Dr John Francis Leader, also known as JFL, is a consulting psychologist, psychotherapist and cognitive scientist who specialises in communications, experiential learning and mixed reality therapy; assisting people in successfully navigating the physical, the virtual and the imaginary.
John’s therapeutic training is in the area of integrative psychotherapy, drawing particularly on the methodologies of cognitive-behavioural therapy (CBT), systemic psychotherapy and the therapeutic meditative traditions of clinical hypnotherapy (particularly Ericksonian psychotherapy), embodied cognition and mindfulness-based cognitive therapy (MBCT). You can find out more about the bodymindself approach here.
John spends his time between training, consultancy and therapeutic work in private practice, and academic research which he conducts from the School of Psychology at University College Dublin, where he is an Adjunct Research Fellow. By combining multimedia techniques with current psychological research, John’s work aims to make therapy and training more fun, immersive and effective.
John is the director of the Mixed Reality Therapy research project (https://mixedrealitytherapy.org/)—a principal member of the Metaverse Standards Forum. As part of his applied work John builds multimedia installations and simulators: his latest piece is an ex-military 1976 Series III Land Rover fitted with a virtual reality system that overlays a graphically-rendered version of the vehicle’s interior. A motion tracker mounted to the steering wheel allows participants to explore learning-relevant worlds whilst using the act of steering as a metaphor for developing control in their own lives. You can find out more about John’s latest research projects here.
John is an accredited supervisor and holds a PhD in Cognitive Science from University College Dublin, as well as a BA Honours Degree in Psychology and Diplomas in Psychology and Psychotherapy. He is a Chartered Psychologist, elected Council Member and the International Liaison of the Psychological Society of Ireland. He is Chairperson of the Private Practice Group and a member of the American Psychological Association and the Cognitive Science Society. He is an elected Executive Council Member of the European Federation of Psychologists’ Associations.
John regularly contributes to discussions about wellbeing and personal leadership in the media, and he delivers keynote speeches and conducts organisational training programmes around these topics. He is the host of #bodymindself, available on Youtube, SoundCloud and iTunes.
To find out more about JFL, to access recent media appearances and to keep in touch on social media visit: