About Me

I am a consultant, writer, and guest speaker currently living in Scotland. My specialisms are in the areas of policing, harm reduction, trauma, childhood domestic abuse and vulnerability.

I have over twenty years of experience working to promote trauma-informed care, addressing disadvantages and harm facing communities, children/young people and underserved populations in relation to organised crime and criminalisation.

I have been part of the Global Law Enforcement and Public Health Association (GLEPHA) since 2016. I regularly write for Policing Insight on public health, organised crime and community well-being as well as the Vulnerability & Policing Futures Research Centre (articles written: Working in Policing and Vulnerability: Insider Tips from an Early Career Researcher and Harm Reduction Specialist and Why We Should be Using Place-based Health Needs Assessments to Reduce Health Inequalities in Underserved Communities).

Recently, I developed a Health Needs Assessment (HNA) template framework for GLEPHA, providing guidance on how to negotiate the terms of conditions of the project, preventing it from becoming police-led, and how to stick to needs-focused work for underserved populations in the community (tackling exploitation and inadequate service support whilst also ensuring that crimes of violence are reported).

I use my lived and professional experience to encourage generative and transformative approaches for children and young people who have experienced childhood adversity, community disadvantage and violence. I have been published by the Research in Practice Network, specifically my writing pertaining to my own experiences being a research participant (exploring the impact of childhood violence through photographs). I have also been published by the Contextual Safeguarding Network for my work regarding the use of creative methods in working with young people on community safety.

I excelled in higher education, having gained several qualifications in advanced research methods, public health, criminology, sociology, and leadership and management—for many of these, I earned a top distinction.

I am always looking for paid consultancy and guest talk opportunities to support communities and organisations in the above areas. I have a keen interest in asset-based development and using a strengths-based approach in my work. I am also available for work internationally.