Sandy's main area of research interest is in motivations for becoming a counsellor or psychologist, and optimal professional development. She is also interested in counselling skills and alternative interventions (including music, and physical activity) to support mental health and wellbeing. Current projects include a large scale survey to examine relationships between reasons for becoming a psychologist and key variables such as attachment style, and in-depth interviews with postgraduate psychology students about their experience of training. 

Research methods: Qualitative interviews, thematic analysis, interpretative phenomenological analysis (IPA), systematic review

Research design: Cohort design, randomised control trial, pre- to post-intervention comparison, survey design.