I work in the School of Healthcare Sciences as a lecturer of mental health nursing. I have been in post since 2003, have held a number of additional roles within the school including my current role as Professional Head for Mental Health.

The focus of my teaching, research and most recent clinical work has been focused on children and young people experiencing mental health problems. I found during my clinical work with children and young people that they responded very quickly to interventions, which primarily is critical to their ongoing health and development, but also I found was rewarding as a practitioner. As a lecturer, I try to inspire students to embrace this hope and positive approach to working with this client group, and do my best to ensure students are well informed and prepared to do this important nursing work.

My PhD, unsurprisingly, was a study with children's mental health services. I worked with a local team to reduce their unsatisfactory waiting list for their service, using action research (http://www.fons.org/library/journal/volume4-issue1/article7) .  Another funded study I have been involved in examined the idea of 'risk' in inpatient services for young people with mental health issues http://www.nets.nihr.ac.uk/projects/hsdr/11102408