Maria Preston

Clinical Team Manager, Leeds and York Partnership NHS Foundation Trust

Maria Preston is an Occupational Therapist with a keen interest in homelessness and inclusion health. In her current role she works as a clinical team manager for Forward Leeds, managing 2 teams which support some of the most vulnerable and excluded groups of people in Leeds. She has also been involved in the development a new role to support sex workers within Leeds. In her previous role she worked as a frontline practitioner providing mental health support to rough sleepers.

Maria has worked in homelessness since 2022 and is passionate about this area of work; she has presented at Pathways in the past and delivered university lectures. Maria is passionate about providing support to individuals who struggle to access mainstream services and uses her knowledge and skills to advocate for systems change and adapting services to meet the needs of the population. She is also an advocate for the role of occupational therapy within homelessness services and the valuable skills and contribution of this profession to the sector.