John Hadley (Director)

John Hadley is a Cognitive Behavioural Therapist who works extensively with challenging behaviour in both mental health and intellectual disability services. He has over 25 years experience of working in this area with both adults and children. For the majority of this time John was employed as part of a specialist team by Cardiff and Vale NHS Trust and Bro Morgannwg NHS Trust as a behavioural specialist. During this time he also spent three years working as a senior manager for Opportunity Housing Trust, a social care provider in South Wales.

He lectures at the University of Wales Newport in the School of Health and Social Science. He also provides therapeutic support for a Rape and Sexual Abuse Support Service.

John has dedicated a significant part of his professional career to working with individuals who display violence and aggression; undertaking responsibility for training staff in organisations dedicated to dealing with this type of behaviour. This has resulted in his amassing a vast amount of experience and expertise in dealing with challenging behaviour / violence and aggression evidenced by the following:-

John is co-author of ‘Preventing and Responding to Aggressive Behaviour’, a training package devised for Cardiff and the Vale NHS Trust in 1996, which won a National Training Award in 1997.

This led to him coordinating, implementing and monitoring the above training package throughout South Wales, whilst working for Cardiff and the Vale NHS Trust.

He was also responsible for coordinating physical intervention / violence and aggression training, whilst working as a senior manager for Opportunity Housing Trust.

John also consulted on the preparation and development of the first Code of Practice for the use of physical interventions (2001), with the British Institute of Learning Disabilities (BILD).

His work is referenced and acknowledged in several publications, these include:-

PHYSICAL INTERVENTIONS A Policy Framework: BILD publication 1997

Ethical Approaches to Physical Interventions: Responding to Challenging Behaviour in People with Intellectual Disabilities. BILD publication 2002

Physical interventions and the Law: BILD publication 2004.

John is also able to draw upon considerable knowledge and experience in a number of alternative forms of physical intervention for dealing with challenging behaviour / violence and aggression.