Andi the Head of Access, Participation and Outcomes at Leeds Trinity (LTU). Andi joined LTU as a University Teacher in September 2021 to deliver the Unlocked MSc in Applied Custodial Leadership in partnership with the Unlocked Graduates. Andi transitioned from practice to Higher Education (HE) and now has Full Fellowship with the Higher Education Academy.

Previous to this transition, Andi had an extensive 15-year career in Youth Justice. Andi has authored three crime and justice books, which combine his practice experience, research whilst in practice, and his lived experience of adverse childhood experiences, the care experience, school exclusion, drug addiction and youth incarceration. 

Andi started his career working within the Intensive Supervision and Surveillance Programme (ISSP) with young people assessed as high risk, or on release from custody on intensive licence conditions. This involved project management and risk managing children and young people through engagement and participation methods. Andi won several awards for Leeds City Council while in this role by engaging young people and involving them in the design of projects to raise money for Martin House Hospice, which is a hospice for terminally ill children. 

Having qualified in 2013, Andi then case managed prevention, diversion and high-risk justice involved children and young people within a multi-agency framework of Assessment, Plan, Intervention and Supervision (APIS). Coordinating services around children and young people to prevent them offending or committing further offences. This involved completing risk assessments and producing pre-sentence reports for Youth and Crown Court. 

Andi then went on to Manage a Family Intervention Service (FIS) area team. A Leeds City Council service that works with Children and Families with Complex Needs to safely prevent Social Care involvement. Andi managed and supervised 6 Lead Family Workers and 6 Support Workers. FIS delivered Whole Family Assessments and the lead workers were responsible for delivering multi-agency family work to improve outcomes for children. This was delivered within the Common Assessment Framework (CAF). 

As a result of the findings of the Prison Reform Trust's independent review of the disproportionate number of children in care and care leavers in the criminal justice system, Andi developed the role of the Child Looked After Specialist in Leeds. This required front line work, data collection and strategic oversight of developing policies and protocols to prevent the unnecessary criminalisation of children in care. Andi has developed countless partnerships between agencies that improve outcomes for children in Leeds, including the development and coordination of the Reducing Offending for Children Looked After (ROCLA) Panel. 

Andi has an interest in the relational experience of those that enter the justice system and those that work within it. A particular interest in Legitimacy, Power, and Experiential Peers - exploring whether Experiential Peer involvement in the criminal and youth justice system enhances participation practice and whether this approach can support desistance which is the focus on his PhD.