Overview

Holly is a Lecturer (Education and Research) in the Academy of Nursing.  She specialises in mental health services research and, in particular, the development, evaluation and implementation of psychological therapies. Her research focuses on (1) using integrative mixed methods research to add value to clinical trials and potentially inform the personalisation of treatment; and (2) evaluating Morita Therapy, a Japanese psychological therapy, in the UK.

During the completion of her PGDip in Psychology and MSc in Psychological Research Methods, Holly co-ordinated the University of Exeter Mood Disorders Centre AccEPT Clinic, and contributed to a number of mental-health focused research projects in the department.  In 2017, Holly completed her PhD (entitled "Morita Therapy for Depression and Anxiety: Intervention Optimisation and Feasibility Study") in which she used a mixed methods approach to develop and test Morita Therapy for the first time in the UK, demonstrating its acceptability and potential utility for UK patients. Here she also demonstrated the potential for integrative mixed methods analysis to provide additional insights about the treatment in question, which may inform how to tailor and match treatments for individual patients.

Holly is a Fellow of the Higher Education Academy.  She co-leads the 'evidence for practice' pillar of the Academy of Nursing, and the MSci Nursing Stage 4 Internship module.  Holly has experience as a Personal Tutor and in supervising PhD, Masters and undergraduate students.

Qualifications

• Postgraduate Certificate in Academic Practice, Higher Education Academy
• PhD Medical Studies
• MSc Psychological Research Methods
• PGDip (Conversion for Postgraduates) Psychology
• LLB (Hons) Law

Research group links

• Institute of Health Research

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Research

Research interests

Holly's research broadly focuses on the development, evaluation and personalisation of complex interventions, especially psychological therapies for depression. Holly has skills in both quantitative and qualitative research, and in undertaking integrative mixed methods analysis, and experience in both optimising and piloting psychological therapies across cultures. Her specific interests are:

• Using integrative mixed methods research to add value to clinical trials by providing additional insights about the treatment in question;
• Precision medicine, particularly the personalisation of psychological therapies for depression, and the possible value of an integrative mixed methods approach in this field;
• Morita Therapy, a Japanese psychological therapy, as a potential treatment for common mental health difficulties in the UK;
• Cross-cultural perspectives on wellbeing, and the differential experience and treatment of mental health problems across cultures;

Research projects

• COVID-NURSE Trial, Co-Investigator (http://blogs.exeter.ac.uk/covid-nurse/)
• The Morita Trial, Chief Investigator
• Morita Therapy for Depression and Anxiety: Intervention Optimisation and Feasibility Study, PhD Candidate
• Icebreak (Services for Young People with Early Indicators of Personality Disorder), Research Assistant
• The nature and role of mindfulness practice following completion of a Mindfulness-based Cognitive Therapy Group: A mixed methods, longitudinal, exploratory study, MSc Student
• A Delphi study to define 'Treatment Resistant Depression': The Exeter Consensus Statement, Research Assistant
• PREVENT (Effectiveness and cost-effectiveness of mindfulness-based cognitive therapy compared with maintenance antidepressant treatment in the prevention of depressive relapse or recurrence), Research Assistant
• CoBalT (Cognitive Behavioural Therapy as an Adjunct to Pharmacotherapy for patients with treatment resistant depression), Research Administrator

Research grants

• 2020 MRC
  COVID-NURSE. The development, testing and evaluation of a COVID-19 fundamental nursing care protocol: a randomised controlled trial. Funded by the UKRI/NIHR; administered by the MRC.
• 2014 University of Exeter Medical School
  PhD Studentship

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Publications

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External Engagement and Impact

Awards

Early Career Researcher award: NIHR, Clinical Research Network, South West Peninsula, Research Awards 2020.

Above and Beyond award: University of Exeter, 2020.

Institute for Health Research presentations first prize: Annual Research Event, University of Exeter Medical School, 2015.

Committee/panel activities

Peer reviewer for Pilot and Feasibility Studies

Peer reviewer for Trials

Conferences and invited presentations

Sugg, HVR. 'Evidence-based Morita Therapy’ – why, what, and how?. Invited keynote oral presentation at the 11th International Congress of Morita Therapy, Simon Fraser University, Canada, Aug 2023; and the 40th Japanese Conference on Morita Therapy, Online, Dec 2023.

