Next in our series introducing the 2026-27 cohort of In Practice Research Fellows is Kate Quinn, a Clinical Psychologist working in NHS Early Intervention in Psychosis Services in Wakefield for SWYFT. She is also a co-director of the Community Interest Company Heavy Metal Therapy which specialises in mental health peer support for people in the alternative music community. Here we catch up with Kate to discuss her research project ‘Heavy Metal Recovery Narratives’ and her plans for the Fellowship.
If your research was a film, what would the title be?
I guess I should probably say ‘Metal Health’ which is already the name of quite a famous 80s song!
What will you be doing during your Medical Humanities in Practice Research Fellowship?
My research focuses on the ways that people share and benefit from recovery stories in various forms. I am especially interested in how this happens in alternative subcultures/alternative music communities and creative ways in which people communicate their stories (such as through identity markers like tattoos). I will be using my fellowship to investigate this further, including focus groups with community members.
What expertise and experiences will you be drawing on?
I am a clinical psychologist with an interest in community psychology/development approaches. I have been involved with community development projects over many years, perhaps most notably I am the director of a Community Interest Company called Heavy Metal Therapy, which focuses on peer support in the heavy metal music community, and have several publications arising from this work.
Why are you excited about working in the medical humanities?
To work alongside other researchers with an interest in creative health, and to have some mentorship from those who have expertise in this area.
What changes would you like to see as a result of your research?
Heavy metal has previously had quite a difficult reputation in terms of research findings about its impact on mental health. I want to be able to support the community to be able to share a different narrative about the potential benefits. I also think that community development and peer support approaches are underappreciated in terms of their potential as interventions, so I would like to be able to investigate these using a small but hopefully important focus.
What interests or hobbies do you have outside of your research that might surprise people?
I don’t know how surprising this will be, as I wonder if some interests kind of cluster together, and this is definitely ‘metal adjacent’ but I do powerlifting. I also live on a farm in the middle of nowhere!
We warmly welcome Kate to the Discovery Research Platform and look forward to working with her.
Continue reading our interview series with our 2026-27 cohort of In Practice Research Fellows:
- An interview with David McQuillan
- An interview with Fouziya Asim
- An interview with Sam Slatcher
- An interview with Sophie-Jo Peel
- An interview with Maddie Rose-Carbone
Find out more:
- Read the announcement of this year’s In Practice Research Fellows
- Find out more about the 2025-26 cohort of In Practice Research Fellows
- Celebrate our 2025-26 cohort as we hear from them at an event on 19 June 2026
