Profile
I’m a former counsellor exploring family history through a psychological lens. I’ve pioneered what I call ‘geneatherapy’ – an integrative approach that applies psychological theory to family history research. Through my writing and speaking, I explore how historical events and circumstances created lasting impressions on our ancestors, helping family historians understand not just what made them who they were, but how their experiences may have passed to the generations that followed. Author of 'A Victorian’s Inheritance' (The early life of a Sheffield grandfather affected by his mother-s alcoholism); 'Yet': A Story of Triumph Over Childhood Separation, Trauma, and Disability. (Sheffield) Coming soon: Mary is a three-volume box set that reconstructs the life of a Victorian woman whose voice survives not in letters or diaries, but in a handwritten recipe book started in Sheffield in 1860. Preserved page by page—marked by use, correction, and time—Mary’s recipes form the foundation of a larger historical biography. Together, they reveal a life shaped by abandonment, social disruption, resilience, and survival in nineteenth-century Britain. This project brings Mary back into view through original material culture, genealogical research, and historical scholarship, transforming a domestic manuscript into biography, evidence, and analysis.
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