Italy loving lecturer opts for ‘La Dolce Vita’ with role at Northampton

A new addition to the Psychology team will bring extra experience to the fore as she is a qualified nurse on top of being an expert in young people’s mental health.

Lauren Young, Lecturer in Child and Adolescent Mental Health, first qualified as a Child Nurse in Cambridgeshire. She has since worked as a health visitor up and down the region before qualifying at University of Northampton with a Masters in Child and Adolescent Mental Health (CAMH).

She also has experience working in Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services (CAMHS) and is an Accredited Cognitive Behavioural Psychotherapist.

Her role at Northampton is her first substantive lecturing post and she will come full circle by teaching on the very course she graduated from. Lauren will also teach some of the undergraduate modules, such as Introduction to Counselling.

She said: “Although I originally trained as a nurse, I always knew I would end up taking some route so I could work in CAMH. It’s been a longer way to get to that point, but I’ve gleaned so much more that way, giving me a broader perspective on children and young people’s mental health.

“I’m also still quite fresh from completing the course I will lecture on so I remember the anxiety of some situations – such as role play, which some students can find difficult to get into – so I’m ideally placed to help them support them.”

When she’s not working, Lauren is a keen traveller, with one country firmly at the top of her vacation list: “I love Italy. The food, the culture, the people, the whole thing in fact, although I haven’t mastered the language – yet!

“One of my goals in life is to visit the whole of the country after my honeymoon a few years ago which was a whistle-stop tour of the hot spots – Rome, Tuscany, Sorrento, Venice. We almost did Bologna but were rained off as we drove there. In fact, the whole of Italy seemed to be facing the worse torrential rain ever that first visit – it will be nice to see Italy again, but during more Latin weather!”

Find out more about the Masters in Child and Adolescent Mental Health.