Personal statement

I am a Senior Lecturer and Module Leader in Clinical Psychology. This module has a specific emphasis on providing multidisciplinary care to individuals with mental health conditions via group and community-based interventions. I am also involved in teaching Counselling Psychology and the Dissertation Module.

My research focuses on social determinants of health and minority groups, and on developing community interventions to recover from sociocultural trauma. I use art-based methodologies, including storytelling and artmaking, to foster resilience in vulnerable groups. I also have a research interest in the use of Narrative Therapy to support individuals who have been affected by multiple levels of trauma, including forced migrants and survivors of domestic abuse, and those affected by the intersection of risk factors and living with HIV.

I am also:

Academic qualifications

  • PhD National University of Ireland, Maynooth, Ireland
  • MA University of Palermo, Italy
  • University of Palermo, Italy

Professional memberships

  • Fellow of the Higher Education Academy
  • Member of the Athena Network (supports migrants' mental health)

Other external roles

Doctoral supervision

I am part of the supervision team for four doctoral students:

  • Tobi Obadara: Developing Art-Based Interventions to facilitate a cross-cultural dialogue on forced migration among youth. Fully funded scholarship by the South West and Wales Doctoral Training Partnership (SWWDTP). 

  • Husam Abbed: Substituting the absent body: Object theatre and puppetry for refugee visibility.

  • Cara Smith: The effectiveness of puppetry in supporting the well-being of children with disabilities.

Research and academic outputs

Go to ResearchSPAce

Other publications and talks

  • Vitale, A. (2017). 'How using paint, pen on paper or song to revisit trauma helps us put it in the past', The Conversation.
  • Vitale, A (2018). 'En finir avec les traumatismes grace a' la peinture, l'ecriture ou chanson', The Conversation (French Edition).
  • Vitale, A. (2023). Cross-cultural trauma and art-based interventions. Department of Psychology, Queensland University of Technology, Brisbane, Australia.
  • Vitale, A. (2022). Social Determinants of Health. Department of Public Health, University of Begen, Bergen, Norway.
  • Vitale, A. (2022). Cross-cultural interventions and narrative therapy. Department of Psychology, University of Bergen, Bergen, Norway.
  • Vitale A. (2022). What’s racial trauma? What can we do about it? Black History Month, Bath Spa University.
  • Vitale A. (2023). Workshop on narrative therapy delivered to visiting colleagues of Save the Children, Ukraine, Bath Spa University. 
  • Vitale A. (2023) The ethics of conducting research with vulnerable groups. Invited talk to ACE Doctoral Training Research Training Methodologies, University of West England, Bristol, UK.