Trauma Support Providers

Professional Biography

When I left school I went straight into nursing. I trained as a general nurse in England (SEN), when I qualified I completed my psychiatric nurse training (SENM). I became interested in community work and completed Principles of Community Psychiatric Nursing Qualification. I worked in various roles eventually specialising in Alcohol addictions. When a community research project I was involved in came to an end I decided to move back nearer to my home town and to do this I left nursing and went working as a Support Worker for Social Services. Over the years I worked in varies roles and got promoted up to managing the Mental Health Support Services. During this time I qualified as a Social Worker. My greatest achievement was working as an Alcohol Specialist developing new services providing support to patients in the Emergency Department and Criminal Justice Services. These roles helped me to understand the underlying issues and causes of why people end up with Mental Health diagnosis and substance abuse becomes a coping mechanism. This is where I really started to understand the effects of abuse on peoples mental health. I emigrated to Australia in 2008 and I have worked in my present role as an Accredited Mental Health Social Worker since 2009. During this time I have worked closely with a high percentage of clients who have a past history of abuse, often they have never spoken about it to others, some have tried in the past but feel they weren't believed or listened too and so lose trust in support services available. Due to the number of clients being referred to me and my feared lack of knowledge in supporting this client group effectively I decided to complete The Blue Knot Foundation (previously ASCA) training course, and have also completed Trauma and Complex Trauma training by Liah Giarrantano.

Client Types

• Adolescent
• Adult
• LGBTIQ