Personal profile

Personal profile

I am a Senior Lecturer in Social Work (teaching focussed) in the Department of Law and Criminology. I am also a registered social worker having completed social work training as an undergraduate at Hertfordshire in 1995. Since this time I have practised in range of adult social care setttings, community mental health settings, forensic mental health settings as a social worker and assistant team manager.

I completed my Masters in Social Policy and Administration at Brunel University in 1999, specialising in Comparative Social Policy.

I trained and worked as an Approved Social Worker and latterly a Approved Mental Health Practitioner throughout my social work practice career. In 2002 I was awarded a Post-Graduate award in Social Work and a Practice Teaching Award in 2004.  I've trained and practised as a Best Interests' Assessor (BIA) training under the Mental Capacity Act (2005) Deprivation of Liberty Safeguards.

Since 2009 I have worked at Royal Holloway University of London. I am currrently the Subject Head for Social Work in the Department of Law and Criminology. I teach on the MSc in Social Work and my areas of teaching are social policy for social work practice, law for social workers, mental health policy and practice, mental capacity law and practice, practice with people with dementia, disability and social work.  I also teach on the BSc Social Sciences Course, specialising in Law in the Social Context, Contemporary Welfare States and Research Methods. 

My research and scholarship interests include the mental health social work, mental capacity law and practice, dementia, equality and diversity in higher education, race and social policy.

My PhD topic is the Mental Capacity Act decision making with people who have young-onset dementia.

I am part of the Department of Law's Health and Social Care research cluster and Crime and punishment cluster. 

I am a fellow of the Higher Education Academy (FHEA). 

Expertise related to UN Sustainable Development Goals

In 2015, UN member states agreed to 17 global Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) to end poverty, protect the planet and ensure prosperity for all. This person’s work contributes towards the following SDG(s):

  • SDG 3 - Good Health and Well-being
  • SDG 10 - Reduced Inequalities
  • SDG 16 - Peace, Justice and Strong Institutions

Keywords

  • mental capacity
  • dementia
  • mental health law
  • multi-disciplinary work
  • ethnicity
  • Deprivation of liberty
  • decision making
  • mental health
  • diversity