I visited the USA and Canada to look at responses in the criminal justice system to people with mental illness. I visited courts, jails and police departments to learn about their joint initiatives with local mental health teams, social workers, peer advocates and other partners. At the time I was working for a national mental health charity in the UK and leading on criminal justice policy. I was curious to see how models to divert people out of the criminal justice system and into mental health support could work. The policy discussion has moved on a lot in the UK since then, and many local areas now have initiatives in place to assess, identify and support people with mental illness in contact with the criminal justice system.

I have since moved away from the UK and now work as the health lead in the research and innovation department of a homelessness organisation in Vienna. Although mental health is no longer the sole focus of my work, there is a lot of overlap with topics from my Fellowship. Interdisciplinary approaches, a focus on community-based solutions, and issues around autonomy and access to treatment are all themes that still resonate in my work today.