Dr. Laura Healy is a Lecturer/Senior Lecturer in Coaching Science and teaches on the BSc Coaching and Sports Science programme. She supervises undergraduate and postgraduate research projects in areas related to sport psychology.
Dr Healy joined Nottingham Trent University in September 2017. She successfully defended her Doctorate in Sport Psychology from the University of Birmingham in July 2015, which was funded by the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC). Dr Healy has worked in a variety of academic roles. This includes work as a Research Associate, first at Bangor University before working on an ESRC-funded research project at the University of Birmingham. Most recently, she worked as a Lecturer in Sport Coaching Science at Newman University, Birmingham.
Her research explores how the motivation underpinning goal striving can impact upon the self-regulation of goals and well-being. Recently, Dr Healy has extended this work to look at the role of motivation for the pursuit of team goals and the management of multiple goals. Dr Healy also researches in mental health, particularly related to the role of sport and physical activity in mental health recovery, and how coaches, peer leaders and others such as support workers or healthcare professional can effectively support individuals within such contexts. Her research has been funded by UK research organisations such as the British Academy, as well as charitable organisations such as Rethink Mental Illness.
Outside of academic, Dr. Healy is an active hockey player and Head Coach of the Junior section of a hockey club.
Experience
2017–present
Senior lecturer, Nottingham Trent University
2014–2017
Lecturer, Newman University
2010–2011
Research associate, University of Birmingham
2009–2010
Research assistant, Bangor University
Education
2015
University of Birmingham, PhD Sport Psychology
2010
Bangor University, MSc Applied Sport & Exercise Psychology
2008
Bangor University, BSc Sport Science
Publications
2019
An ethnographic study exploring football sessions for medium-secure mental health service-users: utilising the CHIME conceptual framework as an evaluative tool, Journal of Psychosocial Rehabilitation and Mental Health
2019
'Think football': exploring a football for mental health initiative delivered in the community through the lens of personal and social recovery. , Mental Health and Physical Activity
2016
Goal motives and multiple-goal striving in sport and academia: a person-centered investigation of goal motives and inter-goal relations, Journal of Science and Medicine in Sport
2015
Predicting subsequent task performance from goal motivation and goal failure, Frontiers in Psychology
2014
When the going gets tough: the "why" of goal striving matters, Journal of Personality
2014
Goal striving and well-being in sport: the role of contextual and personal motivation, Journal of Sport and Exercise Psychology
2014
Self-regulatory responses to unattainable goals: the role of goal motives, Self and Identity
Grants and Contracts
2018
Understanding the "I" and the "team": An examination of both individual and team goal motives in the pursuit of shared goals
Role:
Primary Investigator
Funding Source:
British Academy
2018
Impact of Embedding Physical Activity into Peer Support Groups
Role:
Primary Investigator
Funding Source:
Rethink Mental Illness
Professional Memberships
British Association of Sport & Exercise Scientists