Elise is a first year PhD student at Abertay university – her research topic is ‘Counselling clients living in poverty/financial hardship’ with a particular focus on the client voice. Her aim is to situate the research in a local (I.e. Scottish/UK) context, with a view to developing best practice for this client group. The research will be mainly qualitative in nature and the first study is a series of focus groups, partnering with charities who work with clients experiencing financial hardship.

Elise’s reasons for focusing on this client group come from a long-standing interest in social justice, and in particular her work with the Stirling food bank where she has been involved as a volunteer and trustee since 2017. She is also a BACP registered counsellor (having graduated in 2022 in the Pluralistic Counselling MSc at Abertay) and has a small counselling practice working mainly with clients of local third sector organisations.