Rate My Professor Michaela Swales

Professor Michaela Swales is Professor in Clinical Psychology in the School of Psychology and Sport Science at Bangor University, where she serves as Director of the North Wales Clinical Psychology Programme, providing doctoral-level training to more than 40 trainees annually, and Director of the Post-Graduate Diploma in Dialectical Behaviour Therapy. She has been a Consultant Clinical Psychologist at Betsi Cadwaladr University Health Board since October 1992. Her academic qualifications include a PhD from Bangor University in 1997 on predictors of outcome in adolescents in a residential setting, an MPhil in Psychopathology from the University of Cambridge (1989-1990), an MPhil in History and Philosophy of Science from the University of Cambridge (1986-1987), and a BA in Natural Sciences from the University of Cambridge (1983-1986).

Professor Swales' research focuses on Dialectical Behaviour Therapy (DBT), with particular emphasis on its implementation and effectiveness in routine healthcare settings. She leads a nationally and internationally recognized team of DBT trainers that has delivered training to over 1,000 practitioners across the UK and Ireland, as well as in Finland, Latvia, Lithuania, Hong Kong, Poland, and the United States. Notable publications include her editorship of the Oxford Handbook of Dialectical Behaviour Therapy (2019), co-authorship with Heidi Heard of Changing Behavior in DBT: Problem-Solving in Action (2015) and Dialectical Behaviour Therapy: Distinctive Features (2008), and numerous peer-reviewed articles such as "Benchmarks for dialectical behavioural therapy intervention in adults and adolescents with borderline personality symptoms" (2024) and "Evaluating the national multisite implementation of dialectical behaviour therapy in a community setting" (2020). She has received the award for outstanding contributions to research on DBT from the International Society for the Improvement and Teaching of DBT (2021) and the Cindy Sanderson Outstanding Educator Award from the same society (2009). Additionally, she is President Elect of the European Society for the Study of Personality Disorders (since 2022) and President of the Society for DBT in the UK and Ireland (since 2012). Professor Swales contributed to NICE guideline development groups for borderline personality disorder (2009) and self-harm management (2011), and to the WHO working group on personality disorder classification for ICD-11.