Our Expert Staying Safe Parents Team
Professor Adam R Winstock
MBBS, BSc, MSc, MRCP, MRCPsych, FAChAM, MD
Course Developer & Primary Trainer
Adam is a Consultant Psychiatrist and Addiction Medicine Specialist. He is an Honorary Clinical Professor at University College London. He is an accomplished educator, public speaker, and internationally recognized expert in the areas of young people, drugs and nightlife. He has published over 150 research papers and book chapters and has been delivering training to clinicians, law enforcement and hospitality staff for over 20 years. He is also a member of Drug Science Expert Committee. His practical, engaging and highly evaluated sessions have focused on raising drug awareness and recognising and responding to risks associated with their use.
Dr Louise Martin
Dr Louise Martin is a consultant clinical psychologist and family therapist with 20 years experience of working with people using substances. Her work involves supporting service users and their family members, as well as staff teams in their work with people affected by problem substance use. In 2023 Louise chaired a working group to develop a national drug and alcohol treatment and recovery capability framework for the psychological professions. Louise has delivered training to staff teams on a range of topics including motivational interviewing, trauma informed care, and working with people who use substances.
Fiona Spargo-Mabbs, OBE
Fiona is Director and Founder of drug education charity the Daniel Spargo-Mabbs Foundation, and an award-winning author of books for parents. With over two decades’ experience working in education as a teacher, manager and national lead in her specialism working with vulnerable families, Fiona co-founded the DSM Foundation in 2014 in response to the death of her 16-year-old son Dan having taken ecstasy. As well as working directly with young people, parents and professionals herself, Fiona is also regularly asked to speak on various national platforms and in the media about issues relating to young people, drugs and decisions, including a TEDx talk, ‘Why drugs education is vital’. In 2023 she was awarded an OBE for services to young people.
Dr Sharon Cox
Dr Sharon Cox is a Principal Research Fellow in Behavioural Science and Health at UCL. For nearly 20 years she has been studying the psychology of addictive behaviour with a special interest in nicotine, tobacco and more recently vaping. She uses population level data to assess trends in smoking and vaping across Great Britain, and she leads several studies seeking to help with people with extensive health and social needs to quit smoking.
Dr Caroline S Copeland
Dr Caroline Copeland is a Senior Lecturer in Pharmacology & Toxicology at King's College London, and the Director of the National Programme on Substance Use Mortality (NPSUM). Her research aims to improve the healthcare strategy for people who use drugs via three main themes: 1. The signal detection of emerging trends in the illicit drug market; 2. The evaluation of drug policy; 3. The identification of innovative public health strategies targeting the population of people who use drugs. She uses an integrated approach combining pharmacoepidemiology techniques with in vitro and in vivo reverse pharmacology experiments to achieve this aim.
Dr Claire Smiles
Dr Claire Smiles recently obtained at PhD at Newcastle University where she researched the reproductive health and sexual wellbeing of women who use drugs. Claire began working in this sector in 2011, where she was the first intern at Global Drug Survey, working alongside Prof. Adam Winstock to deliver the biggest survey of people who use drugs. Claire also has a background in practice where she worked in variety of roles in drug and alcohol services in the North East and London alongside Public Health and NHS partners for a number of years. Claire is currently working on a portfolio of work predominantly focused on women who use drugs and their families, including wellbeing, sexual health, family planning, VAWG, trauma and relationships.
Melissa Baxter
Melissa is an AFT and UKCP registered Family & Systemic Psychotherapist and supervisor with additional training in pharmacology and psychopharmacology of drugs and addiction, Functional Family Therapy, Attachment Based Family Therapy, Dialectical Behavioural Therapy, No kids in the Middle and Internal Family Systems. Melissa has offered private Systemic Psychotherapy for nearly ten years while still holding various positions within the NHS. She works with individuals, couples, parents and families with a range of presenting problems that include emotional and behavioural issues such as anxiety, depression, self-harm, suicidal thoughts, trauma, OCD, eating disorders, ADHD and substance / alcohol misuse.
Georgia Bentley
Georgia is a Systemic Psychotherapist with 8 years post-qualification experience, currently working in an NHS Adult Mental Health service. She has over 25 years’ experience of working therapeutically with people who experience difficulties with their alcohol and substances use. In addition to her professional qualifications, Georgia has trained in other psychotherapeutic approaches including Dialectical Behaviour Therapy and Mentalisation-Based Therapy, both of which help clients to make sense of thoughts, beliefs and emotions and explore how they are linked to actions and behaviours that maintain their difficulties. Georgia is currently training to be a Cognitive Analytic Therapy practitioner.
