Sandra Walker

I became a Mental Health Nurse in the late 1980s and maintain both NHS and private practice. I was employed at various levels throughout my career from staff nurse to modern matron until I left full time health care delivery, in 2011, to become a university lecturer at the University of Southampton where I worked for 7 years.

During the 1990s I battled for some years with Post Natal Depression, becoming for a short time a patient of mental health services. This means I have a 360 degree perspective on the world of mental healthcare as a nurse, an academic and a patient. This experience was fundamental for me in driving me to find ways of providing care that are less stigmatising and that avoid inadvertent re-traumatisation.

My PhD researched the following question 'How do people who have self-harmed experience contact with mental health services whilst in a general hospital?'

I have several working roles:
I work part-time for the University of Portsmouth
I am director of SanityCo
I am co-founder director of The Good Mental Health Cooperative
I am an integrative and EMDR therapist
I am Clinical director of the STITCH_HIT and an Honorary Lecturer at Bristol University