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The Psychosis Interest Network East Anglia (PINE) brings together NHS clinicians, individuals with lived experience of psychosis, and researchers who work with people with psychosis, or those who are at-risk of developing psychosis. PINE aims to support psychological research in psychosis across the region, including service-related projects.
We have multiple ongoing research projects, including those that are open to recruitment for clinicians and individuals with experience of psychosis.
If you are interested in our work you can subscribe to The Kernel, our quarterly newsletter, or apply to join the PINE network - Get Involved
PINE Network members
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Dr Jo Hodgekins (Co-Lead)
Jo Hodgekins is a Clinical Psychologist and Clinical Associate Professor at Norwich Medical School at the University of East Anglia. For the past 20 years, Jo has been involved in research with people with psychosis and young people who may be at risk of developing psychosis. Jo has a particular interest in using psychological interventions to improve social and functional outcomes for people with psychosis and those who may be at risk of long-term social disability following mental health difficulties.
Key publications
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Dr Sarah Reeve (Co-Lead)
Sarah Reeve is a Clinical Psychologist and Research Lecturer working between UEA (Department of Clinical Psychology and Psychological Therapies) and Cambridgeshire and Peterborough NHS Foundation Trust (CAMEO Early Intervention in Psychosis). Her research interests include the role of sleep problems in mental health, with a specific interest in the mechanisms linking sleep disruption and psychotic symptoms (delusions and hallucinations), the wider impact of sleep problems on those with severe mental illnesses, and developing interventions to improve how sleep disorders are treated in mental health services.
Key publications
Understanding excessive sleep in people with psychotic disorders
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Dr Sheri Oduola
Sheri Oduola is a mental health nurse, social/psychiatric epidemiologist, and a fellow of the Higher Education Academy. Sheri gained a BSc in Mental Health Nursing from the Florence Nightingale Faculty of Nursing, King’s College London. She then completed an MSc in Health Services and Population Research and a PhD in Psychiatric Epidemiology at the Institute of Psychiatry, King’s College London.
Clinically, she worked primarily with people living with psychotic disorders in inpatient and community settings.
Her research focuses on social factors that produce inequalities in the burdens of mental ill-health, mental healthcare, and long-term outcomes of severe mental illness in diverse populations (e.g., ethnic, gender minority groups and rural communities). She uses a mixed methods approach to make sense of complex health inequalities in minority groups by drawing on epidemiological techniques in electronic health records and qualitative approaches to explain why these disparities occur.
Sheri has been involved in several mixed methods and epidemiological research projects on psychoses and severe mental illness, including CRIS-FEP (supported by NIHR BRC Maudsley), MEDIATE (funded by NIHR – PDG), RESOLVE (funded by NIHR- HSD&R). She currently leads an NIHR-funded Mental Health Research Development project, which centres on bringing together key stakeholders and conducting extensive scoping work to identify mental health needs and priorities in Norfolk and Suffolk, particularly for the rural, coastal and migrant communities. The findings from this initial work will lay the foundations for a larger-scale programme of research for the next five years.
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Dr Sophie Allan
Dr Sophie M. Allan is a Clinical Psychologist and lecturer in Clinical Psychology on the Doctorate in Clinical Psychology. Sophie completed her Doctorate of Clinical Psychology from the University of East Anglia in 2020 and worked in East Anglia as a Clinical Psychologist with people experiencing psychosis after qualifying.
Before qualifying she worked in in clinical, research and service user involvement roles in the NHS. She began a part-time PhD in the School of Health Sciences in February 2023, investigating inequalities in treatment and long-term outcome of first episode psychosis, funded via an NIHR Doctoral Fellowship since November 2024. She is also a collaborator and PPI co-lead for "Early Psychosis Informatics into Care" (EPICare), a project to develop a national digital registry for early psychosis.
