Doctor Susannah Colbert is a research psychologist specialising in psychosis. She is currently undertaking post-doctoral work as part of her training as a clinician for the United Kingdom’s mental health infrastructure.

Her key contribution to The Jolly Pilgrim came early on, during the summer of 2007, when I was making my leap of faith into uncharted intellectual and artistic territory. Doctor Colbert grasped how I was attempting to use literature as a vehicle for communicating a world view and mind-melding with generations as yet unborn. While others threw stones from greenhouses, she told me I should do it. That meant a great deal at the time.

Doctor Colbert reviewed the original book plan in 2007 and proofed the early drafts of the religious sections, along with those setting out the book’s philosophical framework. She also primed me on the psychological terminology I needed to understand (crucially the difference between the ego, the superego and the id) and ensured my thinking was clear regarding the distinction between something that is physically real and something which is merely real in the human mind.

Doctor Colbert’s current research involves using art to help individuals with severe and enduring mental health problems to reflect upon their personal narratives. She lives in London.