| about Sarah Graham  | contact details and maps  | advertise on this site  | iPhone 0754 591 5038 | + email  | 

From Nisha Gautama - Legal Team Manager(Youth) - West London Magistrates’ Court

On 20th October 2008 West London Magistrates’ Court held an event at the courthouse as part of ‘Inside Justice’ week. Around 30 School children from local Pupil Referral Units were invited to the day. These are children who have been excluded from mainstream schooling for a number of reasons and were certainly a challenging audience.

The theme of the event was about keeping safe and speakers from across various criminal justice agencies were invited to contribute. Baroness Scotland was one of the speakers. Sarah Graham came recommended as someone who could talk to the school children about drugs and alcohol.

She was an excellent guest speaker. Her style in addressing the children was personal and lucid. I would call it ‘straight talking’ about serious issues. I observed the children galvanising into attentiveness and really listening to the subject matter. Sarah spoke about her personal experiences and the nature and dangers of addiction to a variety of drugs including alcohol and nicotine. I know that some children were moved to come and speak to her during the break.

Sarah is clearly knowledgeable about her subject matter and is able to tailor important messages to her audience. I thank her for her succinct and relevant contribution to the day.

Dr Ken Checinski, Consultant Psychiatrist working in the NHS and also Senior Lecturer at St George’s, University of London.

I have referred patients to the stimulant service and acupuncture drop-in clinics set up by Sarah Graham within my community drug and alcohol service (Respond). Some of these people were complex, with a long history of entrenched addictive and other maladaptive behavioral patterns.

Sarah is highly professional and very knowledgeable about substances of misuse, their use, effects and dependence issues; and she is able to form a therapeutic alliance with patients who are difficult to engage and foster good treatment outcomes.

I have asked her to deliver training to medical students and junior doctors at St George's and look forward to working with her again.

She is committed and passionate about her work and I wish this venture every success.