Leoni Descartes

MSc Addictions Student, King’s College London | Frontline Specialist in Substance Use | Addiction Researcher Reimagining Addiction Services | Continuity of Care & Harm Reduction

📍 London | 📧 leonidescartes@hotmail.com | 🌐 linkedin.com/in/leonidescartes

Professional Summary

I am a passionate and dynamic addiction professional with lived experience and frontline expertise in prison-based, community, and transitional addiction care. I previously served as a team leader in a women's prison, where I managed a multidisciplinary team and delivered gender-responsive, trauma-informed psychosocial support to women navigating substance use and incarceration.

My academic background includes a BSc in Biology with a research focus on addiction, and 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 work is grounded in compassion, science, and systemic reform, and I am committed to improving addiction care pathways for vulnerable populations through evidence-based practice and policy innovation.

A skilled public speaker and advocate, I have been featured in national research reports and am committed to service design and reform for people impacted by the criminal justice system, and I aim to conduct doctoral research around the world to advance culturally relevant, integrated addiction services focusing on continuity of care.

Personal Highlights

  • ADHD Research Lab, working toward a potential presentation at the Royal Society in September 2026. My proposal explores whether curiosity functions as a protective or risk factor in individuals with ADHD and addiction, or whether it's context-dependent.

  • Appointed Team Leader in a UK women's prison with direct responsibility for team development, strategic planning, and trauma-informed recovery delivery.

  • Selected for competitive scholarships and bursaries at King’s College London and by the Society for the Study of Addiction, recognising both academic excellence and professional impact.

  • Featured case study in CREST Advisory’s national report on maternal imprisonment, highlighting my advocacy for systemic reform.

  • Founder-level leadership at Croydon Workspace, an award-winning cultural hub supporting grassroots creatives and marginalised voices.

  • Actively shaping service strategy, co-leading innovation projects that embed creativity, participation, and dignity into addiction recovery frameworks.

  • Fluent in the tools of health and justice systems, from MARAC and RMI to safeguarding, motivational interviewing, and mental health referral pathways.

  • Aspiring doctoral researcher with a goal to lead addiction health systems research

Key Skills & Expertise

Research & Analytical Skills

Quantitative and qualitative research methods; systematic review and scoping review methodology (PRISMA-guided screening, data extraction, quality appraisal, protocol development, database searching); statistical analysis (SPSS); data synthesis and thematic analysis; experimental design; data interpretation; critical appraisal of evidence; mixed-methods integration; service and intervention evaluation; NVivo; Python (basic); Microsoft & Google suites; WordPress; Squarespace; Eventbrite

Clinical & Therapeutic Practice

Trauma-Informed Care & Psychosocial Interventions; Harm Reduction & Naloxone Training; Motivational Interviewing; BBV Testing & Needle Exchange; Recovery Planning & Group Facilitation; Case Management & Risk Assessment; extensive knowledge of Opiate Agonist Therapies (Methadone, Buprenorphine); strong understanding of opiates, stimulants, depressants, and emerging drugs, including pharmacology and use patterns

System & Policy Navigation

Through-the-Gate (TTG) Support; Out of Court Disposals (Diversion Schemes); MARAC, RMI, MASH, NDTMS, SLAM Referrals; Safeguarding & Multi-Agency Coordination; Detox & Rehab Referrals; Criminal Justice System Knowledge including MoJ tools; SystmOne; P-Nomis; OASys; Refer Monitoring System

Communication & Practice

Academic writing & referencing; peer-reviewed literature synthesis; report writing; science communication; presentations & public speaking; stakeholder engagement; workshop facilitation; event & social media management

Leadership & Innovation

Team & Service Management; Strategy Development & Delivery Redesign; Lived Experience Advocacy; Policy Engagement & Report Contribution; Community Engagement & Co-production

Professional Experience

Team Leader, Substance Misuse – HMP Downview
The Forward Trust | Nov 2024 – August 2025

  • Lead service delivery for women in custody; supervise staff, releases, caseloads, and interventions.

