'We have a responsibility to live authentic lives as Educational Psychologists' - Existentialism, Teenage Rebellion and applied Educational Psychology with Dr Geoff Morgan

Episode 13 - Sponsored by Bethan Elisa Proofreading

In this episode, I talk to Dr Geoff Morgan, a Specialist Senior Educational Psychologist who works in Bradford Educational Psychology Team and trained as a TEP at Exeter University.

Geoff and I discuss what is meant by existentialism as a philosophy which focuses on the meaning of our experiences of existence. Geoff and I talk about our interactions with the ideas of Existentialism via our mutual gateway experiences of existentialism via Viktor Frankl and the meaning of life. We move to discuss the application of existentialism to the idea of adolescence and the power of helping teenagers to find meaning in their experiences of school.

Reading list:


Beaver, R. (1996). Educational Psychology Casework: A Practice Guide. Jessica Kingsley.

Camus, A. (1942). The Outsider (English Translation). Penguin Books.

Carr, A. (2004). Positive Psychology: The Science of Happiness and Human Strengths. Routledge.

Deci, E., & Ryan, R. (2008). Self Determination Theory: A Macrotheory of Human Motivation, Development and Health. Canadian Psychology, 182-185.

Frankl, V. E. (1959). Man's Search for Meaning. Ebury Publishing.

Heidegger, M. (1927). Being and Time. Martino Fine Books.

McGilchrist, I. (2009). The Master and His Emmisary; The Divided Brain and the Making of the Western World. New Haven & London: Yale University Press.

Ravenette, T. (1999). Personal Construct Psychology in Educational Psychology: A Practitioner's View. JW.

Yalom, I. D. (2001). The Gift of Therapy; An open letter to a new generation of therapists and their patients. London: Piatkus.