Dr Laura Viliardos

Post Nominals	PhD
Biography	Laura joined the University of Salford as a Lecturer in Counselling and Psychotherapy in March 2021. Since 2014, Laura has supported adults and children affected by domestic abuse and sexual abuse in a range of statutory and voluntary sector services such as Rape Crisis centres, adult and paediatric Sexual Assault Referral Centres and the Criminal Justice System. Between 2017-2021, Laura worked for the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse supporting individuals sharing their experience of child sexual abuse, that occurred within institutions, with the Truth Project and the Inquiry’s public hearings. Between 2015-2021 Laura completed a part time PhD at the University of Salford with a thesis titled: An exploration of counselling and support services as experienced by adult male survivors of child sexual abuse. Laura continues to research and publish in the area of gender based violence and is currently working on the evaluation of a domestic abuse intervention. Laura is also currently collaborating on a national study on the client's experience of video mediated counselling, in collaboration with the Open University (lead) and a number of other universities with counselling and research clinics. Alongside teaching on a range of modules on the undergraduate and postgraduate counselling programmes, Laura has been clinical lead of the University of Salford Counselling Centre and the University of Salford Domestic Abuse Counselling Centre since 2022. As well as offering clinical supervision to students on placement, Laura currently supervises five PhD candidates.
Research Interests	Child sexual abuse Domestic abuse Sexual abuse/violence
Teaching and Learning	Introduction to Person Centred Theory and Practice (Module Lead) Cognitive Behavioural Therapy Skills Counselling Children and Young People Professional Practice Contemporary Perspectives in Counselling and Psychotherapy Research Mental Health for Counsellors
PhD Supervision Availability	Yes