Nikki is a Senior Educator in the Counselling and Social Work programmes and the Professional Practice and Leadership postgraduate programme in the School of Social Practice.

Prior to moving to Aotearoa in 2019, Nikki worked in the UK as a Chartered Clinical Psychologist with clients with severe and enduring mental health difficulties and with those who have experienced complex trauma and PTSD. She was also the Programme Lead for a Master of Psychological Trauma, and a lecturer and thesis supervisor for the Professional Doctorate in Counselling and Psychological Trauma at the University of Chester.

Research Gate
https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Nikki_Kiyimba2/publications?sorting

Google Scholar https://scholar.google.co.nz/citations?hl=en&user=qtr2vpvnXZIC&view_op=list_works

Orcid iD
https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6506-8880

Nikki has worked clinically for many years with clients with trauma and has a particular interest in supporting and developing trauma-responsive organisations. She is involved in several current and ongoing writing projects related to psychological trauma, including her role as co-editor for the Trauma Section of the online Palgrave Encyclopedia of Critical Perspectives on Mental Health, and a co-authored book for Trauma-Responsive Organisations with the University of Chester Press.

Nikki also has an interest in the intersection of spirituality, quantum science and psychology. She is working with colleagues teaching and writing for health and social care workers about spiritual competence and conducting spiritual assessments with clients.

Current Research Projects

• A qualitative inquiry into staff experiences of changes in delivery of tertiary education during the Covid-19 crisis (in collaboration with colleagues at BTI and CET)
• A phenomenological inquiry into Christian tertiary education student experiences of ‘being family and whānau’ during the Covid-19 crisis (in collaboration with colleagues at BTI and CET)
• The Impact of Addictions on Family and Whānau (in collaboration with Bravehearts, Tauranga https://bravehearts.nz/)
• Working with families and whānau of people in addiction (in collaboration with Bravehearts and Te Tuinga Whānau https://www.ttw.org.nz/)
• Counselling support project (in collaboration with Te Wāhi Tῦmanako at Bethlehem Baptist Church https://bethlehem.org.nz/hope/)
• Child and Adolescent Mental Health Assessments (in collaboration with colleagues at the University of Leicester, UK and Indiana University, USA)
• Addressing inequalities at the intersection between law enforcement, mental health, and suicide prevention in pandemic and post-pandemic times (The LOSST LIFFE* collaboration with colleagues in UK and Guyana)
• Spirituality in Counselling and Social Work practice (in collaboration with students and colleagues at BTI and Ara University, Christchurch)

O’Reilly, M., Kiyimba, N., Lester, J.N., & Edwards, D. (2020). Establishing quality in discursive
psychology: Three domains to consider. Qualitative Research in Psychology.

O’Reilly, M., Kiyimba, N., Lester, J.N., & Muskett, T. (2020). Reflective Interventionist Conversation Analysis. Discourse & Communication, 14 (6). 619-634.

Kiyimba, N. (2020). Trauma-informed Mindfulness: A Practitioner’s Guide for One-to-One Work. Chester University Press.

Kiyimba, N. (2020). “I belong to the days of the dinosaurs”: Extreme case formulation in therapeutic
practice. Qualitative Psychology. Advance online publication.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/qup0000164

O’Reilly, M., Lester, J.N., Kiyimba, N. (2020). Autism in the Twentieth Century: An evolution of a controversial condition. In Healthy Minds in the Twentieth Century: In and Beyond the Asylum by Taylor, S.J., and Brumby, A. (Eds). Palgrave McMillan.

Kiyimba, N. O’Reilly, M & Lester, J. N. (2019). Using Naturally Occurring Data in Qualitative Health
Research. Springer.

O’Reilly, M., Kiyimba, N., & Hutchby, I. (2019). Testing Children’s Degrees and Domains of Social
Competence in Child Mental Health Assessments. In Children and Mental Health Talk (pp.
17-47). Palgrave Macmillan.

Kiyimba, N. (2019). Moving Forward: New frontiers in treatments for psychological trauma. Editorial.
Counselling and Psychotherapy Research, 19 (2). 102-104

O’Reilly, M., Kiyimba, N., & Nina Lester, J. (2019). Building a case for accessing service provision in
child and adolescent mental health assessments. Discourse Studies, 21(4), 421-437.

Kiyimba, N., & O’Reilly, M. (2018). Reflecting on what ‘you said’ as a way of reintroducing difficult
topics in child mental health assessments. Child and Adolescent Mental Health, 23(3), 148-
154.

Kiyimba, N., O’Reilly, M., & Lester, J. N. (2018). Agenda setting with children using the ‘three wishes’
technique. Journal of Child Health Care, 1367493518762487.

O’Reilly, M., Kiyimba, N., & Lester, J. N. (2018). Discursive psychology as a method of analysis for
the study of couple and family therapy. Journal of Marital and Family Therapy.

Lester, J. N., Wong, Y. J., O’Reilly, M., & Kiyimba, N. (2018). Discursive psychology: Implications for
counseling psychology. The Counseling Psychologist,

Kiyimba, N. (2017). Trauma and Spiritual Growth, in Gubi, P. M. (Ed) Journeying Further with Psyche
and Soul: Counselling and Spiritual Accompaniment in Dialogue. London: Jessica Kingsley.

Kiyimba, N., Karim, K., & O’Reilly, M. (2017). The use of why questions in child mental health
assessments. Research on Children and Social Interaction.

Kiyimba, N. & O’Reilly, M. (2019). Practitioners’ orientations to children’s social competence:
Discussing sensitive topics in child mental health assessments. IIEMCA conference,
Mannheim, Germany.

O’Reilly, M. & Kiyimba, N. (2019). “They nearly got me battered”: Self-defence accounts for
children’s violence in UK Child & Adolescent Mental Health Services. 7th International
Meeting on Conversation Analysis and Clinical Encounters, Bristol, UK.

Kiyimba, N., Higgins, F. & Taunbaum, H. (2018) A Trauma-Informed Approach to Organisational
Development. International Developmental Trauma Conference. Chester, UK.

Kiyimba, N., O’Reilly, M. & Lester, J. (2017). Using the ‘Three Wishes’ Technique for Agenda Setting in
Mental Health assessments with children and Adolescents. CACE Conversation Analysis in
Clinical Encounters International Conference, Bristol, UK.

Kiyimba, N. (2016). Developmental Trauma and Epigenetics. BACP Annual Practitioner Conference.
London, UK.

Kiyimba, N. (2016). Working with Psychological Trauma. SARC (Sexual Assault and Rape Crisis)
Annual Conference. Bristol, UK.

Kiyimba, N. (2016). Mindful and Compassion-based approaches to working with psychological
trauma. Presentation to TAG Counselling Society practitioner CPD event. Wirral, UK.

Kiyimba, N. & Buxton, C. (2016) Moving through, moving on: Psychological Trauma and Meningitis
Presented at ‘Rebuilding Futures’, Meningitis Now Annual Conference. Blackpool, UK.