Professor Stephen Palmer PhD
The Director of the Centres is Professor Stephen Palmer PhD. He is an Honorary Professor of Psychology at City University London in the Department of Psychology and Director of their Coaching Psychology Unit. He is the first Visiting Professor of Work Based Learning and Stress Management at the Institute of Work Based Learning, Middlesex University. He has specialised in stress management and prevention and since the 1980s he has worked with individuals, teams and organisations.

He is a Fellow of the British Association for Counselling, Royal Society of Arts and the Royal Society of Public Health. He is an Associate Fellow of the British Psychological Society and the Albert Ellis Institute for Rational Emotive Behavior Therapy in New York, and a certified supervisor for training in REBT. He is a Diplomate in Cognitive-Behavioural Therapy (CBT) with the National Association of Cognitive-Behavioral Therapists (USA), an AREBT Accredited Therapist, Coach, Supervisor and Trainer of REBT, a UKCP Registered CBT & REBT Psychotherapist, a Hypnotherapy Society Accredited Hypnotherapist & Supervisor, and is registered with the CBT UK Register. His charterships include being a Chartered Psychologist, Chartered Safety & Health Practitioner and Chartered Scientist.   

Currently he is Honorary President of the Society for Coaching Psychology, Honorary Vice-President of the Institute of Health Promotion and Education, Honorary Vice-President of the International Stress Management Association (UK), and Consultant Director of the New Zealand Centre for Rational Emotive Behaviour Therapy. He was Honorary President of the Association for Coaching, and Chair of the British Psychological Society Special Group in Coaching Psychology. In 2005 he was the first Chair of the British Psychological Society Special Group in Coaching Psychology and is the UK Coordinating Editor of their publication, the International Coaching Psychology Review. He was Chair of the Scientific Awards Committee of the British Psychological Society Division of Counselling Psychology from 1997 to 1999. He is Co-editor of The Rational Emotive Behaviour Therapist, Editor of the International Journal of Health Promotion and Education, Consultant Editor of The Coaching Psychologist. In 2001 he chaired the BACP Online Therapy Working Group which produced a report, Guidelines for Online Counselling & Psychotherapy. 

He has authored numerous articles on stress management and counselling, and has authored or edited 35 books and training manuals, including Dealing with People Problems at Work (1996) with Burton, Stress Management and Counselling (1996) with Dryden, Counselling: The BAC Counselling Reader (1996) with Dainow and Milner, Stress Counselling: A Rational Emotive Behaviour Approach (1997) with Ellis, Gordon and Neenan, the Handbook of Counselling (1997) with McMahon, Integrative Stress Counselling (1998) with Milner, Counselling in a Multicultural Society (1999) with Laungani, Trauma and Post-traumatic Stress Disorder (1999) with Scott, Conquer Your Stress (2000) with Cooper, Brief Cognitive Behaviour Therapy (2000) with Curwen & Ruddell, Counselling: The BACP Counselling Reader, Vol. 2 (2001) with Milner, Moody to Mellow (2006) with Wilding, Race Culture and Psychotherapy (2006) with Moodley, Achieving Excellence in your Coaching Practice (2006) with McMahon and Wilding, Suicide: Strategies and Interventions for Reduction and Prevention (2008), the Handbook of Coaching Psychology (2007) with Whybrow, Beat Low Self-esteem with CBT (2010) with Wilding, and How to Deal with Stress (2010) with Cooper.

He has lectured in Europe, Japan, New Zealand, Hong Kong and China on a range of subjects and regularly appears on radio and television programmes. In 2004 he demonstrated stress management in his 6-part television series, The Stress Test. In 2004 to 2005 he worked for the House of Commons Defence Select Committee as a Specialist Advisor working on the Duty of Care Inquiry.

In May, 2000, he received the Annual Counselling Psychology Award from the British Psychological Society, Division of Counselling Psychology, for his 'Outstanding professional and scientific contribution to counselling psychology in Britain'. In 2004, he received an Achievement Award from AREBT 'in recognition of his outstanding professional contribution to the development of the Association for Rational Emotive Behaviour Therapy in the UK, of Rational Emotive Behaviour Therapy in New Zealand and for his published works. The Independent and The Observer have placed him in the Top Ten of coaches. In December 2008 the British Psychological Society gave him the 'Lifetime Achievement Award in Recognition of Distinguished contribution to coaching psychology', awarded at the 1st European Coaching Psychology Conference. (For additional information, click here.) 

