IAFP EVENING SEMINAR

Dr Panos Vythoulkas

The Long Road to Coventry: Understanding Staff Scapegoating in NHS Forensic Settings

Thursday 16 July 2026   7.00 - 8.30pm

Click for full seminar outline and to book

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PLEASE NOTE - THIS SESSION WILL NOT BE RECORDED AND MUST BE WATCHED LIVE

​​The lecture examines staff scapegoating within NHS forensic mental health services as a complex, situational and largely unconscious group phenomenon. Rather than understanding scapegoating simply as prejudice, bullying or individual projection, it frames it as a collective response to institutional anxiety, rivalry, shame, threat and organisational strain.

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​Dr Panos Vythoulkas is the Lead Perinatal Clinical Psychologist at the North London NHS Foundation Trust, and a Doctoral Candidate in Psychoanalytic Psychotherapy at the University of Exeter. He is a non-UK trained clinician with experience across forensic and specialist mental health settings in England since 2016. His work spans clinical practice, staff support and organisational roles, including previous experience as a Freedom to Speak Up Advocate. His doctoral research explores the relationship between early childhood maltreatment, primary emotions, identification with the aggressor and interpersonal violence perpetration.

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