Imogen Nevard

Imogen began her career in the non-profit sector after completing an undergraduate degree in Philosophy, Politics and Economics at the University of Manchester. She worked in various roles with carers in Trafford, Greater Manchester including as a project manager overseeing a commercial initiative to fund local services. This early work gave an insight into community level need. Imogen continued working with carers after her career change to provide both direct and group therapy to carers in the Trafford area.

Imogen studied for a master’s degree in counselling at the University of Manchester, learning integrative therapeutic methods, graduating in 2017. Her research focus in this postgraduate degree was how to provide culturally sensitive talking therapies to those with non-normative sexualities. She went on to study the CICS Diploma in Clinical Sexology and Relationship Therapy at CICS, from which she graduated in 2022.

Since 2014, she has been a member of the British Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy (BACP), achieving accreditation in 2020. She has also been a Registered member of the College of Sexual and Relationship Therapists (COSRT) since 2020. Imogen has worked as a counsellor in a range of non-profit, workplace and NHS environments, including IAPT services in Manchester, and at Salford Royal Foundation Trust.

Currently, Imogen is completing a PhD at the University of Manchester, where her research focuses on families affected by parental mental health issues. Her work applies social network methodologies to explore the role of social connections and relationships and how these impact children. A particular focus is how socially oriented approaches can be used in intervention and service delivery to improve wellbeing and health related quality of life outcomes for children affected by parental mental health issues. In 2024, she published a summary of this 6 year project in the BACP Journal of Children, Young People and Families.

Imogen has also published peer-reviewed research on topics related to familial mental health, social methodologies, and working with non-mainstream sexualities, including kink, details of which can be found here.

She is currently exploring how theoretical approaches can be applied to clinical practice, with a focus on queer theory and semiological approaches.

Imogen founded her private practice in Manchester in 2017; she provides both individual and partnered counselling. Her practice has since relocated to Oxford, where she continues to offer therapeutic services, with a specialist focus on psychosexual presentations, to a wide range of clients.

Alongside counselling work, Imogen works delivering teaching and training at a postgraduate level. She joined CICS as Lead Tutor delivering the Diploma in Clinical Sexology and Relationship therapy in March 2024, and also works as a Graduate Teaching Assistant, teaching on mental health topics to undergraduate students. Her focus remains the commitment to providing culturally sensitive therapeutic support to marginalised groups.