Anna Muirhead

I am a highly motivated person, with a strong commitment to improving the wellbeing of people with mental health issues and learning disabilities. I have a diverse range of academic and hands-on experience in research and clinical settings, and a genuine passion for improving the well-being of individuals with mental health issues and learning disabilities. 

In my various roles as a play worker and support worker across day-care and playgroup settings, I have worked alongside adults and children with learning disabilities, autism and mental health issues. In these roles I worked within multi-disciplinary teams in assessing individuals to create comprehensive support or behaviour plans, with the aim to provide person-centred support. This included communicating with families and carers to ensure the individuals were supported throughout the different services they attended. Through this process, I developed an understanding and appreciation for the importance of individual assessment and intervention to focus on the unique, and specific needs within each client. I found that I get great job satisfaction in putting my learning into practice and really valued learning from such a diverse team. Throughout these roles I have completed comprehensive training in child protection and safeguarding, including a course accredited by Lambeth Safeguarding Children Partnership. My strong communication skills enable me to effectively document incidents and voice concerns in lines with the best practice of safeguarding vulnerable individuals.

During these roles I often worked closely with individuals who preferred to communicate differently, therefore I have a basic understanding of Makaton and British Sign Language. A skill that I am always keen to develop. I have found this skill to be beneficial in all my job and volunteer roles when working with people with mental health issues and learning disabilities. These roles were invaluable to my personal and professional development, however in my next role I would like to further develop my clinical skills. 

I have a 1st class honours degree in BA Art and Psychology from the University of Reading. During this time, I developed as an artist alongside executing a research project exploring uncertainty, anxiety, and autism during the COVID-19 lockdown. This research project coordinated online data collection and data analysis through SPSS and JASP, within a team of other undergraduate students. Following this, I was inspired to pursue a Master’s degree in Developmental Psychology and Psychopathology at King’s College London. My Master’s dissertation will examine the continuity of autism and ADHD traits in families at elevated likelihood for neurodevelopmental conditions within the Autism Development Team (ADT) at the IoPPN at King’s College London. Through this project I will complete in-depth data cleaning, research design, and data analysis using R.

My recent placement in the Learning from Lives and Deaths in People with Learning disabilities and autistic people (LeDeR) research team has refined my research and analytical skills. Working under the supervision of a team of research assistants and clinical psychologists, I have written a research digest for NHS England on cardiovascular health of people with learning disabilities. I will also be supporting the set up of a research project examining vaccination barriers to people with learning disabilities and their carer’s. This includes helping create accessible reading material to improve accessibility to the project, including easy-read consent forms and information sheets for people with learning disabilities. It will also involve taking a leading role in consenting the participants into the project and assisting in running focus groups.