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  2. Dr Gina Di Malta

Dr Gina Di Malta

Profile summary

  • Central Academic Staff
  • Lecturer in Counselling and/or Psychotherapy
  • Faculty of Arts & Social Sciences
  • School of Psychology & Counselling
  • Psychology
  • gina.dimalta

Web links

Professional biography

I am a Chartered Counselling Psychologist accredited with the British Psychological Society, lecturer in psychotherapy and counselling, DD310 module chair, and Editor-in-Chief of Counselling Psychology Review. My research is aimed at the developments of psychotherapy and counselling.

Prior to joining the OU, I was a Postdoctoral Research Associate and Associate Lecturer at the University of Roehampton and the Existential Academy. I conducted psychotherapy research with the Centre for Research in Social and Psychological Transformation (CREST), and taught and supervised students on Counselling Psychology doctorate programmes. 

I have practiced as a Counselling Psychologist in a range of clinical settings including NHS Increasing Access for Psychological Therapies (IAPT), NHS primary and secondary care, University counselling services, and charity sectors.

Qualifications

2016. Doctor of Counselling Psychology (PsychD, awarded May 2017), Department of Psychology, University of Roehampton, UK

2013. MA in Clinical/Counselling Psychology (Valedictorian), Department of Psychology, La Salle University, USA

2010. MSc in Cognitive Neuroscience, Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience, University College London, UK

2009. BA in Psychology (Distinction), Department of Psychology, Empire State College, USA

Professional Memberships

Health Care Profession Council - HCPC registred (since July 2017, PYL34509)

British Psychological Society - Chartered Psychologist (248376)

Higher Education Academy - Associate Fellow (since Oct 2017, PR135330)

Pluralistic Research Steering Committee - Member (April 2019-present)

Research interests

My research interest sits in the study of psychotherapy processes and how these can be enhanced to facilitate impact on client outcomes. Research topics I work on include client agency, goal-oriented practices, client preferences for psychotherapy, shared-decision making, relational depth, connectedness and mutuality, and pluralism in research and practice. More recently, I have expanded my interest to explore the impact of connectedness on wellbeing in communities. 

Selected articles

Di Malta, G., Bond, Smith, K., J. Conroy, D., Moller, N. (2022). Distance education students’ mental health, connectedness and academic performance during COVID-19: A mixed-methods study. Distance Education. https://doi.org/10.1080/01587919.2022.202935 Impact Factor: 3.1

Di Malta, G., Evans, C., Cooper, M. (2019). Development and validation of the relational depth frequency scale. Psychotherapy Research.  https://doi.org/10.1080/10503307.2019.1585590 Impact Factor: 2.984

Di Malta, G., Oddli, H. W., Cooper, M. (2019). From intention to action: A mixed methods study of clients’ experiences of goal-oriented practices. Journal of Clinical Psychology. https://doi.org/10.1002/jclp.22821 Impact Factor: 2.138

Di Malta, G., Bond, J., Raymond-Barker, B., Moller, N., Cooper, M. (in press). The impact of relational depth, emotional intimacy, and relationship satisfaction on psychological wellbeing in close relationships in the community. Applied Psychology: Health and Well-Being. Impact Factor: 3.19 

Book chapters

Person-Centred Theory in Psychotherapy in Callahan, J. (in preparation). APA Handbook of Psychotherapy.

Humanistic approaches in Moller, N., Vossler, A., Jones, D. W., & Kaposi, D. (Eds.). (2020). Understanding Mental Health and Counselling. SAGE.

Worry and Sadness in Moller, N., Vossler, A., Jones, D. W., & Kaposi, D. (Eds.). (2020). Understanding Mental Health and Counselling. SAGE.

Books

The handbook of person-centred psychotherapy and counselling. 3rd edition, Macmillan International Higher Education.

