Welcome, I’m Leoni.
About
I'm a writer, researcher and frontline addiction specialist working at the intersection of addiction, criminal justice, and public health. My work is driven by a commitment to compassionate, evidence-based care for people who use drugs — and a belief that the systems meant to support them can and must work better.
Over the past several years, I've worked in substance misuse services across prison and community settings — as a Substance Misuse Team Leader at The Forward Trust in HMP Downview, a Through-the-Gate Advocate at Women in Prison, and a Recovery Worker specialising in opiates at Change Grow Live. These roles have shaped my understanding of the barriers people face when navigating fragmented systems of care, and the urgent need for more inclusive, trauma-informed approaches.
I'm currently completing an MSc in Addictions at King's College London, supported by the KCL IoPPN Scholarship and SSA Bursary. My dissertation examines continuity of care for people in prison receiving opioid agonist treatment. I am a co-author on a forthcoming review mapping care pathways for pregnant women who use drugs in the UK.
My research interests centre on continuity of care — what breaks it, what enables it, and how to fix it — with a particular focus on digital integration, criminal justice, and people at the highest-risk moments of their recovery journey.
This site is a home for my blog, where I reflect on frontline practice, fieldnote musings, explore research and policy, and reimagine a future with better addiction care.
A frontline addiction worker turned MSc student, navigating doctoral applications in the middle of exam season, half-term childcare and imposter syndrome. Here's what nobody tells you about breaking into academia – and what happens when the outcome arrives.
If you're dead, you can't recover.
Harm reduction was born from crisis, but its legacy is one of compassion, evidence, and survival. In this post, I explore why it's time we stop sidelining harm reduction and start recognising it as the foundation of recovery, not its alternative. Drawing on frontline experience and research, I make the case for a more humane, person-centred approach to addiction care.