Jess McGiffen – Assistant Clinical Research Practitioner
Jess McGiffen is an Assistant Clinical Research Practitioner working within PRU part of Greater Manchester Mental Health NHS Foundation Trust. She supports the delivery of clinical mental health research across several research units, helping research teams identify, approach and recruit people who may be eligible to participate in clinical trials and other research studies.
As part of her role, Jess helps potential participants understand what taking part in research involves. Her work has included discussing research opportunities, supporting the informed-consent process and completing baseline assessments and questionnaires. Jess has also worked as a study facilitator, supporting the accurate recording of recruitment activity and liaising with research offices and principal investigators about study progress and amendments. Her position requires her to balance responsibilities across several studies and work closely with clinical teams, research assistants, investigators and research-support staff.
Jess completed bachelor’s and master’s degrees in forensic psychology. Before entering NHS clinical research, she gained experience in community, educational and forensic settings. While studying, she volunteered with Community Led Initiatives, supporting people with previous involvement in the criminal justice system as they reintegrated into their communities. She later worked as a teaching assistant in schools across Greater Manchester, including an alternative-provision setting supporting secondary-school pupils.
This varied professional background has given Jess experience of communicating with children and young people, prison populations, people using mental health services and individuals from a range of clinical and forensic backgrounds. She has contributed to several non-medication research studies examining psychological and therapeutic interventions. These have included PROSPECT, a study concerned with suicide prevention among men in prison; RELATE, which investigated cognitive analytic therapy for people experiencing self-harm; and the Behavioural Activation for Young People study, known as the BAY Trial.
The BAY Trial is a national study examining the clinical effectiveness, cost effectiveness and acceptability of behavioural activation for young people receiving support from Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services. Her contribution has also been formally acknowledged in the published BAY trial protocol.
Alongside her research work, Jess has spoken publicly about careers in NHS clinical research. In an episode of The Aspiring Psychologist Podcast, she discussed entering the profession, developing research experience, working across multiple studies and overcoming feelings of being underqualified. She encouraged people interested in psychology and mental health research to consider research-practitioner roles and emphasised the importance of transferable skills, adaptability, supervision and effective time management. Her combined experience in forensic psychology, education, community work and NHS research enables her to contribute to studies involving diverse populations and complex mental health needs.