Peter Sandy
University of South Africa, South Africa
Biography
Peter Thomas Sandy is presently an Associate Professor at the University of South Africa, Department of Health Studies. He is a Mental Health Practitioner and Health Research Psychologist who has worked in the United Kingdom with a wide range of clinical presentations of people with mental health difficulties and learning disabilities. As a Clinical Lead, Peter Thomas Sandy actively supported people with drug and alcohol problems, mental Contributors 298 health difficulties and self-harming behaviours using specific counselling styles like motivational interviewing. Peter Thomas Sandy`s clinical experiences shaped his research interests. He is interested in drug and alcohol use among vulnerable populations, such as women, homeless, and people with mental health and learning disability problems. From a broader perspective, Peter Thomas Sandy has huge interest in attitude and behaviour change, and has conducted funded research related to these areas. For example, he conducted research on attitudes of mental workers on people who self-harm in large mental health institutions in England that resulted in the development of the Self-harm Explanatory Model. As an academic, Peter Thomas Sandy worked in the England as a Principal Lecturer (Associate Professor) at Buckinghamshire University and developed and led a range of training programmes for mental health practitioners in both generic and forensic settings. Peter Thomas Sandy earned his doctoral degree (PhD) from Brunel University, England, United Kingdom. His thesis focused on a very controversial area of mental health practice, application of harm minimisation approach to people who self-mutilate.