Qualifications

PhD, CPsychol, MA, BSc, BA

Role

I am Professor of Psycology and Psychotherapy in the School of Psychology and Counselling at the Open University. I started at The Open University in July 2014 as a Lecturer in the Department of Psychology, becoming a Senior Lecturer in 2016 and Professor in 2021. My previous academic job was at the University of the West of England (UWE) where I was Associate Head of the Department of Psychology and latterly Associate Head of the Department of Health and Social Sciences. I have also previously worked (part-time) as Joint Head of Research (2016-2018) and a Research Consultant (2018-2020) for the British Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy, a professional body for UK counsellors and psychotherapists. I completed my PhD in Counselling Psychology at the University of Texas at Austin in 2006.

Professional affiliations

Society for Psychotherapy Research: Currently SPR UK Chapter Past President (until summer 2027); elected UK Chapter President (2020-2023).

British Psychological Society - Chartered Psychologist and Member of Division of Counselling Psychology

British Association for Counselling and Psychotherpy - Registered Member

American Psychological Association - International member

Upcoming Publications 

A selection of my research publications can be viewed below, at The Open University's Open Research Online and through my ORCID profile.

Upcoming OU textbook, co-published with Sage:

Rost, F., Moller, N., Frances, T., McFaul, C., DiMalta, G., Ness, H. (forthcoming). Counselling Knowledge and Skills for SCoPEd B: Diversity, Self-awareness, Assessment and Research. Sage. Publication date autumn 2025.

Research funding (since 2018)

2021  Project Title: Postive Digital Practices: a holistic approach to wellbeing for part-time, commuter and distance learning students. Funder: Office of Students. Principle Investigator: Kate Lister (Open University). Grant: £185,734; granted July 2021; two year grant.

2018   Project Title: ‘Before, During and After Adult Gender Identity Specialist Services: Improving the integration of care’ Funder: NIHR. Co-Investigators: Richard Holti (PI); Peter Keogh; Paul Walley. Grant: £711,854.80; granted August 2018; grant runs from March 2019. https://business-school.open.ac.uk/research/projects/icta 

Teaching interests

I have a long history of doctoral supervision and am currently supervising two students.

• Michelle Oldale, Co-supervisors Dr. Helen Bowes-Catton and Dr. Rose Capdevila, Thesis Title: Between Shame and Pride – the nature and experience of the double shame bind in Fat Activist communities.
• Mychelle Pride, Co-Supervisors Dr Tim Coughlan and Dr Gini Harrison, Thesis title: Towards Modelling the Likelihood of Academic Success of Higher Education Students with Mental Ill Health: Understanding the retention and awarding gaps 

I have also been an External Examiner for both Counselling Psychology Professional Doctorates and PhDs. If you are interested in doing a PhD with me, please do email me.

I have a history of programme and module leadership both at the OU and in my prior institution, predominantly in the area of counselling/counselling psychology.

Impact and engagement [since 2020]

I am committed to ensuring that the research that I engage in is communicated to broader audiences and have a history of organizing research seminars and practitioner trainings as well as giving talks to mixed or non-academic audiences.

Short courses and training materials for mental health professionals 

Moller, N. P. & Vossler, A. Working with Infidelity, 2020. This 12-hour online CPD course for practitioners was developed with Relate, the national relationship counselling charity. Course link: https://www.open.edu/openlearncreate/course/view.php?id=4496

Moller, N. P. & Vossler, A. How to do counselling online: A coronavirus primer, 2020. This 8-hour online CPD was produced with the British Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy and in record time as a response to the COVID-19 pandemic. This course was closed in 2023, having had almost 30,000 users.

Short courses, websites and animations for the public

Directors: Haider Zafar; Sas Amoah, with OU academics Dr Phillipa Waterhouse and Professor Naomi Moller and OU students Christine Lyle and Kyle Andrews. At a crossroads: navigating work and/or family alongside study. OpenLearn, The Open University.  

An interactive designed to support student wellbeing; output from Office of Students funded project. This output was nominated for a Learning on Screen Award 2023 in the Online Educational Resource section.

https://www.open.edu/openlearn/crossroads:

Invited talks, keynotes, panels and workshops:

Reeves, A., Barkham, M., Charura, D., Gabriel, Lynne, McLeod, J., Moller, N., Smith, K. (2024). Invited panellist: The role of BACP in maximising the potential of counselling and psychotherapy research in the UK. Panel at British Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy Research conference in Birmingham, May 17-18 2024.

Wheeler, M., van Rijn, B., Moller, N., Pearce, P., Sherbersky, H. (2024). Invited panellist: Metanoia 40^th anniversary Lecture Series: Meaningful Conversations: EDI challenges faced by the Profession. London, May 4^th.

April 24-26  2024  Moller, N. Invited workshop on Thematic Analysis at EU/UK Chapters of the Society for Psychotherapy Research psychotherapy research training workshop series in Valencia, Spain. Also involved as co-organiser.

March 8 2024    Moller, N. How to do research that makes a difference. Keynote at Metanoia Institute Research Conference, online.

June 17-17 2023   Moller, N. ‘Methodology, technology and psychology: Looking to the future with hope and critique.‘ Keynote at Division of Counselling Psychology annual conference, at York St John University in York.

June 2-3 2023  Moller, N and Smith, K. ‘Online Therapy – What we need to know.’ Keynote at 6^th Annual International Conference on Pluralistic Counselling and Psychotherapy online conference.

May 17-19 2023, Co-organised a 3-day psychotherapy research methodology workshop for the UK/EU Chapters of the Society for Psychotherapy Research at Metanoia Institute in London plus delivered training sessions.

March 23-25  2022  Moller, N. Invited workshop on Qualitative Story Completion at EU/UK Chapters of the Society for Psychotherapy Research psychotherapy research training workshop series in Geissen, Germany. Also involved as co-organiser.

March 7, 2021 Moller, N. Invited talk on Qualtitative Story Completion for Gothenberg Seminar series, jointly organized by Gothenberg University and the Open University by Praxis, Centre for Scholarship and Innovation, online.

May 16 2020    Moller, N. And Vossler, A. ‘What do we know about online therapy?’ Keynote at British Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy one-day online research conference: Research online – Keeping Clients at the Centre.

Feb 1 2020   Moller, N. And Vossler, A. ‘Working with Infidelity and Sex in a digital age’. One day practitioner workshop. Part of series of training workshops offered by Psychotherapy UK.

Professional magazine articles

Roddy, J., Moller, N., Full, W. & Vossler, A. (April 2024). Video counselling: What we know now. Therapy Today (magazine of the British Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy). https://www.bacp.co.uk/bacp-journals/therapy-today/2024/may-2024/articles/best-practice/