Reflecting on my own experiences of trauma and ADHD has guided me into public mental health, where personal suffering and recovery inform a deep commitment to advocacy. I value and treasure the insights gained from lived and living experience, and I centre those perspectives in programmes, projects and research. My approach is holistic: I understand distress not as an individual phenomena but as a reflection of social, political and economic conditions. With an undergraduate background in Politics and an MSc in Public Mental Health, and almost ten years’ experience in UK health and social care and youth advocacy, I work to ensure that practice acknowledges structural and systemic causes of distress, and elevate the voices of those who have lived it.