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Dr Hannah Hale

Profile summary

  • Research Staff
  • Research Associate
  • Faculty of Arts & Social Sciences
  • School of Psychology & Counselling
  • Psychology
  • hannah.hale

Professional biography

I joined the OU in December 2023. I am a post doctorate research associate, supporting the research activity of the Open Psychology Research Centre.

I completed my PhD at Queens’ College, University of Cambridge in 2006. My Phd used social representations theory to explore constructions of military masculinities. Then I took up a lecturing post in Psychology at Southampton Solent University before a year at the Geary Institute at UCD in Ireland. Following this, I was a Lecturer in Psychology at the University of Derby.

Then came the academic interlude! I became a full-time Mother and lived in Qatar for five years. Back in the UK, I gladly landed in Scotland and took up a research fellow post at the University of Glasgow on a study exploring mental health in the Scottish police force. I moved on to a research fellow post at the University of Stirling. I mostly led projects evaluating interventions to support families with early years children and babies in deprived communities. I worked on a project on children and families affected by domestic abuse. The final research project I was involved with is implementing a co-produced arts based intervention aimed at reducing road traffic accidents in Malawi.

I’m also a pluralistic counsellor with a private practice. I’m very interested in existential approaches, abuse and power and pluralistic approaches to couples counselling.

 

Research interests

I am especially interested in mental health, identity, masculinities and the concept of self in contexts such as the military, police force and domestic relationships. 

One study I am undertaking considers Psychotherapeutic approaches to supporting transitions during and beyond experiences of domestic abuse and violence. Changes in a person’s sense of self due to domestic abuse can be incredibly detrimental. The process that a survivor can undergo to move beyond domestic abuse can involve movements towards a new sense of self. This transition involves a movement or rupture beyond entrapment and loss and towards empowerment and renewed sense of self. This study considers the potential of ‘story retelling’ in Psychotherapeutic practice as a means of supporting this transition. It considers the discursive mechanisms that transpire when a counsellor works with a client to retell retrospective stories, facilitating a lens in the absence of abusive motives.

Another project I am currently PI on a project funded by the Scottish Government, evaluating a Scandinavian approach to supporting families with early years children in Scotland, called Open Kindergarten.

I draw on socio-cultural theories such as social representations, symbolic resources and the dialogical self.Other areas that I specialise in pertain to concerns around deprivation, inequality and the developing needs of families with early years children and babies. 

Publications

The Child Protection Response to Domestic Violence and Abuse: a Scoping Review of Interagency Interventions, Models and Collaboration (2024-02-19)
Hale, Hannah; Bracewell, Kelly; Bellussi, Laura; Jenkins, Ruth; Alexander, Joanne; Devaney, John and Callaghan, Jane E. M.
Journal of Family Violence ((Early access))

Understanding the mental health and wellbeing needs of police officers and staff in Scotland (2020-11)
Demou, Evangelia; Hale, Hannah and Hunt, Kate
Police Practice and Research, 21(6) (pp. 702-716)

“Manly” drinks and secretive cooks: On the development of students’ gendered identities (2013-07-01)
Hale, Hannah
Culture and Dialogue, 3(2) (pp. 71-90)

Peep in the Pandemic: Peep Practitioners Listening to Parents and Families (2024)
Hale, Hannah; McCartney, Elspeth and MacKenzie, Muriel
In: Mahoney, Linda; McLeod, Sharynne; Salamon, Andi and Dwyer, Jenny eds. Early Childhood Voices: Children, Families, Professionals. International Perspectives on Early Childhood Education and Development (pp. 209-219)
ISBN : 978-3-031-56484-0 | Publisher : Springer

PEEP in the pandemic: supporting parent learning on-line (2020-10-16)
Hale, Hannah; McCartney, Elspeth; MacKenzie, Muriel and Rogerson, Joanna
In : Early Childhood Voices Conference (ECV 2020) (16-20 Oct 2020, [Online])

Creating Better Lives? An Evaluation of the Life Changes Trust. Interim Report. (2021)
McCabe, L.; Ashworth, R.; Bellussi, L.; Brown, T.; Calllaghan, J.; Cheung, M.; Crisp, S.; Curreri, A.; Emond, R.; Gibson, G.; Hale, H.; Hamilton, T.; Kelly, C.; Lamont, M.; Oliver, H.; Ormston, R.; Othieno, A.; Priestly, A.; Robertson, J.; Tait, A.; Weeks, S. and Wilson, S.
The Life Changes Trust

Open Kindergarten: Improving Family Support Provision in Scotland (2020)
Hale, H.; Callaghan, J.; Gada, A. and Bellussi, L.
Children in Scotland