Catherine Birch is a Senior Lecturer in Music at York St. John University, UK, heading up the undergraduate Community Music programme. She is a regular practitioner for the York St. John Prison Partnership Project, facilitating weekly singing and song-writing sessions at HMP New Hall. As a community musician, Catherine works primarily as a vocal leader, and has worked with all ages across the education sector as well as in community settings. Catherine is currently a PhD researcher through the International Centre for Community Music (ICCM), supervised by Professor Lee Higgins. The central research theme explores how working in a trauma-informed way, and particularly using the voice in singing and songwriting, can be impactful as a tool in trauma recovery.