Rob Poole

I am an academic psychiatrist, but I was a full-time clinician for most of my career. I held NHS consultant posts in Liverpool and North Wales for 21 years before I took my first substantive academic appointment in 2009. I have held my present post since 2012.

I trained at St George’s Hospital, London and in Oxford.

From 1988 to 2004 I worked in a deprived part of central Liverpool. I was closely involved in establishing services such as the Criminal Justice Liaison Team and the Homeless Outreach Team. I worked with non-statutory mental health projects to develop better services for Black and Chinese communities.

In 2004 I moved to an NHS community psychiatry post in rural North East Wales.

My present clinical role is in liaison psychiatry.

My interests centre on clinical skills and issues of clinical importance that affect deprived and marginalised people.

In 2009 I formed a research collaboration with Professor Catherine Robinson which, led to the establishment of the Centre for Mental Health and Society in 2012. Catherine moved to Manchester University in 2018, and a strong relationship has developed between CFMHAS and her new research unit.

I co-authored two books on clinical skills with Robert Higgo which have gained national and international recognition. A second edition of our book on psychiatric interviewing was published by Cambridge University Press in 2017.

I co-authored Mental Illness and Poverty with Robert Higgo and Catherine Robinson. This was published by Cambridge University Press in 2014.

Catherine Robinson and I have been working on self-harm and suicide with colleagues in Mysuru in India for some years. In 2017, this work culminated in a £4.5 million grant from UKRI-GCRF to support the South Asia Self Harm Initiative (SASHI). This is a collaboration with colleagues in south Asia as well as Manchester and Oxford Universities.

I was awarded the Royal College of Psychiatrists Lifetime Achievement Award, 2017.

In 2019 I was invited to join the project board of the National Confidential Inquiry into Suicide and Safety in Mental Health.

Appointments

Professor of Social Psychiatry, School of Health Sciences, Bangor University. July 2012 –
Honorary Consultant Psychiatrist, Betsi Cadwaladr University Health Board, Wrexham Maelor Hospital. June 2009 –
Co-Director, Centre for Mental Health and Society, Bangor University 2012 –
Co-Principle Investigator, National Centre for Mental Health, Wales 2017 –

Previously

Director and Specialist Adviser, Invited Review Service, Royal College of Psychiatrists, June 2013 – 2018
Honorary Research Lead, National Centre for Mental Health, Wales, 2015 – 2017
Chair, Executive Committee, Royal College of Psychiatrists in Wales, 2012 – 2016
Vice-President, Royal College of Psychiatrists, November 2015 – July 2016
Professor of Mental Health, Glyndŵr University, Wrexham. June 2009 – June 2012
Consultant General Adult Psychiatrist, North East Wales NHS Trust and Honorary Senior Lecturer in Psychological Medicine, Cardiff University, 2004 – 2009
Consultant General Adult Psychiatrist, Mersey Care NHS Trust, Liverpool and Honorary Clinical Lecturer in Psychiatry, Liverpool University, 1988 – 2004

Doctoral Supervision

Emily Bebbington

John Bailey

Kim Barnett

Other Measures of Esteem

Life Time achievement Award, November 2017

Grants

Development of a self-harm registry for North Wales.  2024. £35k, (Emily Bebbingon, Anne Krayer, Catherine Robinson)

International Science Partnerships Fund (ISPF) Institutional Support Grant. 2024. £10k

UKRI-GCRF to support the South Asia Self Harm Initiative (SASHI). 2017. £4.5m