Hello!

Nice to meet you. I’m Fran.

You might be here as a family member or friend of someone who’s experienced psychosis, or perhaps you’ve had unusual experiences yourself.

These days it’s completely normal to look someone up online, especially when you’re thinking about talking to them about something as important as mental health. I wanted there to be something here in case you do. It’s understandable to want a sense of who you might be working with.

My training and experience

I’m a qualified social worker with a background in mental health, and I’ve been working with people experiencing and recovering with psychosis for over five years. I’ve worked in both local authority and NHS settings, in specialist psychosis teams as well as more general mental health teams. My work has included one-to-one support, family sessions, and peer groups such as Hearing Voices groups and groups for family members and carers.

I’m also trained in Cognitive Behavioural Family Intervention for Psychosis, which means I offer structured family therapy for families where psychosis or bipolar have come into their lives. I’m able to deliver this work and also support others to learn how to do it.

Alongside this, I’m an assistant lecturer on the CBFI course at King’s College London, as part of a wider national training initiative funded by NHS England.

I have completed a PGCert in Systemic Psychotherapy at the Tavistock also have an interest in systemic psychotherapy and offer these kinds of sessions also. If you want these kind of sessions, just ask and we can have a chat about what they might look like.

A bit about me

I spend most of the working week with families and couples doing family sessions. I became a mental health social worker because of my own experiences and those of people close to me. I’m always learning and training to improve my work with families. I’m currently studying for my intermediate PGCert in Systemic Psychotherapy at the King’s College London.

Outside of work, I love a good cup of tea and a chocolate biscuit, enjoy 60s music, and relaxing in the bath with candles. On weekends, you’ll often find me at car boot sales looking for hidden treasures.

What are family sessions?

Family sessions involve meeting with you and your family and/or close friends who support you, usually every two weeks, for around 14 sessions.

There’s strong evidence that when people who’ve experienced psychosis take part in family sessions, they’re significantly less likely to have another episode, less likely to be readmitted to hospital, and more likely to experience better outcomes in their day-to-day lives. That’s why the NHS funds these sessions, because they work.

This approach is backed by a large body of research. Here is the evidence.