Dr Nicola Barden is a Professional Fellow at the University of Winchester, where from 2013-18 she was the Director of Student Services. Prior to this she led counselling and mental health teams at the Universities of Portsmouth and Aston. She has over thirty years’ experience as a counsellor and psychotherapist, spending some time in the voluntary sector working with young people and those with alcohol problems. She has chaired the Heads of University Counselling Services group, and contributed significantly to the work of the British Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy (BACP) as Chair of their Accreditation and then Professional Standards Committee before becoming Chair of the Association from 2005-08. She remains a Fellow of the Association, and was also registered with the United Kingdom Council for Psychotherapy. She has edited the BACP Journal Therapy Today, been a lecturer and external examiner on several counselling programmes, and has published in the field of gender, sexuality and therapy. From 2012 to 2018 she was the Secretary of the Mental Wellbeing in Higher Education Working Group, and from 2016-18 was on the Executive Committee of AMOSSHE, the Student services organisation.