Jimmy is a PhD student in the School of Allied Health and Community at the University of Worcester. His PhD research concerns the psychological experiences of Voodoo and Obeah as used for changing sexual orientation in St. Lucia, West Indies.
Aside from his research and teaching at the University, he also works in Mental Health Management at a Priory Group Hospital and as a Research Associate at a University Hospital. Prior to this, he was a Research Assistant at PACE Health and Brunel University. Between November 2014 and August 2016, he was the PsyPAG representative for the Psychology of Sexualities Section, and he is now serving as the Section’s Honorary Treasurer and the Section’s representative on the Professional Practice Working Group. Jimmy is also the on Editorial Board of the PsyPAG Quarterly; a peer-reviewed Journal published under the auspices of the British Psychological Society (BPS).
He has a broad range of research interests, cutting across health and cross-cultural psychology. His research is largely concerned with the social construction of scientific facts, and as part of this, his research explores and challenges normative assumptions and the overwhelming dominance of west-centric space of perception and argumentation in psychology. Most of his current research interests involve gender, sex, and sexualities in Latin America and the Caribbean (and diaspora communities); culture, ethnicity, and mental illness; and Black intersectional identifications (including the intersection of racial and sexual identities). At present, this includes research on the racialisation and colouration of sexualities and homophobia in the Caribbean, racism in the LGB community in England, and the mental health issues and needs of Black and Minority Ethnic LGB people in the United Kingdom. He therefore develops novel methodologies which challenge western-centric perceptions and assumptions about human sexuality; these assumptions are often antagonistic to the life experiences and ethno-psychological and ethno-medical belief systems about sexuality and mental health in non-western societies.
If you are also interested in research outside of WEIRD (Western, Educated, Industrialized, Rich, and Democratic) cultural contexts, please feel free to drop Jimmy an email; he is keen to work on research with others who have similar interests.
PhD Supervisors
His supervisors are Dr Bere Mahoney and Professor Eleanor Bradley.