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Catherine Polling

Catherine Polling

NIHR Clinical Lecturer in General Psychiatry

Biography

Catherine joined King’s in 2009 when she began her Core Training in Psychiatry on the Maudsley Training Programme as an NIHR funded Academic Clinical Fellow. She was awarded a Wellcome training fellowship during which she completed an MSc in Epidemiology at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine and a PhD in the Department of Psychological Medicine at the Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology & Neuroscience (IoPPN). Her PhD project used mixed methods to explore variations in rates of self-harm between different areas and communities in London. She is currently an NIHR funded Clinical Lecturer in General Psychiatry based in the Health Inequalities Research Group within the Department of Psychological Medicine and at the Biomedical Research Centre at the IoPPN

She trained in Medicine at University College London and did her Foundation medical training with South Thames Foundation School including jobs at King’s College Hospital and Southwark Public Health Team. She is a member of the Royal College of Psychiatrists and works clinically in General Adult Psychiatry for South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust.

She has expertise in psychiatric epidemiology, self-harm, health inequalities and the use of mixed methods including multi-level modelling, Bayesian disease mapping techniques, data visualisation using Geographical Information Systems and use of large clinical datasets as well as qualitative data collection using interviews and focus groups and thematic analysis.

She is a member of the Maudsley Cultural Psychiatry Group’s steering group, co-leading work to increase psychiatry trainees’ knowledge and skills about the impact of racism and discrimination on mental health through teaching and reflective practice.

Research interests:

  • Mental health inequalities
  • Urban mental health
  • Self-harm
  • Public Mental Health
  • Use of routine clinical data
  • Disease mapping techniques
  • Mixed methods research

Teaching:

  • Lecture on ‘The Urban Environment and Mental Health’ for Urban Informatics MSc, Centre for Urban Science and Progress London, Faculty of Natural and Mathematical Sciences, KCL
  • Lecture on ‘Racism in Mental Health Services’ as part of Maudsley Cultural Psychiatry Group and dissertation supervision for the Mental Health Studies MSc
  • Co-lead ‘Managing conflict’ day, IMPARTS Mental Health Skills for Non-Mental Health Professionals course, Department of Psychological Medicine, IoPPN, KCL.

Expertise and public engagement:

  • Co-facilitator of course ‘Understanding Self-harm’, SLaM Recovery College
  • Member of the Maudsley Cultural Psychiatry Group’s working groups for review of the psychiatry training curriculum (regular groups held with service user, carer and community representatives and with psychiatry trainees).
  • Member of SLaM’s Patient and Carer Race Equality Framework pilot Data Workstream.
  • Accredited by the Balint Society to lead reflective practice groups for health professionals

    Research

    mental-health-and-brain-research-must-be-a-higher-priority-in-global-response-to-tackle-covid-19-pandemic-cropped-780x440
    Health Inequalities Research Group

    Health Inequalities Research Group is focused on delivering interdisciplinary research on inequalities in mental health in marginalised communities and across health services with an emphasis on race at the intersection of other social identities.

    Child health small
    Health Inequalities Research Network (HERON)

    Identifying ways to reduce inequalities in health and healthcare

    Events

    09DecPhoto: Cade Martin and Dawn Arlotta - USCDCP

    How can Black communities best influence mental health services?

    Virtual seminar hosted by the Centre for Society and Mental Health, with Black Thrive and King's researchers.

    Please note: this event has passed.

    Spotlight

    How King's researchers challenge the status quo in healthcare and policy

    Research is core to King’s: what we do, what we care about and how we educate. It’s how we use our creativity to further our knowledge and understanding,...

    1920 RIA Researchers 3

      Research

      mental-health-and-brain-research-must-be-a-higher-priority-in-global-response-to-tackle-covid-19-pandemic-cropped-780x440
      Health Inequalities Research Group

      Health Inequalities Research Group is focused on delivering interdisciplinary research on inequalities in mental health in marginalised communities and across health services with an emphasis on race at the intersection of other social identities.

      Child health small
      Health Inequalities Research Network (HERON)

      Identifying ways to reduce inequalities in health and healthcare

      Events

      09DecPhoto: Cade Martin and Dawn Arlotta - USCDCP

      How can Black communities best influence mental health services?

      Virtual seminar hosted by the Centre for Society and Mental Health, with Black Thrive and King's researchers.

      Please note: this event has passed.

      Spotlight

      How King's researchers challenge the status quo in healthcare and policy

      Research is core to King’s: what we do, what we care about and how we educate. It’s how we use our creativity to further our knowledge and understanding,...

      1920 RIA Researchers 3