Jack Chalkley studied history at Cambridge and psychology at Birkbeck University of London and the Institute of Psychiatry. He has worked as an NHS clinical psychologist for over 30 years in psychiatric rehabilitation, community mental health and specialist psychological therapies. He lived previously in France, and took from that an interest in continental philosophy, which provided much of the underpinning that shaped his approach to psychological assessment. He has taught on a number of university training courses and served on the academic boards of two of them.