Laura is a Consultant Forensic Psychologist and Clinical Lecturer in Forensic Psychology with extensive experience across criminal justice and secure care settings. She joined the Department of Forensic and Neurodevelopmental Sciences at the Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology & Neuroscience in 2025.

Laura is an HCPC-registered and BPS Chartered Forensic Psychologist. She began her career in the prison service before spending the next 12 years working across high, medium and low secure hospital settings, specialising in the assessment and treatment of individuals with histories of serious violent and sexual offending, alongside complex trauma, mental health, and personality disorder diagnoses. She later worked as an expert witness, delivered training and consultation for law enforcement agencies, and served as a specialist psychologist member of the Parole Board for England and Wales. Prior to joining King’s, she led the MSc in Forensic Psychology at Royal Holloway, University of London.

Alongside her academic role, Laura continues to work in clinical practice. She is a founding partner of JustForward, providing training and consultancy grounded in applied psychological knowledge and a strong social justice ethos. She is also Applied Psychology Lead at Petros, an organisation supporting individuals and organisations through resilience training and consultancy. Laura is currently completing her PhD, a critical exploration of trauma-informed practice in forensic settings.

Laura regularly delivers training on trauma, attachment, sexually harmful behaviour, autism, learning disability, personality disorder, addiction, resilience, identity, and self-care in forensic practice. She is an accredited Spotlight Practitioner and also provides leadership training, consultancy, and support to teams navigating periods of change and conflict. She has presented her work nationally and internationally, including at IAFMHS, NOTA, IATSO, and Criminal Justice Platform Europe.

Her teaching is informed by many years of multidisciplinary clinical practice, and she is particularly committed to helping students bridge theory and practice, with an emphasis on formulation, ethical decision-making, and psychologically informed responses to complexity in forensic settings.

Research Interests

• Trauma and offending
• Personality and serious offending
• Social media and the impact on developing minds
• Complexity in risk assessment
• Systemic context and culture in forensic settings

Key Publications

Bowden, L., Glorney, E., & Durber, E. (2022). Attributions & Bias. In J. Harvey & D. Ambrose (Eds.), Social Psychology in Forensic Practice (1st ed.). Routledge.

Bowden, L., Glorney, E., & Daniels, M. (2017). Individuals’ experiences of sexual offending therapy in a forensic psychiatric setting. Journal of Sexual Aggression, 23(3), 278–290.