I'm an accredited psychotherapist with the Community Psychotherapy Network and Senior Impact and Engagement Manager at the UK Trauma Council, part of Anna Freud. Alongside my clinical work, I support companies to improve staff wellbeing, using a systemic approach to team and organisational culture.

In some schools and colleges, entire communities are shaken by events such as the death of a student, a natural disaster or a terrorist attack - what we refer to as mass trauma. Research shows that cultivating hope is one of the most powerful protective factors we have in supporting recovery. Trauma can shatter visions for the future, but instilling hope provides a lifeline.

For my Fellowship, I'll travel to the USA and South Africa to explore how schools support students to stay engaged in education following mass traumatic events, and the role hope plays in that process. I feel strongly about this research because hope is restorable. It's an internal belief system, adaptable across cultures and communities, that can be found and strengthened, even when it feels completely lost.