I am a senior lecturer at the Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology & Neuroscience (IoPPN), King’s College London. I am a mixed-methods researcher who specialises in women’s mental health, conducting research on practice and policy responses to violence and abuse in the context of mental illness, and perinatal mental health. I have a PhD in psychiatry from the IoPPN and I am a Fellow of the Higher Education Academy.

I am Deputy Director on the National Institute for Health Research Mental Health Policy Research Unit. I hold two current research grants: (1) as Chief Investigator on the RIVA study – an evaluation of the implementation of domestic abuse advocacy programmes in NHS Trust; (2) as co-applicant on a MRC grant that seeks to examine the impact of social media and smartphone use on self-harm among young people. My previous grants include: King’s College London lead on the MiMOS study - a National Institute for Health Research grant examining the effectiveness of Sexual Assault Referral Centres in addressing the mental health and substance use needs of clients; King’s College London lead on the For Baby’s Sake  study  - an evaluation of a new whole-family domestic abuse intervention targeted to reduce abuse and improve parent-child relationships and child development. I also acted as programme manager on the ESMI study, an NIHR programme grant on the effectiveness of perinatal mental health services. I have conducted several systematic reviews that investigate the relationship between domestic abuse and mental disorders and I have piloted interventions of domestic violence advocacy within mental health services. 

Research Interests 

• Violence, abuse and mental health  
• Perinatal mental health research 
• Mixed-methods research 

Teaching

I deliver both subject-specific and methodological lectures on BSc and MSc programmes at the IoPPN. For several years, I have run an MSc module on systematic reviewing.

I supervise PhD students as primary and second/third supervisor. I supervise BSc and MSc student dissertations.   

Expertise and Public Engagement

I am passionate about ensuring research on violence/abuse and mental health, and perinatal mental health is more accessible to the public. I am proactive in undertaking public engagement activities – presenting my work at academic and public engagement events both nationally and internationally.

Below is a public-facing podcast interview about this work:

https://soundcloud.com/domestic-abuse-podcast/what-the-research-can-tell-us-about-mental-health-and-domestic-abuse