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Dr Paul Flaxman

Senior Lecturer in Org Psychology

School of Arts and Social Sciences Department of Psychology

Contact details

Address

Dr Paul Flaxman D430, Rhind Building
City, University of London
Northampton Square
London EC1V 0HB
United Kingdom

About

Overview

Paul has been a lecturer and researcher in City’s psychology department since 2006. He is a chartered occupational psychologist with the British Psychological Society (BPS) and a registered practitioner psychologist with the UK’s Health and Care Professions Council (HCPC).

Over the past 15 years, Paul has taken a prominent role in adapting acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT) to help improve employees' psychological health. His latest ACT-based training program has been utilised by 25 NHS trusts, and is also used by the UK’s prison service, local councils, Mind, the police, and in various schools.

Paul's other main area of research focuses on examining predictors of employees' ability to recover from work demands during non-work time.

Paul teaches on City’s award-winning MSc in organisational psychology, focusing on various topics around employees’ mental health and well-being.

Research

Dr Flaxman recently directed an ESRC-funded research programme that examined the effects of respite and recovery experiences on employees' well-being. His research has been supported by Dr Julie Menard from the University of Montreal, and Mia Soderberg from the Department for Occupational and Environmental Medicine in Sweden.

Dr Flaxman and his team have attracted research funding from the University's staff development unit (2007-2008), Institut de Recherche Robert-Sauvé en Santé et Sécurité au Travail (IRSST, Canada) (2008), the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) (2008-2009), and Guy's and St. Thomas' Charitable Trust (2011-2012). In 2008, Dr Flaxman was awarded a City University London staff prize for research, and was the recipient of the 2009 'Student Voice' teaching award for the School of Social Sciences.

Publications

Publications by category

Books (2)

  1. Bond, F.W., Flaxman, P.E. and Livheim, F. (2013). The Mindful and Effective Employee An Acceptance and Commitment Therapy Training Manual for Improving Well-Being and Performance. New Harbinger Publications. ISBN 978-1-60882-632-2.
  2. Flaxman, P.E., Blackledge, J.T. and Bond, F.W. (2010). Acceptance and Commitment Therapy Distinctive Features. Routledge. ISBN 978-1-136-85119-3.

Chapters (7)

  1. Bond, F.W., Flaxman, P.E. and Lloyd, J. (2016). Mindfulness and meditation in the workplace: An acceptance and commitment therapy approach. In West, M.A. (Ed.), The Psychology of Meditation Research and Practice Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-100278-6.
  2. Bond, F.W., Lloyd, J., Flaxman, P.E. and Archer, R. (2015). Psychological Flexibility and ACT at Work. The Wiley Handbook of Contextual Behavioral Science (pp. 459–482). ISBN 978-1-118-48956-7.
  3. Bond, F.W. and Flaxman, P.E. (2013). The ability of psychological flexibility and job control to predict learning, job performance, and mental health. Acceptance and Mindfulness at Work: Applying Acceptance and Commitment Therapy and Relational Frame Theory to Organizational Behavior Management (pp. 113–130). ISBN 978-0-7890-3478-6.
  4. Flaxman, P.E. and Bond, F.W. (2010). Acceptance and commitment training: Promoting psychological flexibility in the workplace. In Baer, R.A. (Ed.), Assessing Mindfulness and Acceptance Processes in Clients Illuminating the Theory and Practice of Change New Harbinger Publications. ISBN 978-1-60882-262-1.
  5. Flaxman, P.E. (2010). Contemporary occupational health psychology: Global perspectives on research, education, and practice. In Houdmont, J. and Leka, S. (Eds.), Contemporary occupational health psychology: Global perspectives on research, education, and practice.
  6. Flaxman, P.E., Bond, F.W. and Keogh, E. (2008). Preventing and Treating Evaluation Strain: A Brief CBT Approach. Handbook of Brief Cognitive Behaviour Therapy (pp. 239–288). ISBN 978-0-471-49107-1.
  7. Flaxman, P.E. and Bond, F.W. (2006). Acceptance and commitment therapy in the workplace. In Baer, R.A. (Ed.), Mindfulness-Based Treatment Approaches Clinician's Guide to Evidence Base and Applications Academic Press.

Journal articles (23)

