Dr William McGovern

Associate Professor

Department: Social Work, Education and Community Wellbeing

William McGovern is an Associate Professor within the Department of Social Work, Education and Community Wellbeing. He is also the Faculty of Health and Life Sciences Director of Patient, User and Public Involvment. Will is a widely recognised as a subject expert in the field of Substance Use and Recovery and also an emerging expert on Mental Health and Well Being. He has over 30 year experience as a drug and alcohol practitioner, public involvment lead, researcher, academic and community activist.

Will has a undergraduate (BA Hons) and post gradute degree (MA) from Durham University and a Phd from Newcastle University. He is a professionally qualifed youth worker, community development worker and teacher. Since completing his Doctoral studies in 2017, Will has went on to be awarded an Individual Career Development Grant from NIHR and he has participated in over 30 funded research/consultancy/CPD projects. Will's work is concerned with exploring concerns like inequality, discrimination and stigma and then expaining the experiences of marginalised and underserved communities.

Will has been involved in and led a number of edited collections of work on Stigma, Drugs and Identity (2022) Safeguarding Children in Schools (2022) Teaching Sensitive Subjects and Topics (2023) An Anthology of Poetry on Recovery (2024) and Public Involvement and Community Engagement in Applied Health and Social Care Research (2025). He has also held Directors roles in a number of charities and previously been nominated and won awards for Public Speaking, Contributions to Youth Work and Recovery in the North.

Campus Address

M005 Manor House, Coach Lane Campus (West)

Email William

@GovernWilliam

Key Publications

Please visit the Pure Research Information Portal for further information
A qualitative exploration of the implications of a differential multi-agency understanding and interpretation of Domestic Abuse, Sarma, K., McGovern, W., McGovern, R., Smart, D., Barrett, S., Kaner, E., Cooling, V., Hackett, S., Alderson, H., Thomason, P. 31 Mar 2025, In: Journal of Family Violence
A national evaluation of Project Cautioning And Relationship Abuse (‘CARA’) awareness raising workshops for first time offenders of domestic violence and abuse: protocol for a concurrent mixed-methods evaluation design, Morgan, S., Scott, S., Armitage, R., Culliford, D., Jolly , K., McGovern, R., McGovern, W., Roy , J., Thayakaran, R., Young, T., Parkes , J., Chandan, J. 1 Aug 2024, In: NIHR Open Research
British South Asian and Muslim Community’s Perceptions and Experiences of Addiction and Traditional Drug and Alcohol Treatment Services, Sattar, Z., Lochhead, L., Alderson, H., Lhussier, M., McGovern, R., McGovern, W. 10 Oct 2024, In: International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health
Cultivating safe spaces for critical reflection and staff care: Lessons learned through a study exploring lived experiences of child and family social workers, Cavener, J., Lochhead, L., McGovern, W. 12 Dec 2024, In: Child and Family Social Work
Developing and Implementing Teaching in Sensitive Subject and Topic Areas: A Comprehensive Guide for professionals in FE and HE Settings , McGovern, W., Gillespie, A., Brandon, T., McInnes, A. 5 Feb 2024
Ethical and practical considerations for including marginalised groups in quantitative survey research, Adley, M., Alderson, H., Jackson, K., McGovern, W., Spencer, L., Addison, M., O’Donnell, A. 2 Sep 2024, In: International Journal of Social Research Methodology
Exploring the Impact of Stigma on Health and Wellbeing: Insights from Mothers with Lived Experience Accessing Recovery Services, Lochhead, L., Addison, M., Cavener, J., Scott, S., McGovern, W. 6 Sep 2024, In: International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health
Innovative local authority public health interventions to support the mental health of children and young people, Spencer, L., Redgate, S., Hardy , C., Adams, E., Arnott, B., Brown, H., Christie, A., Harrison, H., Kaner, E., Mawson, C., McGovern, W., Rankin, J., McGovern, R. 30 Oct 2024, In: Journal of Children's Services
Key Concepts and Concerns of Teaching Sensitive Topics and Subjects, McGovern, W., McGovern, R., Nichol, D. 5 Feb 2024, Developing and Implementing Teaching in Sensitive Subject and Topic Areas, Leeds, Emerald Publishing
Mechanisms That Promote and Support Family Preservation for Children at the Edge of Care: A Realist Synthesis, Redgate, S., Smart, D., Barrett, S., Barron, C., Burns, S., Frost, H., McGovern, W., Peart, V., Adams, E., Alderson, H., Kaner, E., McGovern, R. 16 Jun 2024, In: SAGE Open

Current and Recent Projects

Please visit the Pure Research Information Portal for further information
Substance Misuse Support for Military Veterans in Newcastle, Graham, P. (Principal Investigator), McGovern, W. (Co Investigator), Newcastle City Council, 02/09/24 - 31/03/25, £25,000.00
Half Day CPD event, McGovern, W. (Principal Investigator), Newcastle City Council, 27/11/23 - 27/11/23, £2,744.00
Exploring Non-clinical Drug and Alcohol harm and service access experiences of British South Asian youth, Sattar, Z. (Principal Investigator), McGovern, W. (Co Investigator), Newcastle City Council, 01/04/23 - 31/03/24, £24,211.00
Community Asset Mapping the Mental Health and Drug and Alcohol Services, Organisations and Recovery Groups in the Newcastle Area, McGovern, W. (Principal Investigator), Newcastle City Council, 01/02/23 - 31/01/24, £49,971.00

Qualifications

Sociology PhD December 08 2017
Professional Development PGCert September 26 2014
Community Work MA September 01 2004
BA (Hons) July 31 2003
Youth and Community Worker DipYCW 2000
Fellow (FHEA) Higher Education Academy (HEA) 2014

Key Publications

Addison, M.; Stockdale, K.; McGovern, R.; McGovern, W.; McKinnon, I.; Crowe, L.; Hogan, L.; and Kaner, E. (2017 submitted) Exploring the intersections between Novel Psychoactive Substances (NPS) and other substance use in a police custody suite setting in the North East of England, Special issue of Drugs, Education, Policy and Practice

Addison M, Stockdale K, McGovern R, McGovern W, McKinnon I, Crowe L, Hogan L, Kaner E. Exploring Novel Psychoactive Substance (NPS) use and its consequences for police practitioners and substance users in the North East of England. N8 Policing Research Partnership, 2017

James, D. Hall, A. Lombardo, C. and McGovern, W. (2014) "A video feedback intervention for workforce development: exploring staff perspective using longitudinal qualitative methodology" Journal of Applied Research in Intellectual Disabilities.

McKenna, L., Graham, P., Goss, J., Gallagher. J. Robson, I., McGovern, W. (2012) “Social Impact Assessment of SAFC Foundation of Light’s Wider Family Learning Programme”, Evaluation Report, for the SAFC Foundation of Light (Unpublished)

McGovern, W. (2012) Guide to the toxic trio: Managing multiple parental problems, substance use, mental health and domestic abuse, Community Care Inform.

McGovern, R. and McGovern, W. (2011) Voluntary risk-taking and heavy-end crack cocaine use: An edgework perspective. Health, Risk & Society, 13 (5). pp. 487-500. ISSN 1369-8575.