Claire Thompson, (PhD Researcher)

Claire is an HCPC-registered art psychotherapist and a NCPS-accredited counsellor. Autistic and ADHD (AuDHD), she has over ten years' experience supporting children and adults through creative therapies, particularly those at risk of suicide or self-harm. Alongside her clinical work, she delivers training in adverse childhood experiences (ACEs), intergenerational trauma, and conflict-related trauma,  grounded in her deep knowledge of Northern Ireland's post-conflict landscape. She recently completed her PhD at Ulster University, where her research explored how political murals in Belfast's most deprived communities function as territorial markers, carriers of collective memory, and reinforcers of identity. Her work developed a new theoretical model, the Trauma-Memory-Identity Cycle, which has deepened her understanding of how unresolved trauma shapes both community and individual identity, directly informing her therapeutic and training practice. She works primarily with neurominority groups, delivers neurodiversity training in further and higher education, and is passionate about advocating for neurodivergent voices through research-informed, affirmative approaches that value different ways of thinking.