Theo Stickley trained as a mental health nurse and therapeutic counsellor. He has practised and taught both professions. He worked for nearly twenty years at the University of Nottingham. He is a qualitative researcher and the main focus of his research in the last 20 years has been the arts and health, mostly focusing upon the mental health benefits of engaging with arts activities and has published widely on this topic and on human relations in nursing. Theo is now a Senior Fellow at the Institute of Mental Health in Nottingham. He now befriends asylum seekers and refugees and continues his arts practices.