Mary-Joy Albutt
PhD Student
School of Health and Wellbeing
Association for Dementia Studies
email: albm1_23@uni.worc.ac.uk
Mary-Joy (MJ) is a part time PhD student with the Association for Dementia Studies.
MJ’s research is exploring the bi-directional relationship between neurocognitive disorders and trauma-related disorders and hopes to write a set of guidelines for care homes in England seeking to embed trauma informed practices into their dementia care provision.
MJ is supervised by Dr Julie Barrett, Dr Shirley Evans and Dr Isabelle Latham.
MJ has been a qualified general and mental health nurse since 1989. Her varied career has included roles in private, public voluntary health and education sectors. Between 1998 – 2001 she travelled across India as a volunteer HIV-educator and her experiences led her to return to UK to undertake an MSc in Public Health with the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine. She has well over 15 years’ experience of working with people with neurocognitive disorders, as well as personal experience of supporting her mother through a 13-year journey living with Alzheimer’s Disease.
MJ is Founder and CEO of AIM to Get Better, and is a nurse consultant in neurocognitive disorders. She is also an expert by experience in Individual Trauma and Trauma Informed Care.
In 2025 MJ qualified as a Sound Healing Practitioner and is offering specialist sound healing therapies for people living with dementia.
Her first book “The Bear, The Bull and The Butterfly; A Journey to Authentic Healing” was published in 2025.
In the last 4 years, MJ has run 3 half marathons and, in Feb 2025 completed a 100km trek across the Sahara to raise money for the Alzheimer’s Society.
Qualifications
MSc Public Health, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, University of London
PGCE (Post Compulsory Education and Training), University of Greenwich
BSc Health Promotion, Open University
Registered General Nurse, Princess Alexandra School of Nursing, The Royal London Hospital
Registered Mental Nurse, Princess Alexandra School of Nursing, The Royal London Hospital
Level 3 Diploma Sound Healing
Publications and Dissemination Activities
Mary-Joy Albutt (2025) “The Bear, The Bull and The Butterfly: A Journey to Authentic Healing”. Ingram Content Group UK Ltd. ISBN 979-8-89604-094-1
Albutt M., Bushell D., Davies R., Kirve S., Tumuhairwe JB., Moore G., Mumford S., (2024) Presentation – PhD symposium. UK Dementia Congress, Coventry.