Understanding people in context
I am Laureen Rufaro Aigbe, a Social Work England registered social worker, practice educator, doctoral researcher, writer and psychosocial practitioner with more than two decades of experience across health and social care.
My professional life has been spent working with people at points of complexity: when relationships are under pressure, when families are navigating change, when professionals are trying to find their place within difficult systems, and when organisations themselves become part of the difficulty.
This has shaped a central belief in my work: we cannot always understand a person by looking at the person alone.
Our emotional lives exist within relationships, families, histories, cultures, workplaces, communities and institutions. Sometimes what appears to be an individual difficulty begins to make greater sense when we consider the context in which it has developed.
That is the foundation of my psychosocial approach.
My professional background
My social work career spans adult and children’s services, hospital and community practice, safeguarding, multidisciplinary working, practice leadership, supervision, service development and organisational leadership.
I am also a qualified PEPS 1 and PEPS 2 Social Work Practice Educator and have supported social work students, newly qualified practitioners, returning practitioners and internationally qualified social workers through different stages of professional development.
Alongside practice, I am completing a Professional Doctorate in Advanced Practice and Research: Social Work and Social Care, undertaken through the Tavistock and Portman NHS Foundation Trust and awarded by the University of Essex, with anticipated completion in 2027.
My doctoral work explores the experiences of migrant social workers working within multidisciplinary health and social care teams, examining professional identity, belonging, authority, legitimacy and the organisational systems within which practice takes place.
Research, writing and psychosocial thinking
Writing and research are an important part of how I think.
My academic work explores professional legitimacy in multidisciplinary teams; the meaning of space, hierarchy and belonging within healthcare organisations; leadership and supervision through a psychosocial and systems lens; and anger as a potential site of reflection, meaning-making and transformation.
Alongside journal writing, I am developing two longer-form book projects exploring racism, institutions, belonging, professional life and the experience of learning to think psychosocially.
This body of work informs my therapeutic practice.
I am interested not only in “What is happening to you?”, but also: What has happened around you? What relationships are shaping this experience? What are you carrying from the past? What belongs to the environment or system around you? And what might become possible when those different layers are understood?
Person & Mind grew from that way of thinking. It is a space for therapy, reflection, coaching, professional development and organisational consultation grounded in the understanding that people make greater sense when we understand their context.