Sugg, HVR., Richards, DA. What are UK patients’ views of Morita Therapy for depression? Results of a qualitative interview study. Oral presentation at the 38th Japanese Conference on Morita Therapy, Online, Nov 2021.

Sugg, HVR., Richards, DA., Frost, J. Morita Therapy for Depression in a UK Population: Results of a Pilot Randomised Controlled Trial. Invited plenary oral presentation at the 10th International Congress of Morita Therapy, Wuhu No.2 People's Hospital, China, Aug 2019.

Sugg, HVR., Richards, DA., Frost, J. Morita Therapy for Depression and Anxiety: A Mixed Methods Feasibility Study. Poster presentation at the Postgraduate Research Showcase, University of Exeter, May 2017.

Sugg, HVR., Richards, DA., Frost, J. Investigating Morita Therapy for a UK Population: A Feasibility and Pilot Study. Oral presentation at the 9th International Congress of Morita Therapy, University of Exeter, Aug 2016.

Sugg, HVR., Richards, DA., Frost, J. Approaches to Outpatient Morita Therapy: Development of the UK Morita Therapy Outpatient Protocol for Depression and Anxiety. Invited plenary oral presentation at the 9th International Congress of Morita Therapy, University of Exeter, Jul 2016.

Sugg, HVR., Richards, DA., Frost, J. Morita Therapy for Depression and Anxiety: Developing the Therapy Protocol for A Feasibility and Pilot Study. Oral presentation at the Annual Research Event, University of Exeter Medical School, May 2016.

Sugg, HVR., Richards, DA., Frost, J. Morita Therapy for Depression and Anxiety: A Feasibility and Pilot Study. Poster presentation at the AccEPT Clinic Lived Experience Group public event, University of Exeter, Oct 2015; the Defeating Depression: What Hope? public event, University of Exeter, Jun 2015; and the Postgraduate Research Showcase, University of Exeter, Apr 2015.

Sugg, HVR., Richards, DA., Frost, J. Morita Therapy for Depression and Anxiety: A Feasibility and Pilot Study. Oral presentation at the Annual Research Event, University of Exeter Medical School, Mar 2015. Awarded first prize in the Institute of Health Research group.

International recognition, such as international research collaborations, visiting research posts in overseas institutions, involvement at senior levels in international research associations, acting as referee for national and international research councils.

PhD cited as exemplar of integrative mixed methods research in trials. Richards, DA., Bazeley, P., Borglin, G., et. al. 2019. Integrating Quantitative and Qualitative Data and Findings when undertaking Randomised Controlled Trials. BMJ Open, in press.

Invited lectures & workshops

Sugg, HVR. Morita Therapy for Depression and Anxiety: A Mixed Methods Feasibility Study. Invited lecture for the Msc in Applied Health Services Research: Qualitative Methods and Process Evaluations module, University of Exeter, Jan 2018.

Richards, DA., Sugg, HVR. Morita Therapy skills workshop. 9th International Congress of Morita Therapy, University of Exeter, Aug 2016.

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Teaching

Holly is joint Module Lead for the MSci Nursing Programme Stage 4 Clinical Academic Internship (NURM115) and Co-lead for the Academy's 'evidence for practice' pillar.  She previously acted as Joint Stage 1 (NUR1100) Co-ordinator for the programme.  Holly is a guest lecturer on the Qualitative Methods and Process Evaluations module of the MSc Health Research Methods.

Holly has experience as a Personal Tutor and in supervising PhD students, Masters students on the MSci Nursing and Masters in Clinical Education, and Professional Training Year undergraduate students.  She has previously delivered BMBS special study units (SSU1) and critical appraisal workshops, provided one-to-one undergraduate academic writing support, and contributed to undergraduate learning experiences such as Grand Challenges.

Modules

2023/24

• NUR3101 - Researching Health and Social Care
• NURM115 - Clinical Academic Internship

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