I am an impact enterprise founder, wellness facilitator and advocate. I have a deep interest in the social determinants of health and the power of somatic and restorative practices to transform our psychosocial experience.
I have been working in the health and social justice space for 11 years now, not as an academic or clinician but as a social entrepreneur searching for ethical answers to questions around accessible, affordable psychosocial health intervention.
I established Supply, a London-based impact enterprise, in 2015. It was born of the idea that equal access to the opportunity to be well is fundamental to the psychosocial health of our entire community. Supply was built on partnerships with nonprofits and grassroots support organisations, from migrant advocacy centres and peer-led bereavement groups to loneliness prevention projects and cancer support circles. My team and I delivered wellbeing interventions like accessible yoga and meditative practice for the people accessing their support. This community based work was funded by the trading income generated at Supply Studio, a commercial yoga space I opened to do just that.
My close ties to an evolving network of organisations that support people affected by barriers to well-being allowed me to spend purposeful, healing time with diverse Londoners, many of whom face the perpetuating implications of poor social protection, isolation and displacement. Gladly, I observed the ways in which safe, shared social experiences, togetherness and inclusion can help to rebuild a sense of belonging and agency for those living with the impact of those injustices.
I was granted a Churchill Fellowship in 2019, an award that supports UK-based changemakers to travel the world, learn from others and to apply their insights here at home.
It is my deep interest in transforming the way we deliver psychosocial health support to the UK's most under served that compelled me to dedicate my fellowship to gathering stories, insight and data that could lay the foundations of a roadmap for reform. So, in the May of 2023, I travelled to Colombia and the US to do just that.
I identified two world leaders in psychosocial support, each embedded in very different economic, social and political landscapes, each supporting communities affected by the intersectional impact of displacement and trauma. I spent a spring immersed in learning from their expert leaders, facilitators and beneficiaries.
This site represents the conclusion of my fellowship. The reflections and recommendations laid out here explore the UK's potential to embed non-clinical, participatory interventions, including restorative practices, within support pathways for communities affected by barriers to multi-dimensional wellness.
Thank you for taking the time to read my insights. If you’re short on time, head to the TLDR to skim the summary.