Kevin Gournay
Kevin Joseph Michael Gournay CBE FMedSci FRCN FRCPsych (Hon) PhD RN CSci Cert CBT is a registered psychologist, chartered scientist and a registered nurse by background. He is an emeritus professor at the Institute of Psychiatry, King's College London. He is currently a consultant psychologist at the Priory Hospital North London and a professorial fellow at the National Drug and Alcohol Research Centre; University of New South Wales in Sydney. He has been responsible over many years for a very wide range of research, policy and practice development in mental health care. He also works as an Expert Witness; he has provided reports on more than 200 suicides; 20 homicides and hundreds of reports on people who have suffered the consequences of traumatic events, including accidents, terrorist related incidents, natural disasters, war related events and stillbirth and perinatal death.
Initiatives
He has been responsible for a number of initiatives that have improved mental health care, including:
- Guidance on the Observation of Patients at Risk
- UKCC Report on the Management of Violence in Mental Health Settings
- Chair, NICE Guidance on the Short Term Management of Disturbed/Violent Behaviour in Mental Health and Emergency Settings
- Serving as a special advisor to the UK Joint Parliamentary Committee on Human Rights
- Consultant to World Health Organization
Affiliations
Gournay has served on numerous government bodies. He is President and founding Patron of No Panic, the UK's largest anxiety disorder, self-help charity.
Fellowships
- Royal College of Nursing
- Royal College of Psychiatrists (Honorary)
- Academy of Medical Sciences
- Royal Society of Medicine
- Associate Fellow of the British Psychological Society
Awards
- CBE : Queens New Year's Honours 1999
- Honorary Doctor of Science
- Nurse of the Year (American Psychiatric Nursing Association, 2004)
Clinical expertise
He originally trained as a Behaviour Therapist at the Maudsley Hospital between 1976– 1978 on the famous Nurse Therapy Programme, directed by Professor Isaac Marks. His doctoral thesis focussed on a randomised controlled trial on treatments for Agoraphobia. Throughout his career, since he completed his training in 1978, he has worked as a clinician treating literally thousands of patients with a range of anxiety disorders, OCD, PTSD and mood disorders.
Research and teaching
Gournay has held major research grants, since 1980, notably in the cognitive behavioural treatment of phobic anxiety, body image disorders, the use of medication, epidemiology, health economics and community mental health. At the present time, he chairs the advisory board that has oversight of 25+ projects at the Centre for Research Excellence in Comorbidity at the National Drug and Alcohol Research Centre in Sydney, where he spends several weeks each year. He is the author of approximately 300 journal articles, conference papers (national and international), books, book chapters and reports. He published a textbook on agoraphobia in 1989 and has published widely on anxiety disorders. He has considerable media experience with numerous contributions to TV, Radio, Newspapers, Journals and Magazines.
Gournay set up and ran the UK's first multi-disciplinary Masters programme for mental health professionals in the area of interventions for serious mental illness. He has had attachments Universities and Services in the UK, Ireland, USA and Australia, where he has taught on the subjects of post traumatic stress and the management of severe mental illness. He has directed a number of training programmes for mental health professionals (doctors, psychologists and nurses) and his experience includes teaching in a number of countries including other European countries as well as the United States, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, the Czech Republic, Palestine and Russia.
He is a supporter and season ticket holder of Charlton Athletic FC; his Dad Joe took him to his first match in 1951. He is a member of Broxbourne Running Club and the Veteran of 17 Marathons. He lives in Hertfordshire with his wife Jean and has 4 children and 3 grandchildren.
Publications
Gournay is the author of more than 300 chapters, articles, books and conference papers, including:
Some Books/monographs
- Gournay K Ashcroft B (2018) (in press) Coping with stillbirth and Perinatal Death: Sheldon,London
- Gournay K (2015) Post Traumatic Stress Disorder; Recovery after accident and disaster; Sheldon, London
- Gournay K (2015) Short Guide to Phobias and Panic; Sheldon, London
- Gournay K Robson D (2014) Coping with schizophrenia; Sheldon, London
- Gournay K Piper R Rogers P (2012) Coping with Obsessive Compulsive Disorder; Sheldon, London
- Newell, R., Gournay, K. (2010) – Mental Health Nursing: an evidence based approach. Harcourt Brace: London.
- Lloyd C King R Deane F Gournay K (2009); Clinical Management in Mental Health Services; Wiley: Blackwell: Oxford.
- Goldberg, D., Gournay, K. (1997) – The general practitioner, the psychiatrist and the burden of mental health care. Maudsley Discussion Paper No 1: Institute of Psychiatry, London.
- Gournay, K. (1989) – Agoraphobia: Current Perspectives on Theory and Treatment. Routledge, London.
Some Journal articles
- Craig T Johnson S McCrone P Afuwape S Hughes E Gournay K Boardman J Wanigaratne S White I Leese M Thornicroft G (2008): A randomised controlled trial of integrated mental health care for dual diagnosis: Mental Health, Social functioning and healthcare cost outcomes at 18 months
- Rofail, D., Gray, R., Gournay, K. (2005) – The development and internal consistency of the satisfaction with antipsychotic medication scale, Psychological Medicine. 35, pp. 1–10.
- Gray, R., Wykes, T., Gournay, K. (2004) Randomised controlled trial of medication management training for mental health nurses, British Journal of Psychiatry, 185, pp. 157–162.
- Wright, S., Gournay, K., Glorney, E., Thornicroft, G. (2002) – Dual diagnosis in the suburbs: violence and offending, Journal of Forensic Psychiatry, 13(1), pp. 35–52.
- Walburn, J., Gray, R., Gournay, K., Quraishi, S., David, A. (2001) – Systematic review of patient and nurse attitudes to depot antipsychotic medication, British Journal of Psychiatry, 179, pp. 300–307.
- Gournay, K., Denford, L., Parr, A-M, Newell, R. (2000)- British nurses in behavioural psychotherapy: a 25-year follow up, Journal of Advanced Nursing 32, 2, pp. 343–351.