School of Social and Political Science

Background

+44 (0)7793 403082

I'm from Northern Ireland and moved to Scotland in 1993, initially settling in Edinburgh and working in homelessness for four years before studying for the Masters in Social Work degree at Glasgow University.  I qualified as a social worker in 1999 and practised for ten years, mainly in mental health in the West of Scotland, including, as a mental health officer and practice team leader in community mental health settings. The opportunity to move to higher education arose in 2009 when I took up a post at Glasgow Caledonian University, initially as lecturer and then senior lecturer in social work. My Scottish journey, to some extent, came full circle with a move to the University of Edinburgh in 2019 as senior lecturer in social work. I am a member of the Mental Health Tribunal for Scotland and a Senior Fellow of The Higher Education Academy.

Teaching interests

My research and teaching interests are interlinked. I am currently programme director for the post-qualifying award in Mental Health Social Work at the University of Edinburgh. This centres on enabling qualified social workers to gain critical understandings of mental health and mental health law, in order to undertake the statutory Mental Health Officer role. I also teach across the qualifying social work degree programmes on mental health, mindfulness, communication, anti-oppressive practice and research methods. I have longstanding experience of programme design and innovation, and have made key contributions to institutional and regulatory body reviews, including as External Examiner for HEIs in England and Scotland. My responsibilities also include supporting the participation of people with lived experience in teaching and learning on the social work degree programmes.

Books

MacIntyre, G., Stewart, A. and McCusker, P., 2018. (eds) Adult Safeguarding: Key Themes and Issues. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan.

Peer reviewed journal articles

Allen, S. & McCusker, P., 2020. A Hidden Dynamic: Examining the Impact of Fear on Mental Health Officers’ Decisions to Use Powers of Compulsory Detention, Practice, 32:4, 301-315, DOI: 10.1080/09503153.2020.1782873

Campbell, J., Davidson, G., McCusker, P., Jobling, H. & Slater, T., 2019. Community Treatment Orders and Mental Health Social Work: Issues for policy and practice in the UK and Ireland. International Journal of Law and Psychiatry. 64, pp.230-237, doi.org/10.1016/j.ijlp.2019.04.003.

DeRidder, R., Molodynski, A., Manning, C., McCusker, P. & Rugkåsa, J., 2016. Community Treatment Orders in The UK 5 Years on: a repeat national survey of psychiatrists. BJPsych Bull.40 (3): 119–123, doi:10.1192/pb.bp.115.050773.

McCusker, P. and Jackson, J., 2015. Social Work and Mental Distress: Articulating the Connection. British Journal of Social Work.46(6), pp.1654-1670,doi: 10.1093/bjsw/bcv083.

McCusker, P., 2013. Harnessing the potential of Constructive Developmental Pedagogy to achieve transformative learning in social work education, Journal of Transformative Education. 11 (1), pp.3-25.

McCusker, P., MacIntyre, G., Stewart, A. & Jackson, J., 2012. Evaluating the Effectiveness of Service User and Carer Involvement in Post Qualifying Mental Health Social Work Education in Scotland: Challenges and opportunities. Journal of Mental Health, Training, Education and Practice. 7(3), pp.143-153.

McCusker, P. 2011. ‘Mental Health in Social Work: A burning issue for higher education?’ In:Burning Issues in Learning and Teaching about Mental Health, Occasional Paper 13. London: Higher Education Academy.

Book chapters

McCusker, P. and Jackson, J., 2018, Suicide and Self-Harm. In: MacIntyre, G., Stewart, A. and McCusker,P., 2018. (eds) Adult Safeguarding: Key Themes and Issues. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan.

MacIntyre, G. and McCusker, P. 2015. Involving Service Users and Carers in Social Work Education: A consideration of UK and Global Perspectives. In: Palattiyli, G., Sidhva, D. & Chakrabarti, M., Social Work in A Global Context: Issues & Challenges, London: Routledge.

Other publications

McCusker, P., 2020. Mindfulness in social work education and practice, IRISS Insight 56 https://www.iriss.org.uk/resources/insights/mindfulness-social-work-edu….