I have over 30 years’ experience of working with people with severe mental health problems, and expertise in the fields of mental health in later life, dementia, and mental capacity, with an emphasis on self-management, peer support, quality of life, rights, social inclusion and empowerment. Toby has written articles on values based practice (VBP), co-authored a book on values based practice and mental health and mental capacity law for psychiatric nurses, produced VBP ‘key card’ information for the social care workforce through Skills for Care.

I co-authored with Dr Julian Hughes The Dementia Manifesto: Putting values-based practice to work (CUP, 2019), part of the CUP VBP book series. In 2025 I was awarded a PhD by Publication from the University of West London for my thesis, Dementia and values-based practice – a case of facts, evidence, rights or values? In 2025 I also became editor of the Journal of Dementia Care (Current Issue – Dementia Community)