Jamie was educated at Llandaff Cathedral School, Christ College Brecon and Birmingham University before a Short Service Commission in the Army (1^st The Queen’s Dragoon Guards, serving in Germany and Northern Ireland) and five years in Sales and Marketing Management. He went on to gain a BSc (Hons) in Psychology from University College, London in 1990, an MPhil in Psychopathology from Darwin College, Cambridge in 1991 and a PsychD in Clinical Psychology from the University of Surrey in 1996. He also has a Diploma in Clinical Psychology from the British Psychological Society (1994) and an MSc in War and Psychiatry from King’s College, London (2007). He is an HPC Registered Clinical Psychologist, a Clinical Neuropsychologist, a BPS Registered  Applied Psychological Practice Supervisor and Registered Psychologist specialising in Psychotherapy, an EMDR Consultant and Supervisor and a Chartered Psychologist and Chartered Scientist.

Jamie was Founder Chair of the Eastern Counties Branch of the British Association for Cognitive Behavioural Psychotherapy, is a former Board member of the EMDR UK & Ireland Association and past Editor of its Bulletin and was a Founder Director of the UK Psychological Trauma Society. From 2002 to 2006, he was Vice Chair of the NATO Research and Technology Association Human Factors and Medicine Research Task Group on Stress and Psychological Support in Modern Military Operations and Chair of the Clinical Sub Group and he represented NATO Psychologists on the NATO COMEDS Military Mental Health Expert Panel. The 'Military Leaders Guide to Stress and Psychological Support in Modern Military Operations' (which he co-edited) has been adopted as a standard text across NATO. From 2006 to 2008, Jamie was a member of  the NATO Joint Medical Committee and Senior Civil Emergencies Planning Committee Working Group on Psychosocial Care following Disasters and Terrorist Incidents, producing NATO guidelines that also became the basis of  UK Department of Health guidance on the topic. Jamie worked for the Ministry of  Defence as a Consultant Clinical Psychologist from 1999 to 2011 where he had a particular interest in the psychological preparation of troops for military operations and in clinical interventions, especially early interventions, to minimise any psychological after-effects of combat. In this regard, he visited many operational theatres including Northern Ireland, Bosnia, Kosovo, Iraq and Afghanistan. He became Head of Defence Clinical Psychology for the Ministry of Defence in 2007 and was appointed Defence Consultant Advisor in Psychology in 1999. His last NHS post was as Clinical Lead for the Improving Access to Psychological Therapies (IAPT) Service in Mid Essex and Jamie is now an Independent Psychological Healthcare Consultant and Academic specialising in Military and Veteran Psychological Healthcare and the psychological health of Refugees, Asylum Seekers and Migrants and was  a Founder of the Veterans and Families Institute at Anglia Ruskin University.  From 2010 to 2013, Jamie was Honorary Commander of the 48th Medical Operations Squadron, Liberty Wing, United States Air Force. He was also a member of the Department of Health's Armed Forces and Veterans Clinical Reference Group. In May 2014, Jamie was elected President Elect of the British Psychological Society and became the 81st President of the Society and Chair of the Board of Trustees in April 2015. In addition to normal duties, Jamie  represented the Society on the Independent Mental Health Taskforce (the Five Year Forward View), founded the BPS' first Presidential Taskforce, on Refugees, Asylum Seekers and Migrants, and was the presidential lead on the BPS Division of Psychology Leadership and Management Faculty Psychological Wellbeing Taskforce. Jamie served as Minister Provincial of the European Province of the Third Order of the Society of St Francis (TSSF) from 2017 to 2019.

Jamie has produced over 50 peer-reviewed papers, published reports, books, book chapters and conference papers in the areas of cognitive behavioural therapy, EMDR, clinical hypnosis and the psychological effects of military operations, including post-traumatic stress disorders and he has further edited books and book chapters in preparation. He is a reviewer for several journals, has published several book reviews and has presented on the subjects of his research and academic interests to audiences across the world, including in the USA, Canada, Australia, Russia and Azerbaijan. This year he has been invited to be the keynote speaker at a psychology conference in the Philippines. He became Clinical Senior Lecturer at the Academic Centre for Defence Mental Health at King’s College London in 1994 and is now Visiting Professor of Psychology at the University of Hertfordshire  and Visitng Professor at Northumbria University. Jamie is also Honorary Joint President of the Cardiff Samaritans, and a Fellow of the Academy of Social Sciences, the British Psychological Society, the Counselling and Psychotherapy Society, the Hypnosis Society and the Royal Society of Medicine. 

Jamie’s interests include running (he was the founder of the International Military Mental Health Running Club, which has over 150 members from over 50 countries), mountain walking, modern languages and music (singing and playing the bass guitar). He has appeared regularly in the media - on television, on radio and in the press - commenting on all aspects of military and veteran mental health and psychological trauma. In addition to being a psychological health professional, Jamie is also a service user having received a diagnosis of  Bipolar Affective Disorder in 2000. As a 'wounded healer', Jamie is a vociferous campaigner against the stigmatisation of psychological health problems and of the people who have them and edited the 2014 book, 'Battle against Stigma'. Jamie is also a campaigner for social justice nationally and internationally and for the amelioration  of socio-economic causes of psychological distress, in both UK and refugee, asylum seeker and migrant populations.

Jamie is married with a son and he  is a committed Christian and a member of  his parish church in Chelmsford, Essex, where he sings in the choir. His wife, Katy, is priest pastor in the parish church of St Marylebone London.  Jamie was a professed Third Order Anglican Franciscan for 20 years.