Photo-Therapy Day 2019: Neil Gibson

Neil Gibson

Senior Lecturer/Course Leader BA Social Work at School of Applied Social Studies, 

Robert Gordon University – Aberdeen

Dr Neil Gibson is a senior lecturer and the course leader for the BA (Hons) Social Work course at the Robert Gordon University in Aberdeen, Scotland.

Neil has had a varied career path which includes working in banks, driving backpacker tours around Scotland, and working as a TV presenter. Neil then studied social work in 2003 and qualified with an MSc. During his studies he worked in Belgium with asylum seekers and engaged groups with photography based tasks to explore their experiences.

Upon qualifying, Neil worked with a hospital based social work team, conducted programmatic work with people who had substance use issues within the criminal justice system, and then was the senior social worker for the adult support and protection team. Neil then joined the lecturing team at Robert Gordon University in 2011.

Neil researched the use of therapeutic photography with groups as part of his PhD and obtained his qualification in 2018. He has written a book on the subject and runs an online course to teach the techniques and underpinning theories to people who would like to use this approach within their own practice.

About the lecture:

Dr Neil Gibson will be exploring the use of therapeutic photography with groups and will focus on the outcomes of self-esteem, self-efficacy, and empowerment. He will be illustrating his lecture with examples from the groups he has been involved with which range from mental health support groups, through to criminal justice women’s groups. Included in the lecture will be a consideration of how this approach can benefit participants and facilitators, and how he plans to develop the approach to inform future research.