Roz Gittins
Roz Gittins is the Chief Pharmacy Officer and Deputy Registrar for the General Pharmaceutical Council. She is also a National Clinical Advisor for the UK Addiction Healthcare Mission. Roz is the Immediate Past President of the international College of Mental Health Pharmacy and has been a member of various panels and committees including Drug Science’s Scientific Committee, NICE and the Medicines Ethics and Practice Advisory Panel. She has acted as an expert advisor for various organisations and contributed to online resources, national publications, book chapters and primary research, with a particular interest in the misuse of over the counter and prescription medication.
And, Our Staying Safe Team
Jason Kew
Jason is a retired senior Police Officer and advocate for civil liberties, harm reduction and the appropriate implementation of laws to keep the public safe from harm. He has led the development of number of innovative drug strategies to reduce the risks of harm. He has expertise in violence reduction, drug diversion schemes and licensing and has worked with national police groups on innovative approaches to risk reduction. He regularly sits on panels of events where he shares his knowledge on evidence based drug diversion, and on emerging schemes in the UK, such as at a recent side event held by the UN Commission on Narcotic Drugs.
Dr Alex Aldridge
Alex is a lecturer at Birkbeck University and has just completed her PhD in drugs and sex. Offering extensive experience in social media and expertise in delivering sexual consent courses at schools and universities, Alex has an ability and the expertise to communicate with young people in areas where other presenters may find it hard to achieve their natural authenticity and relevance.
Professor Julia Buxton
Julia is British Academy Global Professor in Criminology at the University of Manchester. Her research and publications focus on the development impacts of drug policy enforcement in the Global South; women in illicit drug markets, and the changing South/North dynamics of the international drug trade.
Dr Will Lawn
Will is a lecturer in the Psychology Department at King's College London. He's an expert in cannabis and psychopharmacology research. His special interests include cannabis use disorder, the consequences of cannabis use during adolescence, the use of tech to reduce opioid overdose deaths, and experimental lab studies testing the acute effects of recreational drugs.
Dr Will Floodgate
Will is a Senior Lecturer in Criminology at the University of Manchester. He completed his PhD at the University of Manchester in 2018 for which he examined the reorientation toward recovery in British drug policy and its impact on drug treatment providers and service users. He has also published in the areas of Image and Performance Enhancing Drug (IPED) use and cannabis regulation. More recently, he has led on an evaluation of the Staying Safe Programme pilots at the University of Manchester and the University of South Wales as part of a NIHR £5m innovation fund.
Guy Jones
Guy has been involved in drug science since 2010 and uses his background in chemistry to support the integration of science and technology with harm reduction. Through his work drug checking with The Loop, Psycare UK and running Reagent Tests UK, he has built up considerable expertise on drugs and drug related emergencies.
The Egalitarian - Elysia O’Neill & Della Claydon
Elysia O’Neill and Della Claydon are Co-Founders of The Egalitarian, a social enterprise tackling injustice and inequality in the student community and nighttime economy. Their Safe Place Project raises awareness of important, usually hidden issues that are rife in our society and promote effective allyship to encourage and educate everyone on how we can help each other and prevent harm. They focus on harm prevention with victim-led initiatives, and particularly specialise in anti-spiking, anti-sexual violence and inclusivity for all.
Professor Gail Gilchrist
Gail Gilchrist is a Professor in Addictions Healthcare Research at the National Addiction Centre, King's College London. Gail has been a substance use researcher for almost 30 years in the UK, Europe and Australia. Her research focuses on the role of substance use in intimate partner violence and developing and testing the ADVANCE-D Programme to reduce intimate partner violence in the context of substance use.
Dr Rayyan Zafar
Dr. Zafar has previously completed undergraduate studies in BSc Biomedical Sciences at Newcastle University (1st Class Hons), an MSc in Clinical Neuropsychiatry from Kings College London, IOPPN (Distinction) and a Ph.D. in Neuropsychopharmacology at Imperial College after being awarded the Medical Research Council Doctoral Training 4 year fellowship (MRC DTP) from 2019-2023. As a member of the Centre for Psychedelic Research and Neuropsychopharmacology group, his work focuses on multimodal neuroimaging investigations to investigate reward system dysfunction and develop novel therapeutics in substance use and behavioural addictions.
Gay Men’s Health Collective - Patriic Gayle
The Gay Men's Health Collective is a volunteer led health and wellbeing project for gay men and bisexual men with support for the wider LGBT+ community. Through MENRUS.CO.UK, short films and safer chemsex packs, GMHC promotes health, sexual health and well-being; aims to prevent HIV, HCV, and other STIs, and reduce harms from recreational drug use. We are the very definition of awesomeness on toast.