About us
Who we are
ATD was founded by Dr Sarah Senker in 2015 with the vision of effecting change not just at an individual level but at a systemic one too.
We are a small consultancy specialising in the domains of criminal justice, health and wellbeing with research and practitioner experience across prison, probation, third sector and local authority provisions.
We have a small pool of skilled and talented research associates, including those with lived experience, who we can draw on dependent on project requirements. This includes both qualitative and quantitative research methods and cost-benefit analyses.
Meet our founder
Dr Sarah Senker is a chartered psychologist with specialisms in trauma informed practice and research, substance misuse and recovery and the rehabilitation of people with sexual convictions and domestic violence. She has worked as a practitioner in prisons facilitating recovery programmes, delivered 1-1 therapy and designing and running women’s groups for people on probation.
Sarah created ATD Research and Consultancy to ensure that the impact of her work reached more than the individual in front of her.
She is a published author with publications across Government and peer-reviewed academic papers and has experience sharing her research and knowledge at seminars attended by over 1,000 people and at national and international conferences.
Alongside being the Director for ATD, she holds research associate posts at Royal Holloway University London, where she supervises MSc Forensic Psychology students and at University of West England where she focuses on trauma informed approaches for people with sexual convictions.
Sarah’s experience in over 60 prisons nationally means she consults and trains other organisations on prison research. She holds Enhanced Level 2, DBS, NSC for DDC High Security Prisons Group and CTC vetting.