  1. Calissano, C., Haenschel, C., Flaxman, P.E. and Zernerova, L. (2021). Influence of perfectionism on short-term anxious reactivity to a social-evaluative stressor. Personality and Individual Differences, 173. doi:10.1016/j.paid.2021.110626.
  2. Gillard, D., Wright, D., McNally, A., Flaxman, P.E., McIntosh, R. and Honey, K. (2021). Acceptance & commitment therapy for school leaders’ well-being: an initial feasibility study. Educational Psychology in Practice, 37(1), pp. 34–51. doi:10.1080/02667363.2020.1855120.
  3. Gaigg, S.B., Flaxman, P.E., McLaven, G., Shah, R., Bowler, D.M., Meyer, B. … South, M. (2020). Self-guided mindfulness and cognitive behavioural practices reduce anxiety in autistic adults: A pilot 8-month waitlist-controlled trial of widely available online tools. Autism : the international journal of research and practice, 24(4), pp. 867–883. doi:10.1177/1362361320909184.
  4. Horan, S., Flaxman, P.E. and Stride, C.B. (2020). The Perfect Recovery? Interactive Influence of Perfectionism and Spillover Work Tasks on Changes in Exhaustion and Mood Around a Vacation. Journal of Occupational Health Psychology. doi:10.1037/ocp0000208.
  5. van Hooff, M.L.M., Flaxman, P.E., Soderberg, M., Stride, C.B. and Geurts, S.A.E. (2018). Basic Psychological Need Satisfaction, Recovery State, and Recovery Timing. Human Performance, 31, pp. 125–143. doi:10.1080/08959285.2018.1466889.
  6. Gillard, D., Flaxman, P. and Hooper, N. (2018). Acceptance and Commitment Therapy: Applications for Educational Psychologists within Schools. Educational Psychology in Practice. doi:10.1080/02667363.2018.1446911.
  7. Waters, C.S., Frude, N., Flaxman, P.E. and Boyd, J. (2018). Acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT) for clinically distressed health care workers: Waitlist-controlled evaluation of an ACT workshop in a routine practice setting. British Journal of Clinical Psychology, 57(1), pp. 82–98. doi:10.1111/bjc.12155.
  8. Flaxman, P.E., Stride, C.B., Söderberg, M., Lloyd, J., Guenole, N. and Bond, F.W. (2018). Relationships between two dimensions of employee perfectionism, postwork cognitive processing, and work day functioning. European Journal of Work and Organizational Psychology, 27(1), pp. 56–69. doi:10.1080/1359432X.2017.1391792.
  9. Lloyd, J., Bond, W. and Flaxman, P.E. (2017). Work-related self-efficacy as a moderator of the impact of a worksite stress management training intervention: Intrinsic work motivation as a higher order condition of effect. Journal of Occupational Health Psychology, 22(1), pp. 115–127. doi:10.1037/ocp0000026.
  10. Wardley, M.N.J., Flaxman, P.E., Willig, C. and Gillanders, D. (2016). 'Feel the Feeling': Psychological practitioners' experience of acceptance and commitment therapy well-being training in the workplace. Journal of Health Psychology, 21(8), pp. 1536–1547. doi:10.1177/1359105314557977.
  11. Pangallo, A., Zibarras, , Lewis, R. and Flaxman, (2015). Resilience through the lens of interactionism: A Systematic Review. Psychological Assessment. doi:10.1037/pas0000024.
  12. Gillanders, D.T., Bolderston, H., Bond, F.W., Dempster, M., Flaxman, P.E., Campbell, L. … Remington, B. (2014). The Development and Initial Validation of the Cognitive Fusion Questionnaire. Behavior Therapy, 45(1), pp. 83–101. doi:10.1016/j.beth.2013.09.001.
  13. Lloyd, J., Bond, F.W. and Flaxman, P.E. (2013). Identifying Psychological Mechanisms Underpinning a Cognitive Behavioural
    Therapy Intervention for Emotional Burnout.     Work & Stress, 27(2), pp. 181–199. doi:10.1080/02678373.2013.782157.
  14. Lloyd, J., Bond, F.W. and Flaxman, P.E. (2013). The value of psychological flexibility: Examining psychological mechanisms underpinning a cognitive behavioural therapy intervention for burnout. Work and Stress, 27(2), pp. 181–199. doi:10.1080/02678373.2013.782157.
  15. Gillanders, D.T., Bolderston, H., Bond, F.W., Dempster, M., Flaxman, P.E., Campbell, L. … Remington, B. (2013). The Development and Initial Validation of the Cognitive Fusion Questionnaire. Behavior Therapy.
  16. Flaxman, P.E., Ménard, J., Bond, F.W. and Kinman, G. (2012). Academics' experiences of a respite from work: effects of self-critical perfectionism and perseverative cognition on postrespite well-being. J Appl Psychol, 97(4), pp. 854–865. doi:10.1037/a0028055.
  17. Flaxman, P.E. and Bond, F.W. (2010). Worksite stress management training: Moderated effects and clinical significance. Journal of Occupational Health Psychology, 15(4), pp. 347–358. doi:10.1037/a0020522.
  18. Bond, F.W., Flaxman, P.E., van Veldhoven, M.J.P.M. and Biron, M. (2010). The Impact of Psychological Flexibility and Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (act) on Health and Productivity at Work. pp. 296–313. doi:10.1002/9780470661550.ch15.
  19. Flaxman, P.E. and Bond, F.W. (2010). A randomised worksite comparison of acceptance and commitment therapy and stress inoculation training. Behav Res Ther, 48(8), pp. 816–820. doi:10.1016/j.brat.2010.05.004.
  20. Bond, F.W., Flaxman, P.E. and Bunce, D. (2008). The influence of psychological flexibility on work redesign: mediated moderation of a work reorganization intervention. J Appl Psychol, 93(3), pp. 645–654. doi:10.1037/0021-9010.93.3.645.
  21. Flaxman, P.E. and Bond, F.W. (2006). Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) in the Workplace. pp. 377–402. doi:10.1016/B978-012088519-0/50018-6.
  22. Bond, F.W. and Flaxman, P.E. (2006). The ability of psychological flexibility and job control to predict learning, job performance, and mental health. Journal of Organizational Behavior Management, 26(1-2), pp. 113–130. doi:10.1300/J075v26n01_05.
  23. Keogh, E., Bond, F.W. and Flaxman, P.E. (2006). Improving academic performance and mental health through a stress management intervention: outcomes and mediators of change. Behav Res Ther, 44(3), pp. 339–357. doi:10.1016/j.brat.2005.03.002.