Martin Herbert

Abstract

Martin Herbert is very widely known, not just amongst his fellow clinical psychologists, but amongst a broad spectrum of professionals and parents in many countries. His reputation springs not just from his teaching and writing, but from his activities across professional boundaries and his commitment to direct work with children and families. In his own profession he has held chairs in Clinical Psychology in Leicester and Exeter Universities where he set up doctoral clinical psychology courses, at Leicester in the 1980s and in Devon in the 1990s. As Professor of Social Work in Leicester from 1975 to 1982 he was the last senior academic in that field who was not a social worker. Despite heavy loads he has developed and implemented very carefully articulated programmes for the assessment and treatment of children, particularly those with oppositional, aggressive and anxious behaviour. Maintenance of his own personal participation has been axiomatic. He has carried his skills and knowledge into many different contexts, including those concerned with adults, but has derived especial enjoyment from work with paediatricians and children with disabilities. He has been Chair of two ACPP branches, East Midlands and South West.