I’m a writer and a psychiatrist. I retired from being a consultant in the National Health Service and an academic at the University of Manchester some years ago. However I came back for a year during the coronavirus pandemic to work with the Greater Manchester Bereavement Service and I’m now Emerita Professor of Primary Care Psychiatry at the University of Manchester. I’ve been an advisor to the World Health Organisation and been awarded the President’s Medal by the Royal College of Psychiatrists in 2017. I was also a Commonwealth Fund 2000-2001 Harkness Fellow in Health Care Policy and Practice based in Seattle.
I’ve written two memoirs, which you can find more about here: ‘The Other Side of Silence: a psychiatrist’s memoir of depression’ and ‘Finding True North: the healing power of place.’ Both are concerned with mental health- I’ve experienced anxiety and depression throughout my adult life. My latest book is Out of Her Mind.
I was born in England, but trained in medicine in Scotland, and it is to here I have returned to live- in Orkney where I am vice-chair of the Orkney Blide Trust.
Patching the Soul 