Dr Kate Blake-Holmes is a Lecturer in the School of Social Work. She has been a qualified social worker since 2004 and has practised as an Approved Mental Health Professional (AMHP) since 2010, alongside an academic career focused on mental health social work, family-focused practice, and professional decision-making.

Kate joined UEA as a lecturer in 2015 following extensive practice experience in adult mental health services across community, acute and crisis response settings. She continues to practise as an AMHP for a local authority and remains registered with Social Work England, ensuring her teaching and research are closely grounded in contemporary statutory practice.

She is Director of the Approved Mental Health Professional Programme at UEA and leads Equality, Diversity and Inclusion and Athena Swan activity within the School.

Teaching

Kate has been lecturing in higher education since 2013 and teaches across qualifying and post-qualifying social work programmes. She regularly contributes specialist mental health teaching to students in allied disciplines including Clinical Psychology, Nursing and Occupational Therapy.  Her teaching focuses on family focused practice, mental health, law, policy and practice, risk and decision-making within statutory context, and is informed by practice-based learning and co-production, with a strong commitment to supporting students working in complex professional and personal contexts.

Research

Kate’s research focuses on family-focused practice in the context of mental health, with particular attention to how families and carers navigate health and social care services, and how professionals; including Approved Mental Health Professionals (AMHPs) make decisions at points of crisis.

Her work spans parental mental illness, young and young adult carers, service navigation, and workforce wellbeing and retention. She has led and contributed to a range of qualitative and mixed-methods studies in collaboration with local authorities, NHS services and third-sector organisations, with a strong emphasis on co-production with people with lived experience.

In 2020, Kate received a UEA Engagement Award following a project responding to the needs of young carers during the COVID-19 lockdown, which examined the impact of pandemic restrictions on young carers and their families. The project attracted significant national media attention, including coverage by the BBC and Radio 4’s Woman’s Hour, and was cited in Parliament. The work contributed to increased awareness of young carers during the pandemic and informed practice responses at local and national levels.

Kate is Chair of the Prato International Research Collaborative for Change in Parent and Child Mental Health, presenting regular virtual seminars and a biannual research conference in Prato, Italy. She is also a member of the UK Parental Mental Illness special interest research group and engages regularly with policy and practice audiences, including the Young Carers All-Party Parliamentary Group.

Doctoral supervision

Kate is an experienced PhD supervisor and currently supervises doctoral research in areas including young carers, parental mental illness, mental health services and professional decision-making. She welcomes enquiries from prospective PhD students and is also open to examining doctoral theses in related fields.