Peter Ruddell 
Peter Ruddell helped found the Centre for Stress Management in 1987 and has now returned as Clinical Director of the Centres. Peter is accredited as a cognitive and behavioural psychotherapist by the British Association for Behavioural and Cognitive Psychotherapy (BABCP) and is registered as a cognitive-behavioural psychotherapist with the United Kingdom Council for Psychotherapy (UKCP). He is accredited as a REBT therapist by the Association for Rational Emotive Behaviour Therapy. He is on the Editorial Board of The Rational Emotive Behaviour Therapist, is Commissioning Editor of Stress News and Consulting Editor of the Online Journal of Multimodal and Rational Emotive Behaviour Therapy. He is a Council Member and a Director of the Association for Rational Emotive Behaviour Therapy, and a
Council Member of the Institute of Health Promotion and Education. His book Brief Cognitive Behaviour Therapy with Curwen and Palmer was published in 2000.

Gladeana McMahon 
Gladeana McMahon is Co-director of the Counselling Skills and Problem Focused Psychotherapy programmes. She is a BAC accredited counsellor and supervisor, a BABCP accredited psychotherapist and a UKCP registered cognitive-behavioural psychotherapist. She is also an experienced industrial trainer. She was News Editor of Counselling, the Journal of the British Association for Counselling, and former Editor of the Journal of The International Stress Management Association (UK Branch). She has published articles on counselling and an interactive handbook Setting Up Your Own Practice. Her books include Client Assessment (1997) and the Handbook of Counselling (1997), both co-edited with Stephen Palmer, and Understanding Trauma (1997) with Doggart, and Achieving Excellence in your Coaching Practice (2006) with Palmer and Wilding,

Michael Neenan 
Michael Neenan is Co-director of the Cognitive-Behavioural Counselling and Psychotherapy programme. He is an AREBT accredited REBT counsellor, and BABCP accredited therapist. He is also an experienced industrial trainer. He has published articles and books on REBT including the Dictionary of Rational Emotive Behaviour Therapy (1994) with Dryden, Counselling Individuals: A Rational Emotive Handbook (1999) with Dryden and Yankura, Life Coaching: A Cognitive Behavioural Approach (2002) with Dryden, and Developing Resilience: A Cognitive-Behavioural Approach (2009). He is former Co-chair of the Association for Rational Emotive Behaviour Therapists and was Co-editor their journal. 

Dr Siobhain O'Riordan
Dr Siobhain O'Riordan PhD is Associate Director of the Centre for Stress Management & Centre for Coaching. She is Deputy Director of the Coaching Psychology Unit at City University London. She is a Chartered Psychologist, Chartered Scientist and a Society for Coaching Psychology Accredited Coaching Psychologist. She is Editor of The Coaching Psychologist and Coaching Psychology International. She was Chair of the BPS Special Group in Coaching Psychology and is currently Chair of the Society for Coaching Psychology.

David Ellis
David Ellis is a Chartered Biologist and a Member of the Institute of Biology specialising in stress and stress management. He provides input on the Diploma in Stress Management programme at the Centre.

Elizabeth Doggart 
Elizabeth Doggart is Co-Director of the Trauma Programme. She is a UKCP registered cognitive-behavioural therapist and an AREBT accredited counsellor. She is Former Chair of the Association for REBT and a Fellow of the Institute of Personnel and Development. She co-authored Understanding Trauma (1997) with McMahon. 

Kasia Szymanska 
Kasia Szymanska is Co-Director of the Problem Focused Psychotherapy Programme and Director of Distance Learning at the Centre for Coaching. She is a Chartered Psychologist, a UKCP registered cognitive-behaviour therapist and an Associate Fellow of the British Psychological Society. She is former Editor of Counselling Psychology Review and is Consultant Editor of The Coaching Psychologist.

Kate Thomas 
Kate Thomas is Consultant Director of the Centre and is responsible for external training contracts. She is Co-author of Creating a Balance: Managing Stress (2003) with Palmer & Cooper and has written a number of articles on stress and communication. She is Co-Director of the Stephen Palmer Partnership Ltd.

Irene Tubbs 
Irene Tubbs is a health educator and experienced stress counsellor and trainer. She is a BABCP & AREBT Accredited Therapist and has written a number of health-related books. She is a Director and former Chair of the Association for Rational Emotive Behaviour Therapy.