- Centre for Resilience
- Community Health Resilience and Wellbeing
About me
I gained a BSc in Health Sciences: Complementary Therapies in 2001. As part of my course I specialised in Therapeutic Bodywork during my studies and was trained by Leon Chaitow in advanced soft tissue techniques. After graduating I continued my training, qualifying in myofascial Integration. As a bodyworking I specialise in restoring function. I also went on qualify as a Hakomi therapist, studying with Donna Martin and Ron Kurtz. Hakomi is a form of body centred psychotherapy that uses sophisticated applied mindfulness to help a person understand and transform habits and beliefs that do not serve them well. Having passion for human potential has led me to establish a number of projects across the University.
Most recently we have established the Westminster Centre for Resilience, which aims to transform stress and negative patterns into resilience using physiological and behavioural biometrics to enable individuals, teams and organisations to flourish. The Centre is a cross faculty initiative that brings together a multidisciplinary team to work with resilience in business, health and education. I am also currently undertaking a PhD in Reflective Narrative with Professor Chris Johns at the University of Bedfordshire.
Teaching
I am a Fellow of the HEA Originally I began my teaching experience working with colleges and training providers who ran professional courses in Massage and Bodywork. I started teaching Anatomy and Bodywork skills at the University of Westminster in 2003 assisting Leon Chaitow on the advanced soft tissue modules. I became more involved with the teaching over the years and became involved in teaching the practitioner development theme to Health Science students. I have been the course leader for a number of Health Science courses which required the development of relationships between the university and the relevant professional bodies. I currently teach on a number of modules including. Practitioner development, Bodywork modules, Human and Health Behaviour as well as an interdisciplinary masters module in Mindfulness for Professional Practice. I am also working as part of an interdisciplinary team to develop and deliver a series of short course and workshops in the areas of resilience, contemplation and mindfulness. Outside of the university I guest lecture nationally and internationally.
Research
Current Research
I am currently involved in the Westminster Student Sense of Belonging project. This project has been exploring students sense of belonging across two schools at the university with a mixed methodological approach that uses questionnaires, focus groups and Biographical Narratives.
Research Groups
Life Sciences Educational research group
Professional bodies
Member of CThA Fellow of the HEA
Publications
For details of all my research outputs, visit my WestminsterResearch profile.