialising in psychosexual problems. In 1992, after completing my BSc I became a nurse lecturer at the University of Leeds, where I worked for 17 years and had responsibility for PG Pre-registration Nursing [Mental Health]. I joined the University of Salford in October, 2009 as a Research Fellow [Mental Health].

Teaching
My academic interests focus on mental health policy and practice, therapeutic engagement, (skills and theory), psychoanalytic approaches, psychosexual issues, service user and carer involvement and qualitative research methodologies. I teach on the School’s undergraduate and taught postgraduate programmes, and supervise postgraduate research students.

Research Interests
My professional background is in mental health care. The focus for my research interest is on inter-personal, intra-personal and extra-personal relationships and how we prepare people to engage in such relationships and the emotionality inherent within them. My research has centred around exploring the impact of such relationships on nursing practice, policy, organisation and education using psychodynamic analytical discourses. Much of my personal research has involved exploring different aspects of mental health, in particular sexual abuse, self harm and suicide.