Lydia was working on Wellbeing and Resilience.

Lydia graduated from Leeds University with a BA in Sociology. Her studies lead her to think a lot about social problems and gave her a desire to look at new ways of trying to tackle them. Aside from throwing herself into as many ridiculous fundraising ventures as possible, such as walking on fire and hitchhiking to Croatia, she volunteered as a Link-worker for West Yorkshire Community Chaplaincy Project, working in Armley Prison. Here she worked in ex-offender resettlement and built up a passion for looking at solving the problems and obstacles faced for those who are involved in the Criminal Justice System. After University Lydia worked as a Court Clerk at Leeds Combined Court in the family section. This provided her with a supplementary backdrop to the Criminal Justice System and an interesting insight into social issues within the family.

Lydia has also volunteered for a substance misuse charity called ‘Lifeline' working in the harm minimisation area. This work, combined with her prison involvement lead on to an interest in using the experiences of vulnerable adults as informative catalysts of innovative social change. She began an internship for ‘User Voice' which is an ex-offender led charity giving a ‘voice' to offenders about their experiences of the Criminal Justice system and using them to translate into new client led social problem solving ventures.

Her internship within the Wellbeing and Resilience projects are, for Lydia, a chance to work closely with the community and help vulnerable individuals tackle obstacles in their lives. She is interested in using service users as the ‘problem solvers' for new innovative projects and combining this with media to challenge attitudes and approaches towards current ‘problem groups'.

Lydia's dream is to one day be the female Louis Theroux!