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Our people
Our people
Our people
Our people
Mike is the Senior Training Officer for the Estia Centre and has spent his career working alongside people with learning disabilities and family carers. His background is in developing and leading a wide range of social care services across London, including advocacy, accommodation, respite and community-based day activity and recreational services.
Prior to joining the Estia team Mike worked as a freelance consultant specialising in the use of action learning methodology to support individual and organisational development, including the delivery of accredited programmes of learning.
He is passionate about social justice and social action for people with learning disabilities and sees effective learning and self-leadership as originating from the ability to critically reflect on our own motivations and behaviours so as to better relate to the people around us and our outside world.
Dr Barbara Barter currently works as a clinical psychologist with the mental health in learning disability team in the Trust since qualifying from North Wales in 2010. She has an interest in mindfulness, third wave behavioural approaches and clinical health psychology.
Nick Bouras is Professor Emeritus of Psychiatry at the Health Service and Population Research Department at the Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology and Neuroscience (IoPPN), King’s College London and Director of Implemental (formerly Maudsley International).
He has been a member of several national and international organisations including Chairman of the World Psychiatric Association, section on Psychiatry of Mental Health and Intellectual Disability; Vice President of the European Association of Mental Health in Intellectual Disability; and Vice President of the International Association for the Scientific Study of Intellectual Disability.
He has published widely and is member of the editorial boards of several journals.
Steve Hardy is a consultant nurse in learning disabilities at Oxleas NHS Foundation Trust. He has worked in mental health services for people with learning disabilities for the past two decades and has widely published in this area.
Steve Moss has worked for nearly 30 years in disability research, and during the 1990s, he directed a Department of Health funded programme of research on the detection and diagnosis of mental disorders in this population which saw the PAS-ADD assessment system (psychiatric assessment schedules for adults with developmental disabilities). The PAS-ADD tools have become increasingly widely used in UK services, and also in Australia, North America and Europe (where they have been translated into Spanish, Dutch, German and Greek). Read more on the PAS-ADD website. Most recently Steve has developed the ChA-PAS.
Professor Declan Murphy trained in Psychiatry at the Maudsley Hospital and IoPPN. He undertook his research training at the IoPPN and at the National Institutes of Health (NIH,USA). His research interest is in the genetic and environmental determinants of brain development and behaviour.
Dr Natalie Read is a clinical psychologist working in the Southwark Mental Health in Learning Disabilities team. Natalie joined the team in 2016 after qualifying from the University of East London. Prior to training as a psychologist, Natalie worked in a community learning disability team, child and adolescent mental health services, and eating disorders services. Natalie has also worked as a support worker with people with acquired brain injuries. Natalie has a particular interest in supporting older people with learning disabilities, including those affected by dementia, and in reducing health inequalities for all people with learning disabilities.
Dr Sam Riches has supported people with learning disabilities in a variety of roles, from volunteer youth worker, as a trustee of a small charity for people with a learning disability and now as a qualified clinical psychologist since 1995. Since qualifying she has specialised in the mental health needs of people with learning disabilities and is based in the London Borough of Lewisham. Dr Riches helps to review and deliver training at the Estia Centre and has a particular interest in the impact of bullying and discrimination on the emotional lives of people with learning disabilities.
Kenneth is a qualified learning disability nurse who is currently working as a community psychiatrist nurse within the Mental Health in Learning Disability Team. He started working with the trust 12/2017 and has also acted as team leader in two different services, Lewisham and Southwark MHLD. Kenneth also worked as a clinical charge nurse at Atlas House, which is a specialist inpatient service based in South east London (10/2016-12/2017) before joining SLAM MHLD as a CPN. He holds a degree in English Private Law and will be commencing Academic professional apprenticeship which includes the PGCert HE from January 2021 and is passionate about supporting people with learning disabilities to get appropriate support.