Helen Bolderston

Dr Helen Bolderston

  • Principal Academic in Psychology
  • Poole House P119, Talbot Campus, Fern Barrow, Poole, BH12 5BB
Back to top

Biography

I graduated from the University of Exeter with a BSc(Hons) in Psychology in 1985. I went on to qualify as a Clinical Psychologist at the University of Surrey in 1989. Since that time I have worked as a clinical psychologist, predominantly in NHS Adult Mental Health services. I managed the Bournemouth Adult Mental Health Psychology and Counselling service in Dorset HealthCare University NHS Foundation Trust for several years.

In recent years, I have taken my career in a more academic direction, gaining a Research Methods MSc (2008) and a PhD (2013) from the University of Southampton. My PhD was entitled "Acceptance and Commitment Therapy: Cognitive Fusion and Personality Functioning." It consisted of a series of model building and intervention development studies, assessing the relevance of Acceptance and Commitment Therapy to personality disorders.

I joined Bournemouth University as a Lecturer in Psychology in September 2014.

Research

Research interests: Acceptance-based psychotherapies, particularly Acceptance and Commitment Therapy; mindfulness.

Processes implicated in the development and maintenance of mental health problems

Psychological wellbeing and burnout in health and social care students and professionals

I am always happy to hear from individuals - from the UK and from non-UK countries and backgrounds - who are interested in studying for a PhD in a topic relevant to my areas of interest.

