Rate My Professor Jess Senior

Jessica Senior serves as an Associate Research Fellow in the Department of Psychological Medicine at the University of Otago, Wellington. She holds a Bachelor of Science with First Class Honours. Her career is marked by a passion for mental health and wellbeing, informed by diverse experiences in non-governmental organisations, tertiary education, local government, and primary healthcare settings. As an affiliate member of the World of Difference programme within the Department of Psychological Medicine, Jess Senior contributed significantly from 2020 to 2021. This service user-led initiative focuses on education and research to end discrimination and promote recovery, inclusion, and respect for people experiencing mental distress. In her role, she worked across police and health provider contracts, undertaking training development and adaptation, recruiting and training educators, research, and mentoring other organisations to implement the programme.

Jessica Senior has been involved in co-production efforts for undergraduate nursing education, including the development and delivery of a workshop for second-year Bachelor of Nursing students. Collaborating with academics and other lived experience facilitators, the workshop integrated mental health content to address stigma and discrimination. Topics covered included introductions to consumer and peer roles, the significance of peer support, stigma and discrimination, hearing voices, the power of language, and key takeaways. Student evaluations showed 70% rating it as very useful, with comments emphasising enhanced understanding of recovery, increased empathy, and reduced stigmatising attitudes. Her research publications reflect interests in service user-led education, attitudes towards lived experience of mental distress, and representations of schizophrenia. Notable works include 'Hearing voices, but whose? Constructions of schizophrenia in introductory psychology textbooks' (2024), 'IN BRIEF ‘We Are the Many, Not the Few’: Initial Results of a Survey of Attitudes Towards Lived Experience of Mental Distress Among Clinical Psychologists in New Zealand' (2024), and 'Does a comprehensive service user-led education programme effect more positive attitudes towards recovery and less stigmatising attitudes towards people with lived experience of mental distress in medical students? A comparative cohort study' (2021). Additional conference papers cover 'User involvement in mental health research' (2011) and 'Peer researchers: bridging the gap to better evaluate alcohol and other drug services' (2010). Jess Senior subsequently pursued a Doctor of Clinical Psychology, applying her lived experience values to ongoing research and clinical practice.