Karen Slade

Role

Prof Karen Slade is Professor of applied forensic psychology specialising in suicide prevention and postvention, self-harm and dual harm (harm to self and others) across the criminal justice and blue-light sectors.

She has been on secondment to His Majesties' Prison and Probation Service (HMPPS) since 2019 leading work and designing approaches to prevent and respond to suicide and deaths under supervision across the prison and probation services (including Approved Premises) in England and Wales.  She is an international expert on Dual Harm - people who are both violent and self-harm and is developing a strong research and practice foundation in developing understanding and practice in this area.

Prof Slade has extensive expertise and experience in research, policy and practice and specialises in the development of new evidence-based systems in practice.  Her experience includes supporting policy development, new approaches and systems of work and in improving operational delivery (including training and guidance) for suicide and death prevention & postvention, self-harm and for complex harm presentations.

In 2023, with a team from NTU and the Fire Fighters Charity, she led the development of  openly available detailed guidance for beneficiaries of the Charity (people who work for, or retired from, the Fire and Rescue Services and their families) on a range of scenarios around suicide prevention Suicide Prevention - The Fire Fighters Charity and responding after a suspected suicide Postvention: Responding after a suspected suicide - The Fire Fighters Charity

She is a Fellow of the Higher Education Academy and supervises DPsych, PhD and MSc students in all areas of forensic psychology and harm prevention.

Karen's current research and practice areas include:

• Prevention and management of self harm, suicide and violence within the criminal justice and blue light services.
• Understanding and managing Dual Harm (both violence and self-harm) behaviour
• Organisational and practice approaches to suicide, self-harm and violence prevention
• Death prevention within community criminal justice populations and services.

Career overview

Karen has practiced as a Forensic Psychologist for over 21 years, working directly for HM Prison and Probation Service, and for over a decade as a consultant and advisor across the criminal justice and blue-light sectors.  She is also active in research developing high-quality and impactful research in the field underpinning an Impact Case Study in REF2014 and 2021 (see Re:covery | Nottingham Trent University).  Karen has extensive experience as a practitioner as well as a Senior and Strategic Leader, Consultant and project manager.

Karen remains active in working with agencies across the criminal justice system in the prevention of self harm, suicide and violent behaviour working closely with many prisons, probation and blue-light services and charities, regionally, nationally and internationally.  Her expertise is in the operational and strategic development of strong evidence-based and effective developments to prevent suicide and other preventable deaths and working with those who self-harm.

She has been on secondment with HMPPS since 2019 where she led the development of the Support and Safety Plan (SaSP) and Collaborative Assessment of Risk and Emotion (CARE) in Approved Premises and was Strategic Lead for Deaths Under Supervision, leading on cross-service development work focussed on the prevention of deaths under probation supervision from 2021-23.

She is a BPS Chartered Psychologist (Forensic Psychology) and supervisor and is registered with the HCPC as a Forensic Psychologist. She was on the Executive Committee for the BPS' Division of Forensic Psychology 2013-2019.

Her research interests include self harm and suicidal behaviour, forensic psychology and more recently, developing understanding of Dual Harm (both violence and self-harm) and deaths which occur amongst people on probation/parole.  She has published widely and presents to academic and practice audiences. She continues to work across settings in the development and implementation of effective practice including risk assessment, intervention, consultancy, crisis management as well as providing training and supervision.

External activity

• Secondment with HMPPS (2019- current) as Strategic Lead for Deaths Under Supervision and suicide prevention projects.
• Chartered Psychologist & Full Member of the Division of Forensic Psychology (British Psychological Society)
• Registered Forensic Psychologist (Health and Care Professions Council).
• Non-Executive Director at HMP Fosse Way
• Funded consultancy and training provision to HM Prisons, Ministry of Justice, Fire Fighters Charity and OPD pathway.
• Advisor to international correctional services including training for EuroPris.
• Founding member and Lead for Forensic Harm Prevention Network (FHPN) & International self-harm in prison network
• Professional supervision of psychologists
• Division of Forensic Psychology Executive Committee (2013-2019)
• Previous External Examiner at Cardiff Metropolitan University (PgDip Practitioner Psychologist) & Glasgow Caledonian University (MSc Forensic Psychology)

Sponsors and collaborators

• Prof Andrew Forrester (University of Cardiff)
• Prof Rohan Borschmann (University of Melbourne)
• Dr Seena Fazel (University of Oxford)
• Prof Hayden Smith (University of South Carolina)
• Amy Beck (Suicide Prevention Lead, Probation Service)
• Dr Jill Tolfrey , Fire Fighters Charity