Editor of Counselling Psychology Review

the BPS Division of Counselling Psychology peer-reviewed publication  

Teaching interests

  • Person-centred theory and practice
  • Pluralistic theory and practice
  • Quantitative and qualitative research methods
  • Psychological assessment and formulation
  • Cognitive-Behaviour Therapy and third wave approaches

Open University Teaching

2021/22. DD310 Module Chair; D241 team member

2020/21. DD310 Module Chair; D241 team member

2020/21. D241 Module team member

2019/20. D241 Module production

2019/20. DD310 Module team member

Invited Talks and Lectures

2022.    SPR series Workshop: Working with client preferences

2019.    Pluralistic therapy in context. DPsych, City University, UK.

2019.    Qualitative Research methods. Whole module (online), DPsych, New School of Psychotherapy and Counselling (NSPC), Middlesex University, UK

2019.    Clinical supervision. Whole module (online), DPsych, NSPC, UK

2019.    Focussing/ Emotion Focussed Therapy. PsychD, University of Roehampton, UK

2018/19. Person-centred skills practice. Whole module, PsychD, University of Roehampton, UK

2018/19. Professional Practice Group. Whole module, PsychD, University of Roehampton, UK

2018.    Quantitative research methods (online). Whole module, DPsych, NSPC, UK

2018.    Person-centred theory: The necessary and sufficient conditions. PsychD, University of Roehampton, UK

2018.    Psychological contact and relational depth. PsychD, University of Roehampton, UK

2018.    Person-centred theory: Active client-active therapist. PsychD, University of Roehampton, UK

2017/18. Collaborative Assessment. PsychD, University of Roehampton, UK

2017.    The Identity of a Counselling Psychologist. DPsych, NSPC, UK

2017.    Counselling in a Higher Education Setting. DPsych, NSPC, UK

Publications

Patient Perspectives on Working with Preferences in Psychotherapy: A Consensual Qualitative Research Study (2023-01-20)
Cooper, Mick; Di Malta, Gina; Knox, Sarah; Oddli, Hanne and Swift, Joshua
Psychotherapy Research, 2022 ((Early Access))

Distance education students’ mental health, connectedness and academic performance during COVID-19: A mixed-methods study (2022)
Di Malta, Gina; Bond, Julian; Conroy, Dominic; Smith, Katy and Moller, Naomi
Distance Education, 43(1) (pp. 97-118)

Relational depth from the perspective of the psychotherapy dyad: Psychometric properties of the Relational Depth Frequency Scale (2022)
Zarzycka, Beata; Jankowski, Tomasz; Szostek, Dorota; Di Malta, Gina and Cooper, Mick
Psychotherapy Research, 32(7) (pp. 910-921)

Is designing therapeutic? A case study exploring the experience of co-design and psychosis (2022)
Renedo Illarregi, Erika; Alexiou, Katerina; Di Malta, Gina and Zamenopoulos, Theodore
Psychosis ((Early Access))

Pilot Randomised controlled trial of counselling in a community mental health setting: Pitfalls and learnings (2020-03)
Farr, Joanna; Di Malta, Gina and Cooper, Mick
Counselling and Psychotherapy Research, 20(1) (pp. 3-8)

An Application of the Three-Step Test-Interview (TSTI) in the Validation of the Relational Depth Frequency Scale (2020)
Di Malta, Gina; Cooper, Mick; Vos, Joel and Van Der Veer, Kees
Journal of Humanistic Psychology ((Early Access))

From intention to action: A mixed methods study of clients' experiences of goal-oriented practices (2019-10)
Di Malta, Gina; Oddli, Hanne W. and Cooper, Mick
Journal of Clinical Psychology, 75(10) (pp. 1770-1789)

Development and validation of the relational depth frequency scale (2019)
Di Malta, Gina; Evans, Chris and Cooper, Mick
Psychotherapy Research, 30(2) (pp. 213-227)

Testosterone disrupts human collaboration by increasing egocentric choices (2012-06-30)
Wright, Nicholas D.; Bahrami, Bahador; Johnson, Emily; Di Malta, Gina; Rees, Geraint; Frith, Christopher D. and Dolan, Raymond J.
Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences, 279(1736) (pp. 2275-2280)