Research Fellow

Theme 2 - Resilience

King's College London

Dr Brooks is a research psychologist with interests in trauma, the impact of disasters and emergencies on mental health, and mental health in the workplace.

Since joining KCL in 2009 she has worked on a multitude of projects, including research on interventions for doctors with mental health problems; obstacles preventing return-to-work after sickness absence; factors affecting stress in non-deployed military populations and comparable hazardous occupations in the civilian sector; mental health stigma in the workplace; psychological risk and resilience in trauma-exposed employees; and most recently the psychological impact of COVID-19.

Dr Brooks currently works on the Group Responses After Disasters and Emergencies (GRADE) project. This project explores the effects of disasters on the psychological wellbeing of individuals in specific occupational groups (trauma-affected public sector organisations, primary care practitioners and emergency responders) and how to protect psychological wellbeing during and after major incidents. Most recently Dr Brooks has developed a workplace psychosocial intervention aimed at training managers in recognising symptoms of distress in staff, communicating effectively with distressed staff and reducing mental health stigma in the workplace.