About

I am a freelance chartered psychologist and an experienced qualitative researcher with particular interests in dementia, autism, learning disability, family and relationships.  I have a first class honours degree in psychology and have recently (2015) been awarded my PhD.  My doctoral work addressed the issue of intimacy, sexuality and dementia.   I am now working as a freelance researcher and consultant.  Currently the main body of my work focuses on facilitating dementia awareness training in care homes.  This work is commissioned by HEE TV using a training package developed by the Dementia Academic Action Group.

I am delighted to have been invited to work with Dementia UK to develop a training programme to enable Admiral Nurses to better support couples living with dementia particularly in relation to intimacy and sexuality.  This work is currently being rolled out across the South East of England.  Previously I was project lead in the development a community dementia hub in Lutterworth, Leicestershire.   I was the former Dementia Lead at Milton Keynes University Hospital and continue to work from the perspective of those affected by dementia.  I regularly lecture on the undergraduate nursing degree course and the Advanced Dementia Care masters course at the University of Northampton.

I have, this year, been awarded a Winston Churchill Memorial Trust Fellowship.  This prestigious award can be used to fund trips overseas to better understand the work of other countries.  Fellows then disseminate this new knowledge widely in the UK for the benefit of our citizens.  It is an amazing opportunity.  I will be travelling to Australia and the USA to better understand how intimacy and sexuality are included in care, how older members of the LGBT+ community are included and supported in care and to visit proposed LGBT+ specific care homes to inform organisations in the UK who are proposing similar provisions here.  For further information please click on the Churchill Fellowship tab at the top of this page.