Kairo Maynard

Kairo Maynard joined the SHF Scholars and Fellows network as a qualified Dramatherapist and MA student at the Tavistock Centre, where she has now completed the post-graduate diploma in Working with Children, Young People and Families: A Psychoanalytic Observational Approach. She is currently doing her Professional Doctorate in Child and Adolescent Psychotherapy, also at the Tavistock.

Since her therapy training, her main interests and the driving force for her work focus on intergenerational trauma and attachment, racial injustice and health inequalities which she has spoken and written about on a number of occasions. Alongside her therapy work, she is passionate about improving access to mental health services for Black and other marginalised communities, whilst also advocating for further inclusion and visibility of Black, Asian and ethnic minority therapists and trainees. 

A list of her writings include:

• ‘Can Dramatherapy help Black women discover their true self despite racial and gender oppression?’ research article in Dramatherapy Journal, 2018.
• “As a Black therapist, I want to see action come out of mental health awareness discussions” in Mental Health Today (online), 2019.
• Black Children and Autism in Lafiyah Health (online), 2017
• Dramatherapy: History, Applications and Outcome Measures in ACAMH (online), 2018
• She has also contributed to the book ‘Intersectionality in the Arts Psychotherapies’ due for publication release in January 2022.