Julie’s background is as a health practitioner. She worked for many years as an occupational therapist in specialist mental health services. Julie now works as a full time member of academic staff in the School of Health Sciences in the University of Liverpool. She was seconded for 5 years to Liverpool City Council to develop and lead the arts and health programme as part of Liverpool’s 2008 European Capital of Culture celebrations. It was during this period that she first met and worked with DaDaFest and Ruth Gould. Ruth had an invaluable role in offering support and guidance at a crucial period to the creative communities team in which Julie was based within Liverpool’s Culture Company.
Julie gained very much from this experience and decided that if possible she would like to learn more about the impact of engagement in the arts on people’s health and wellbeing. Julie was fortunate to gain a place to study at the University of Liverpool for one year full time for a Masters in Research exploring different aspects of arts and health. Shortly after completing her studies she was made redundant from the NHS then worked independently for more than 3 years. This work included carrying out small scale evaluations for local arts organisations exploring the impact on well-being. Julie has developed a particular area of interest in dance and movement on people’s health and wellbeing.
Julie also worked for DaDaFest and led on a project called Arts Life which was a small study to further understand disabled people’s access needs in order to participate in mainstream arts and cultural activities in Liverpool.
Since May 2014 she has been based at Liverpool University and a member of the DaDaFest Board. Julie enjoys contributing and continuing to learn from an organisation that appreciates and understands the role of arts engagement on people’s lives.