Tara Doran – Research Assistant
Tara Doran is an undergraduate psychology student at the University of Manchester and is currently completing a placement year with the Psychosis Research Unit as an Honorary Research Assistant. During her placement, Tara will primarily contribute to the Let’s Talk 2 trial, while also supporting work connected with the RAPID and Talking With Voices II studies. This will include helping to produce a content analysis of SAFETEL safety plans developed as part of the RAPID trial.
Tara is looking forward to learning from the wide range of people involved in the work of the Psychosis Research Unit. She is particularly interested in meeting researchers, clinicians, peer researchers and service users with different areas of expertise and lived experience. She hopes these opportunities will deepen her understanding of mental health research and help her develop the practical, interpersonal and analytical skills needed to contribute meaningfully to future psychological research.
During the second year of her undergraduate degree, Tara worked as a Support Worker for Time Specialist Support, an organisation that provides bespoke support to autistic children and young people and their families across Greater Manchester. In this role, she provided a befriending service through community-based activities, adapting each session to the individual interests, preferences and communication styles of the young person she was supporting.
This experience reinforced Tara’s understanding of the importance of creating environments in which people feel safe, respected and able to participate in ways that are comfortable for them. It also helped her develop skills in building positive relationships, listening carefully and adapting her approach to meet individual needs. Tara found it particularly rewarding to support young people in accessing enjoyable and fulfilling experiences within their communities.
Throughout her psychology degree, Tara has enjoyed studying Social Psychology, Sensation and Perception, Interventions for Mental Health and Distress, and Cognitive Neuroscience. Her favourite area so far has been Developmental Psychology. Having previously completed work experience in a nursery, she has enjoyed applying academic theories about human development to real-life experiences and considering how psychological knowledge can inform practical support.
Through her placement at the Psychosis Research Unit, Tara hopes to gain a deeper understanding of how research studies are designed, delivered and shaped by the experiences of the people who take part. She is especially interested in research that improves mental health support and ensures that service-user perspectives remain central. Outside her studies and placement work, Tara plays intramural netball as part of the University of Manchester Psychology Netball team.