Dr Sharmila Mahesh Kumar

(she/her)

BSc, MSc, PhD

Overview

I graduated with a PhD in ‘Improving the health and wellbeing of long term opioid substitute treatment patients who are not benefitting from treatment’ from the University of South Wales in January 2023. I am currently working as a Research Associate on the NIHR funded ADVANCE-D clinical trial with colleagues across the universities of Manchester, Kings College London, Edinburgh and Cardiff University. ADVANCE-D is a digital perpetrator intervention which aims to reduce domestic abuse in men who use substances.

I am passionate about research that aims to improve the wellbeing of people who substances and the efficacy of interventions that address substances use. I have a particular interest in the area of substance use and the use of co-production in research in ensuring that the voices of people with lived experiences are both heard and validated in research. I regularly use personal reflections in my research to reflect on emotions, identify strengths and areas in which research could be further improved. I gained significant experience of qualitative methods in my PhD project. Prior to completion of my PhD, I have worked as a substance use worker in both the voluntary sector and criminal justice settings, using evidence based interventions such as motivational interviewing and cognitive behavioral therapy in a person centered manner.  This experience of use of evidenced based interventions has helped me to actively listen to participants and ensure that my qualitative interviews are suited to the specific needs of participants. I witnessed people who accessed support experience immense difficulties such as homelessness, difficulties with mental health and domestic violence , use the strength of willpower and resilience to successfully overcome these obstacles. I believe that I have learned so much about determination from my therapeutic work experience with people who use drugs. This has strengthened my passion to work in research to explore new and innovative ways that could positively influence the lives of others.