I currently practise as a psychotherapist and bereavement counsellor. I am an arts and health facilitator and educator with a background in nursing as a registered nurse (RN).

I have been using the arts in healthcare, education and therapy for over 20 years in both NHS and voluntary settings and I have a keen belief in the transformational power of the arts, for example visual arts training and workshops on dismantling the taboo around death.

In 2014, I received my Fellowship which enabled me to research Improving Communication Training and Compassionate Care using Arts-based Methods in the USA and Australia.

I was a contributor to the All-Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) on Arts, Health and Wellbeing and the subsequent inquiry report Creative Health: The Arts for Health and Wellbeing (2017).

The Fellowship has led me to actively engage with and train fellow clinicians and non-clinicians to foster understanding and awareness of the research evidence and vital role the arts can play in healthcare. This has had workforce benefits with the introduction of social prescribing which provides a serious opening for arts in healthcare education.