WHO WE ARE
We share a common belief in human rights, and the inherent dignity and worth of each individual human being. We regard torture and other forms of severe ill-treatment as violations of fundamental human rights.
The TID board
Jude Boyles
Jude Boyles is a BACP Senior Accredited psychological therapist, having qualified in June 1994. In 2003, Jude established the first Freedom from Torture (FFT) rehabilitation centre outside of FFT’s headquarters in London. She managed the service for 14 years until April 2017. In 2017, Jude established and now manages a psychological therapy service for UN resettled refugees for the Refugee Council in South Yorkshire. Jude has a private UK/international supervision practice and writes psychological reports for survivors of torture and other human rights abuses. Jude co-founded TortureID in 2018.
Hermione McEwen
Hermione McEwen is a Solicitor (non-practising) with a specialist background in asylum and human rights law. She was the Senior Solicitor at the Greater Manchester Immigration Aid Unit (GMIAU) from 2004 to 2013. She was a Legal Officer in the medico-legal report writing team at Freedom from Torture North West from 2014-2017. She worked in the strategic litigation team at the Equality and Human Rights Commission 2019-2022. She sits as a First-tier Tribunal Judge (fee paid) and as a Chair on health and social care regulatory Tribunals.
Chris Maloney
Chris Maloney has been a psychiatrist, psychotherapist, and General Practitioner. He was Consultant Medical Psychotherapist in East Berkshire before becoming a GP Partner in Hackney, East London for 12 years. There he met many people and families seeking asylum, and grew to understand the problems they faced. He developed an expert witness practice writing psychiatric and physical injury reports for people’s asylum claims, and related matters, and did this for 16 years.
He is a co-author of ‘Intelligent Kindness: Rehabilitating the Welfare State’ published by Cambridge University Press in February 2020, and co-edited ‘Seeking Asylum and Mental Health’, that was published by Cambridge University Press in August 2022.
Dr Alison Summers
Dr Alison Summers is a general psychiatrist and psychodynamic psychotherapist who has worked with people needing asylum since 2008. Her various part-time roles have included providing psychotherapy, writing medico-legal reports, coordinating a local refugee group, and working on service development and population health needs assessment. Alison was previously an NHS consultant, first in public health medicine and then in psychiatry. She has also volunteered with Freedom from Torture, chaired a national mental health charity (ISPS UK), co-edited an international mental health book series, and worked in leprosy control in Malawi. She has recently co-edited the book Seeking Asylum and Mental Health.
Dr Peggy Mulongo
Dr Peggy Mulongo is an active member of HARM (Honour Abuse Research Matrix) network (School of psychology), a Lecturer in mental health nursing and practice, and the Equality, Diversity and Inclusivity Lead in the School of Nursing at the University of Central Lancashire. She is also a Cross Cultural Mental Health Practitioner with 17 years’ experience of working with people from diverse ethnic populations in the North West of England. She developed the Health & Wellbeing programme at NESTAC, a Refugee Community Organisation based in Greater Manchester. Peggy is expert in delivering cross cultural psychosocial therapy to refugees and asylum seekers from diverse ethnic backgrounds. She has a special interest in supporting women and young girls who experience mental distress related to Violence Against Women and Girls and modern slavery, such as that associated with Female Genital Mutilation and Domestic Servitude.
TID Clinicians - report writers and trainers
Dr Jo Miller
Dr Jo Miller is a General Practitioner (GP) who has worked at a specialist GP practice for refugees and people seeking asylum since 2004. She has developed systems within general practice to screen patients for evidence of human rights abuses. These screenings are the basis for referrals for treatment and an early intervention on documentation of medical evidence of torture and other forms of ill-treatment,
Jo was employed for 10 years as the lead clinician at the medico-legal report writing service based at the North-West Centre of Freedom from Torture, leaving in 2017. Her role included expert-witness report writing and the training and mentoring of other clinicians in the service.
Her work at TortureID involves piloting new ways of gaining access to people who may have experienced human rights abuses. Development work includes the use of screening tools, templated materials and short format reports.
Dr Alison Summers
Dr Alison Summers is a general psychiatrist and psychodynamic psychotherapist who has worked with people needing asylum since 2008. Her various part-time roles have included providing psychotherapy, writing medico-legal reports, coordinating a local refugee group, and working on service development and population health needs assessment. Alison was previously an NHS consultant, first in public health medicine and then in psychiatry. She has also volunteered with Freedom from Torture, chaired a national mental health charity (ISPS UK), co-edited an international mental health book series, and worked in leprosy control in Malawi. She has recently co-edited the book Seeking Asylum and Mental Health.
Kirsten Lamb
Kirsten Lamb qualified as a clinical psychologist in 1981 and worked as a consultant clinical psychologist and manager in an NHS secondary care psychological therapy service from 2001 until 2016. From 2003, she also volunteered and/or worked at the North West Centre of Freedom from Torture as a therapist and medico-legal report writer. She has recently co-edited the book Groupwork with Refugees and Survivors of Human Rights Abuses.
Dr Jonathan Mitchell
Dr Jonathan Mitchell is a Consultant Clinical Psychologist. He is an Associate Fellow of the British Psychological Society, and registered with the Health and Care Professions Council to practice in the UK as both a forensic psychologist and clinical psychologist. He has worked as a psychologist for over 20 years in young offender institutes, medium secure units, inpatient rehabilitation services and community psychology services. He has taught at the Universities of Huddersfield and Leeds. He sat on the NICE Guidance Committee for complex mental health rehabilitation, and has a particular interest in trauma. He has written medico-legal reports on overseas nationals for Freedom From Torture and TortureID for many years.
Dr Rukyya Hassan