William Davies (born 27 December 1950) is a Consultant Psychologist and author who, through his role in the

Association for Psychological Therapies The Association for Psychological Therapies (APT) is a body providing recognition of excellence, training, resources, and accreditation to professionals working in Mental Health and related areas, mainly in the UK's National Health Service and Inde ...

(APT) has directly influenced well over 125,000 mental health professionals, mainly in the UK. He has designed a number of noted approaches to working in clinical settings, including The DICES Risk Assessment and Management System and The RAID Course for Working with Challenging Behaviour. These approaches have been incorporated by many healthcare providers, including Partnerships in Care,

St Andrew's Healthcare St Andrew's Healthcare is a large independent charity based at St Andrew's Hospital in Northampton, which provides psychiatric services. It also has sites in Essex, Birmingham and Nottinghamshire. It runs specialist services for adolescents, men, ...

and the UK

National Health Service The National Health Service (NHS) is the umbrella term for the publicly funded healthcare systems of the United Kingdom (UK). Since 1948, they have been funded out of general taxation. There are three systems which are referred to using the " ...

(NHS). In his early career he was known for being the first psychologist professionally employed in top flight English football, and one of a handful of psychologists involved in the aftermath of the Piper Alpha disaster. William Davies, along with John Gardner, also became the first professional psychologists in English top flight football when

Sir Bobby Robson Sir Robert William Robson (18 February 1933 – 31 July 2009) was an English footballer and football manager. His career included periods playing for and later managing the England national team and being a UEFA Cup-winning manager at Ipswich ...

employed them as consultants in 1981 at Ipswich Town F.C. They then went on to work with

Graham Taylor Graham Taylor (15 September 1944 – 12 January 2017) was an English football player, manager, pundit and chairman of Watford Football Club. He was the manager of the England national football team from 1990 to 1993, and also managed Lincoln C ...

during his successful spell at

Watford F.C. Watford Football Club is an English professional football club based in Watford, Hertfordshire. They play in the EFL Championship, the second tier of English football. The club’s original foundation is 1881, aligned with that of its antecede ...

(At the time both teams included England internationals in

Mick Mills Michael Dennis Mills MBE (born 4 January 1949) is an English former footballer who played for Ipswich Town, Southampton and Stoke City. He managed Stoke City, Colchester United and Birmingham City. During his career he achieved Ipswich To ...

Terry Butcher Terry Ian Butcher (born 28 December 1958) is an English football manager and former player. He works as an academy coach for Ipswich Town. During his playing career as a defender, Butcher captained the England national team, winning 77 caps ...

and

Paul Mariner Paul Mariner (22 May 1953 – 9 July 2021) was an English football player and coach. A centre forward during his playing days, Mariner began his career with Chorley. He became a professional player in 1973 with Plymouth Argyle, where he scored ...

for Ipswich, and

John Barnes John Charles Bryan Barnes MBE (born 7 November 1963) is a former professional football player and manager. He currently works as an author, commentator and pundit for ESPN and SuperSport. Initially a quick, skilful left winger, he moved to cent ...

and

Luther Blissett Luther Loide Blissett (born 1 February 1958) is a former professional footballer and manager who played for the England national team during the 1980s. Born in Jamaica, Blissett played as a striker, and is best known for his time at Watford, ...

for Watford.) In the late 1980s Davies was one of a handful of psychologists and psychiatrists heavily involved over a two-year period in seeing many of the survivors of the

Piper Alpha Piper Alpha was an oil platform located in the North Sea approximately north-east of Aberdeen, Scotland. It was operated by Occidental Petroleum (Caledonia) Limited (OPCAL) and began production in 1976, initially as an oil-only platform but la ...

oil rig disaster, mainly for assessing and quantifying any

posttraumatic stress disorder Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is a mental and behavioral disorder that can develop because of exposure to a traumatic event, such as sexual assault, warfare, traffic collisions, child abuse, domestic violence, or other threats on ...

. Davies has written various books, articles and textbook chapters. One of his books is ''Overcoming Anger and Irritability'' which has been selected to be included in

Reading Well Books on Prescription Reading Well Books on Prescription is a scheme in England to encourage people to manage their health and well-being by reading self-help books. The scheme was launched in 2013 by the charity The Reading Agency and the Society of Chief Librarians ...

, a series of books managing a variety of mental health conditions which are endorsed by health professionals and supported by public libraries throughout the UK. Davies studied

Psychology Psychology is the scientific study of mind and behavior. Psychology includes the study of conscious and unconscious phenomena, including feelings and thoughts. It is an academic discipline of immense scope, crossing the boundaries betwe ...

University College London , mottoeng = Let all come who by merit deserve the most reward , established = , type = Public research university , endowment = £143 million (2020) , budget = ...

(graduating in 1972) and obtained his Doctorate in

Clinical Psychology Clinical psychology is an integration of social science, theory, and clinical knowledge for the purpose of understanding, preventing, and relieving psychologically based distress or dysfunction and to promote subjective well-being and persona ...

from the

University of Birmingham , mottoeng = Through efforts to heights , established = 1825 – Birmingham School of Medicine and Surgery1836 – Birmingham Royal School of Medicine and Surgery1843 – Queen's College1875 – Mason Science College1898 – Mason Univers ...

in 1982. He started his career as a Psychologist at

HM Prison Bristol HMP Bristol (previously known as Horfield Prison) is a Category B men's prison, located in the Horfield area of Bristol. The prison is operated by His Majesty's Prison Service. History The prison was built in 1883. The B and C wings were adde ...

, moving after eleven years to become Head of Forensic Psychology at

Arnold Lodge Arnold Lodge is a medium secure psychiatric hospital situated in Leicester, England, run by Nottinghamshire Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust. History The hospital was opened in July 1983 and an extension with 30 extra beds was opened in 2007. ...

Secure Unit in Leicester (1983). He then became the Head of Psychology at

Northampton in 1985, a national resource for patients requiring specialist input.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Davies, William 1950 births Living people British psychologists Clinical psychologists Alumni of the University of Birmingham Alumni of University College London