Nicola Lester
Psychological Trauma Consultancy
Nicola Lester specialises in psychological trauma, providing training, consultancy, supervision and clinical support to organisations and individuals. She is a registered mental health nurse, qualified as an EMDR therapist.
Experience
Nicola has experience working with children and adolescents, adults and families across a range of settings throughout the UK and overseas in South Africa, the Middle East, Canada, Afghanistan and Ukraine.
Nicola works with government departments and agencies, businesses, and both statutory and non-statutory services. With a background as a senior lecturer in mental health nursing she is experienced in teaching, training and mentoring. This includes guest lecturing at a number of universities and vocational courses in the UK, specialising in psychological trauma, traumatic bereavement and crisis response work.
Training
Nicola provides a range of training packages from one-day workshops to longer incremental training programmes. Typically, the content of these courses is determined in collaboration with the organisation.
Approach
Nicola’s work draws on best practice and is taken from a range of disciplines, including military psychiatry, humanitarian assistance, occupational psychology, psychological trauma and creative therapies.
Consultancy
Nicola offers consultancy and, when applicable, direct clinical input to individuals, groups and organisations. Consultancy sessions may be used to supplement training programmes to support implementation.
Military Bereavement
Nicola has specialised in working with military bereavement, through her clinical and consultancy work and doctoral research.
making SENSE of trauma
The SENSE model was initially developed in response to the Manchester bombing in May 2017 as a framework for front-line and emergency staff operating in the immediate aftermath of the incident.
Publications and Credits
Nicola’s work has been published in a wide range of journals and studies.
Making SENSE of COVID-19
The SENSE model has been adapted to respond to the unprecedented global crisis of COVID-19 and is now being implemented by statutory and
non-statutory services across the UK
Image credit
Photograph taken by Amar, a Syrian photographer and member of the White Helmets. Amar’s distinctive style of photography is to capture objects of war positioned against brightly coloured flowers. Like many of the members of the White Helmets, instead of seeing devastation and destruction as a result of Syria’s ongoing conflict, Amar chose to see hope and a brighter future. His optimism has been influential in developing Nicola’s own approaches to working with psychological trauma.
Get in touch
Nicola welcomes the opportunity to discuss psychological trauma consultancy, training, supervision and clinical support to organisations and individuals, both in the UK and internationally.