Rachel Worthington

Dr Rachel Worthington (PhD) is a HCPC Registered Forensic Psychologist, Chartered Scientist and European Psychologist with over 25 years of clinical experience working directly with clients who have been victims or perpetrators of offending both in person and the online space. She has clinical expertise in the risk assessment and treatment of both adults and young people who have engaged in the perpetration of a range of offending including: harmful sexual behaviour; aggression/violence; stalking; and online harm. In addition, she has also specialised in working with varied populations including autistic individuals and people with: ADHD; personality disorder (including psychopathy); mental health problems; as well as individuals with a risk of suicide/self-harm. As a Senior Lecturer, she has also been commissioned to undertake specific research projects on vulnerability to violent extremism to inform clinical practice in the field. Her work has also informed two UK Government sentencing and policy reviews.

Dr Worthington was also successfully awarded research funding from the Department of Home Affairs (Australia) AVERT Research network conducting a Rapid Evidence Assessment into neurodiversity. She was also appointed as the Principal Investigator by the UK Counter Terrorism Police completing a mixed methods analysis of 3 studies into risk and vulnerability factors for radicalisation for autistic individuals referred to Prevent and presented the findings at the 2024 AVERT International Research Symposium. Her work on ADHD and online terrorism was also presented at the Terrorism and Social Media (TASM) conference in 2024. Dr Worthington is currently a co-researcher on two Delphi Studies: one on neurodiversity and extremism; and a second with a global leader in risk intelligence specialising in the identification and mitigation of online threats, including the psychological mechanisms driving the production and consumption of information manipulation threats.  As a supervisor of Trainee Forensic Psychologists (and Reader in Forensic Psychology at Cardiff Metropolitan University) Dr Worthington has also supervised doctoral level students conducting Rapid Evidence Assessments (REA’s) and Systematic Reviews. She has multiple peer reviewed publications adopting these methodologies including technology facilitated abuse and the psychological mechanisms that underpin offending. Her strength lies in being able to blend her practitioner experience of the psychological mechanisms that drive perpetrator behaviour with academic research to provide applied insight to industry partners on the practical ways in which protective measures could be taken to reduce harm.