  • Co-design and implement engagement strategies and creative group programmes.

  • Provide trauma-informed one-to-one support and motivational recovery sessions.

Through-the-Gate Advocate – Substance Misuse
Women in Prison | Sep 2023 – Feb 2024

  • Supported women pre- and post-release with housing, substance use, mental health, and legal advocacy.

  • Delivered diversion services in collaboration with police, ensuring alternatives to custody for vulnerable women.

  • Provided internal consultancy to develop gender-informed, holistic addiction strategies.

Recovery Worker – Opiates Team
Change Grow Live (CGL) | Nov 2022 – Sep 2023

  • Managed a high-volume caseload of individuals with opiate and polydrug dependence.

  • Delivered personalised harm reduction, BBV testing, and psychosocial support.

  • Coordinated care with detox centres, mental health teams, and local authorities.

  • Wrote Buvidal case studies based on service user interviews about the impact of buprenorphine prolonged-release injection on their recovery journey at CGL.

Community Manager & Director
Croydon Workspace | Sep 2012 – September 2025

  • Oversaw operations at Croydon’s flagship community arts venue.

  • Led strategy, fundraising, communications, safety, and public programming with a focus on inclusion.

Education

King’s College London
MSc in Addictions (2025–2026)

  • Funded by KCL Scholarship and Society for the Study of Addiction Bursary

  • Selected for President’s Global Leadership Award: Completed a postgraduate leadership course with coursework focusing on continuity of care policy and drug and alcohol services

  • Dissertation is a systematic review that examines the continuity of care for people in prison receiving opioid agonist treatment.

The Open University
BSc in Biology (2020–2024)

  • Final year project: focused on addiction science: exploring sex differences in reward-seeking behaviours, age, and substance misuse in the UK population, using data from the National Drug Treatment Monitoring System

Kingston University
CertHE in Pharmacology (2011–2012)

SFX Sixth Form College
A Levels: Biology, Chemistry, Art (2008–2010)

Research + Publications

Smith E, et al. (forthcoming). Care pathways for pregnant women who use drugs in England and Wales. Co-author.

Certifications + CPD

  • Developing a research question in International Relations

  • Data analysis: visualisations in Excel

  • Carrying out research for policy and advocacy work

  • Conducting qualitative interviews

  • Getting started with SPSS

  • PCEP Certified Entry Level Python Programmer

  • Certificate in Pharmacology – foundational principles of drug action and substance interaction

  • Foundations of Rehabilitation Group Work (Criminal Justice) – group facilitation in secure and forensic settings

  • Optimising Opioid Substitution Therapy (OST) – including switching medications safely and effectively

  • Mental Capacity Act – legal framework for supporting individuals with impaired decision-making

  • Naloxone Training – administration, overdose response, and service user training

  • Blood-Borne Virus (BBV) Testing & Prevention – including dry blood spot testing, top tester recognition

  • Motivational Interviewing – behaviour change techniques for substance misuse support

  • Safeguarding Adults & Children – identifying and managing safeguarding concerns in complex cases

  • Substance Misuse & Co-occurring Mental Health Conditions – dual diagnosis support

  • Case Management & Risk Assessment – personalised recovery planning and integrated referrals

  • GDPR & Confidentiality in Health Settings

  • Health & Safety in Custodial Environments

  • First Aid & Emergency Response (inc. overdose management)

  • Cultural Competency & Equality, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI)

  • Mental Health First Aider

  • Dual Diagnosis and Families: families, substance misuse and mental disorders

  • Novel Psychoactive Substances

  • Suicide Prevention

  • Shelter Homelessness Law: Introductory

  • Rough Sleeper Mental Health Awareness

  • Piece of the PIE - Developing your psychologically informed environment

  • Level 2 Exchange supplies - Needle and Syringe Programme Practitioner

Languages

  • English (Native/Bilingual)

  • Spanish (Elementary)

  • Arabic (Elementary)

Honours & Recognition