Journal Articles

Conferences

  • Turner, G., Bolderston, H., Gregory, N. and Thomas, S., 2025. The impact of ACT and CBT components on social anxiety and eye-gaze behaviour. In: ACBS World Conference 25-30 June 2019 Dublin.
  • Bolderston, H., McIntosh, R., Morris, E., Lee-Baggley, D., Gilliard, D. and Donnelly, O., 2025. Delivering ACT in workplace settings: Adaptations, recommendations, and challenges. In: ACBS World Conference 25-30 June 2019 Dublin.
  • Bolderston, H., Sandoz, E. and Farrell, L., 2025. Women and academic writing: How to deal with barriers and be productive. In: ACBS World Conference 25-30 June 2019 Dublin.
  • Antolin, J., Gregory, N. and Bolderston, H., 2019. Self-focused attention in social anxiety: a naturalistic eye tracking investigation. In: 20th European Conference on Eye Movements 18-22 August 2019 Alicante (Spain).
  • Bolderston, H., Gillanders, D.T., Turner, G., Taylor, H.C., Ní Mhaoileoin, D. and Coleman, A., 2019. The initial validation of a state version of the Cognitive Fusion Questionnaire. Journal of Contextual Behavioral Science, 12, 207-215.
  • Richer, S., Bolderston, H., Turner, K., Thomas, K. and McDougall, S., 2019. ACT based resilience training for surgeons. In: ACBS World Conference 25-30 June 2019 Dublin.
  • Bolderston, H., Turner, K., Thomas, K., Richer, S. and Withers, C., 2019. Building resilience in surgeons. In: Illness to Wellness: Preventing suicide and supporting mental health wellbeing in theatre teams 11 October 2019 Oxford.
  • Bolderston, H., 2017. Towards a culture of cooperation in psychotherapy development and research. In: The Third BABCP ACT SIG / ACBS UK & Ireland Chapter conference on ACT and Contextual Behavioural Science 22-25 November 2016 Edinburgh.
  • Gillanders, D.T., Walser, R., Welford, H., Bolderston, H. and McHugh, L., 2017. Fellow travellers: Points of connection and points of distinction between third wave therapies. In: The Third BABCP ACT SIG / ACBS UK and Ireland Chapter conference on ACT and Contextual Behavioural Science 22-25 November 2016 Edinburgh.
  • Bolderston, H., 2017. Adapting ACT for people with personality disorder. In: The Third BABCP ACT SIG / ACBS UK and Ireland Chapter conference on ACT and Contextual Behavioural Science 22-25 November 2016 Edinburgh.
  • Gregory, N., Wellaway, S., Antolin, J., Sapsford, P., Bolderston, H. and Baron-Cohen, S., 2016. Impaired reporting of social awkwardness in autistic spectrum condition in the presence of implicit eye movement recognition effects. In: British Psychological Society Cognitive Section Annual Conference 31 August-2 September 2016 Barcelona, Spain.
  • Orme, F., Gurr, B., Bolderston, H. and Ragab, S., 2016. Cognitive Change and its impact in Acute Stroke. In: South West NHS Stroke Conference (Joining Forces). 29 June 2016 Exeter, UK.
  • Bolderston, H., Gillanders, D., Pistorello, J., Walser, R.D. and Holman, G., 2016. The Role of the Therapeutic Relationship in ACT. In: ACBS World Conference IX 14-19 June 2016 Seattle, USA.
  • McCurry, S.M., Bolderston, H., Gillanders, D., McGowan, S.K. and Souza, A., 2016. Expanding the reach of contextual behavioral science to older adult populations. In: ACBS World Conference IX 14-19 June 2016 Seattle, USA.
  • Gillanders, D. and Bolderston, H., 2016. Learning ACT from the inside out. In: ACBS World Conference IX 14-19 June 2016 Seattle, USA.
  • Gregory, N. and Bolderston, H., 2015. Hypervigilance for faces, but typical gaze following in social anxiety. In: 18th European Conference on Eye Movements 16-21 August 2015 Vienna, Austria. Journal of eye movement research, 8 (4), 145.
  • Ainsworth, B., Garner, M. and Bolderston, H., 2015. The effect of focused attention and open-monitoring meditation on negative thought intrusions. In: British Association of Psychopharmacology Summer Meeting 26-29 July 2015 Bristol, UK.
  • Rothwell, T., Newman Taylor, K., Bolderston, H., Deveson, C. and Maguire, N., 2015. On decentering from psychosis: Do cognitive fusion and self-compassion mediate the relationship between psychosis-type experience and distress? In: BABCP Annual Conference 22-24 July 2015 Warwick, UK.
  • Jeffcoat, T., Bolderston, H., Gillanders, D. and Trompetter, H.R., 2015. Continuing Developments in Measuring ACT Processes. In: ACBS World Conference XIII 14-19 July 2015 Berlin, Germany.
  • Gillanders, D., Bolderston, H. and Bond, F., 2015. The Development and Initial Validation of The Cognitive Fusion Questionnaire. In: ACBS World Conference XIII 14-19 July 2015 Berlin, Germany.
  • Bolderston, H., Newman Taylor, K. and Deveson, C., 2014. On Decentering From Paranoia: Do Cognitive Fusion and Self-Compassion Mediate the Relationship between Paranoia and Distress? In: ACBS/BABCP ACT/CBS UK and Ireland Conference 4-5 December 2014 Dublin, Ireland.
  • Silberstein, L., Bolderston, H., Wright, L., Lloyd, J., Larsson, A. and Gillanders, D., 2014. Gender Diversity and Identity. In: ACBS/BABCP ACT/CBS UK and Ireland Conference 4-5 December 2014 Dublin, Ireland.
  • Bolderston, H. and Gillanders, D., 2014. Therapist use of self in ACT. In: ACBS World Conference XII 17-22 June 2014 Minneapolis, USA.

PhD Students

  • Catherine Johnson. The impact of complications and errors on surgeons
  • Stephen Richer. Ameliorating the impact of complications and errors on surgeons: Development of an evidence-based support toolkit

Grants

  • The impact of errors and complications on surgeons: the SAEFAR project. (Nuffield Health, 22 Nov 2018). Awarded
  • Ameliorating the impact of complications and errors on surgeons: Development of an evidence-based support toolkit. (Royal Bournemouth & Christchurch Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust/BU, 30 Jun 2016). In Progress
  • The impact of complications and errors on surgeons (Nuffield Health/BU, 21 Sep 2015). In Progress

Qualifications

  • PhD in Psychology (University of Southampton, 2013)
  • MSc in Research Methods for Psychology (University of Southampton, 2008)
  • MSc in Clinical Psychology (University of Surrey, 1989)
  • BSc (Hons) in Psychology (University of Exeter, 1985)

Memberships

  • Association for Contextual Behavioral Science, Member,
  • British Association for Behavioural and Cognitive Psychotherapies, Member,
  • British Psychological Society, Member,
  • Health and Care Professions Council, Clinical Psychologist,