We are saddened to learn of the death of Professor William Yule, Emeritus Professor of Applied Child Psychology at King’s College London Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology and Neuroscience. Professor Yule made enormous contributions to the field of child clinical psychology and was a long-time member and contributor to the work of ACAMH. A true scientist-practitioner, he was also a kind and thoughtful humanitarian.
He was renowned for many accomplishments, including his work in epidemiology and his expertise in the area of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) among children. Following the sinking of the Herald of Free Enterprise ship in 1987, he began working as a prominent psychologist and researcher further specializing in youth mental health. He served as an advisor to UNICEF during the civil war in the former Yugoslavia and soon after was a founding trustee of the Children and War Foundation dedicated to improving children’s lives in wars and disasters. In 2005 he was given the lifetime achievement award by the International Society for the Study of Traumatic Stress for his work with children. More recently he taught Teaching Recovery Techniques (TRT) to a group of Ukrainian mental health professionals during the ongoing war in Ukraine, and it has since helped thousands of children with war-related trauma, becoming a recommended intervention by the Ukrainian Ministry of Science and Education.
Additionally, he was a member of the British Health Expert Group, helping to identify therapeutic approaches for treating trauma stemming from the Sri Lankan civil war. Throughout his career, Professor Yule’s research on epidemiology, his clinical practice and his contributions as a leading authority on paediatric PTSD stood out as significant achievements.
Professor Yule was previously a member of the editorial advisory board for JCPP and served as Treasurer for the Association.
He will be deeply missed, and our thoughts are with his family at this time.
Discussion
I first saw Professor Yule in February 1993 at the then named association’s ACCP One Day Meeting in London on the theme of Trauma and Crisis Management. At that meeting he described with Anne Gold some of the ways in which crises can affect schools and suggested how schools can lessen the physical and emotional impact of disasters. Their subsequent Wise Before the Event (1993) publication became adopted as a standard template for critical disaster and trauma management in schools across local authorities.
Bill saw the essential value of collaborative cross agency working alongside a holistic multi-modal approach encompassing bio-psychosocial aspects. He was a founder member of many professional groups and editor as well as contributor of various journals. He was a humanist and committed practitioner who sought to promote and develop pragmatic evidence based approaches to alleviate distress in human life. He continued with his endeavours in later years becoming the founding father and chair of the newly formed Crisis, Disaster and Trauma Section of the BPS in 2013. It was there that I had great pleasure in meeting him personally as a committee member.
Bill’s breadth of knowledge, understanding and human value has provided help and insight to many in troubled periods and time and stands as a mark of his achievement in Psychology.
My sincerest condolences to his family and friends.
Professor William Yule RIP
Professor William Yule’s (Bill) influence reaches far beyond even to Myanmar, as I was his student at the Institute of Psychiatry, London, in 1969-1970. I had kept in touch with Bill till before he passed away for half a century. He had helped and supported me professionally all these years, as I had struggled professionally and vocationally as a former Myanmar citizen. He was always very kind and helpful, and I had the pleasure of meeting him in Perth, Western Australia, when he visited a few years ago. He was my benefactor and a great mentor. I shall always remember him with gratitude admiration.
Sad news indeed; Bill Yule was a key figure in the field from the start of my own career, an inspiring clinician and researcher, and a familiar face at ACAMH meetings. He will be much missed, but not forgotten.
Sad news. I met Dr Bill I believe at the conference held at Western University in 2018. It was such a pleasure and he was very instrumental to my career choices. He will be remembered fir his hard work.
Professor William Yule RIP
I met Professor William Yule’s (Bill) at the formation of Crisis, Disaster and Trauma Section of the BPS in 2013. His passion for children’s lives in wars and disasters always left me encouraged and hopeful of better outcomes for child victims in conflict zones. We met earlier this year for the CDT 10th anniversary & said our last goodbyes.
Condolences to his family and friends.
In the name of God
It was a sad news. I met Professor William Yule in 1992. He was my supervisor in Ph.D Thesis. Bill was known as so kind and helpful psychologist. I will not forget his hard work with children of Bosnia during the war. I will remember him as symbol of humanitarian figure in helping children’s lives particularly in crisis.
My sincerest condolences to his family
I am sad to hear of Bill’s death. I was very grateful to Bill ( and also to Patrick Smith) for helping me to learn how to deliver trauma focused therapy. As a SLAM CAMHS consultant wanting to learn more, I attended Bill’s clinic weekly for a year observing through a one way screen and we saw a case together. He was very child-centred in how he worked and created a safe place for his child patients and their families . He was a very talented clinician and researcher and did so much to help traumatised children in the UK and internationally.
This is very sad news. Professor Yule trained and inspired our bushfire recovery team by delivering brilliant training with David Trickey by zoom from London to Sydney during the dark days of covid lockdown. A very kind, funny and brilliant human.