Key publications
Pathways to care in at-risk mental states: A systematic review
The over-35s: early intervention in psychosis services entering uncharted territory
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Afifa Ashfaque
Afifa Ashfaque is a current PhD student at Norwich Medical School at the University of East Anglia. Her PhD project is looking at developing a psychological intervention for recovery from postpartum psychosis. Afifa gained her BA (hons) in Health Psychology from Queen Margaret University, Edinburgh and went on to complete her Master’s in Psychological Research Methods at University of Strathclyde, Glasgow.
Prior to undertaking her PhD, Afifa worked as a nursery nurse on a Mother and Baby Unit at the Bethlem Royal Hospital, part of South London and Maudsley NHS Trust, working directly with mothers experiencing serious mental illness and their babies. The experience was extremely rewarding and motivated her to take up an assistant psychologist position on the ward. Following this, Afifa took on the role of research worker at the section for women’s mental health, Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology and Mental Health at King College London. Afifa worked as part of the research team on the ESMI study investigating most effective NHS treatment options for women experiencing severe mental disorders in the perinatal period.
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Dr Ryan Nah
Dr Ryan Nah is an Assistant Professor of Clinical Psychology at the University of Cambridge and an Associate Tutor on the ClinPsyD programme at the University of East Anglia. He was previously an Honorary Clinical Teaching Fellow at University College London. Ryan also works as a Consultant Clinical Psychologist in the NHS and is the Lead Psychologist for the North Cambridgeshire Adult Locality Teams.
Ryan completed his BA Psychology (summa cum laude) at the University at Buffalo SUNY in 2010. He then completed a Doctorate in Clinical Psychology in 2017 and a Postgraduate Diploma in Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (Distinction) in 2020 at the University of Leicester and the University of Oxford respectively. Ryan's research interests are broadly in psychosis, digital health, access to care and culture.Key publications
Dr James Plaistow
James is a Consultant Clinical Psychologist and Lead Clinical psychologist for CAMEO early intervention team. He has worked in several early intervention in psychosis services since 1996. Research interests include early intervention in psychosis, CBTp for psychosis and At risk mental states (ARMS) and psychosocial interventions interventions focussed on adjustment to the experience of psychosis and associated comorbidity, staying well/ relapse prevention interventions and the overlap between psychosis and OCD and trauma (including use of routine trauma screening).
James' current research includes the NETp randomized controlled trial (evaluating the acceptability of Narrative Exposure Trauma therapy in first episode psychosis services), experiences of re-accessing secondary care following discharge from EIP services, and clinician’s perspectives on the overlap between OCD and psychosis.
Key publications
Dr Marco Vivolo
Dr Marco Vivolo is a Clinical Psychologist registered with The Health and Care Professions Council (HCPC). In addition to obtaining a BSc and a MSc, he trained in Low-Intensity Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT) and completed a Professional Doctorate in Clinical Psychology (ClinPsyD) at the University of East Anglia. More recently, he has undertaken further specialist postgraduate CBT training for psychosis and bipolar disorder at the University College London.
Marco has worked in the NHS for almost 10 years with a wide range of clinical presentations, including common mental health problems, severe and enduring mental health difficulties, learning disability, child and adolescent mental health and older adult services. Currently, he work with clients with chronic and complex mental health problems, such as longstanding depression, treatment-resistant psychosis, bipolar disorder, severe obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD), complex trauma and personality difficulties. Marco is particularly passionate about using group Compassion Focussed Therapy as a transdiagnostic approach for severe and enduring mental health challenges.
Alongside his clinical roles, Marco is also a Clinical Lecturer on the Doctorate in Clinical Psychology Programme (ClinPsyD) at the University of East Anglia. He has published research in the area of complex mental health problems, such psychosis and bipolar disorder. His research has also focused on evaluating the effectiveness of Compassion-Focussed Therapy, staff wellbeing, as well as burnout and resilience in psychological therapists.
Key publications
Psychological therapists’ experiences of burnout: A qualitative systematic review and meta-synthesis
Compassion-Focused Therapy Groups in Secondary Care Adult Mental Health Services