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Well-Being In Digital Forensics And Policing: Insights From Hannah Bailey

Release Date: 08/13/2025

Cumulative Trauma In Digital Forensics And Policing With Ben Dimmock

Forensic Focus

Ben Dimmock, Police Well-Being Lead at Bedfordshire Police, joins the Forensic Focus Podcast to talk about psychological safety, trauma exposure, and the long-term emotional toll of working in policing and digital forensics. Ben shares his own experience of depression 12 years into his service, the stigma that made him hide it, and how opening up eventually led him to build and lead one of the largest full-time police well-being teams in the country. He and host Paul explore why well-being has to be treated as an operational necessity rather than a "pink and fluffy" add-on, and how a culture...

David Shipley: Investigating The Darkest Corners Of Digital Evidence

Forensic Focus

David Shipley, Instructor at Anglia Ruskin University, joins the Forensic Focus Podcast to talk about the human cost of online safeguarding work and his fight to close a gap in UK law. Drawing on 16 years investigating abusive imagery and online child sexual offending, David reflects on what the work actually involves — from the scale of the problem and the relentless build-up of warrants and digital forensic backlogs, to the difficult triage decisions investigators must make when no team can examine every device. He's candid about what "safeguarding" really means in practice, and about the...

Leica's Marcus Rowe On Investigating The World's Largest Crash Test, Plus What To Expect At FEE 2026

Forensic Focus

Marcus Rowe, Business Director – Public Safety & Forensics at Leica Geosystems, joins the Forensic Focus Podcast to talk about 3D laser scanning, forensic digital twins, and the role of LiDAR in modern crime and collision investigation. Marcus shares his path from military and civilian policing — including a career in forensic collision investigation with Devon & Cornwall Police — into industry, and explains how Leica Geosystems (part of Hexagon) is empowering investigators with tools that capture entire scenes for analysis, courtroom presentation, and cold case review. Marcus...

Burnout, PTSD, Suicidal Thoughts – The DFIR Well-Being Study Results Are In

Forensic Focus

Phil Anderson, Senior Lecturer at Northumbria University, joins the Forensic Focus Podcast to talk about the Forensic Focus International Well-Being Study. Phil and host Paul Gullon-Scott unpack the findings from a survey of 179 digital forensic investigators across the UK, US, Australia, Canada, Germany, South Africa, India, and beyond. The study used validated psychometric instruments to put hard numbers behind what the profession has been hearing anecdotally for years. Paul and Phil dig into the emerging impact of AI-generated CSAM, where 60% of respondents reported finding it slightly more...

On-Scene Digital Forensics: Winning Investigations Before The Lab

Forensic Focus

Stuart Hutchinson, VP of Sales at ADF Solutions, joins the Forensic Focus Podcast to talk about on-scene digital forensics and empowering first responders during the golden hour. Stuart shares his journey from 23 years with the Met Police — including a chance encounter in a New Scotland Yard lift that led him into Mac forensics and the vendor space at BlackBag, Cellebrite, Oxygen, and now ADF. With 99.9% of investigations involving a digital element, he argues that mishandling digital evidence at the scene is as damaging as trampling through traditional forensic evidence. The conversation...

How Distressing Material Shapes Investigator Well-Being

Forensic Focus

Dr. Fazeelat Duran, Assistant Professor in Psychology at the University of Birmingham, joins the Forensic Focus Podcast to talk about the psychological impact of working with distressing material in law enforcement roles. Drawing on her recent longitudinal study — the first of its kind to follow newly recruited secondary investigators and analysts from day one through 18 months in role — Dr. Duran explains how repeated, indirect exposure to traumatic material shapes mental health over time. She walks through the trajectory her team observed at six, 12, and 18 months, the concept of "dosage...

DFIR In 2026 – AI ‘Button Pusher’ Forensics, Writing Courtroom Reports, Audio Breakthroughs And The Leica Geosystems Conference

Forensic Focus

Si and Desi discuss a range of digital forensics topics, from writing forensic reports that juries can actually understand, to whether AI is coming for "button pusher" DFIR jobs. They explore plain language standards, the classic confusion between forensic "images" and pictures, and Brett Shavers' provocative blog post on AI and job security — leading into a wider discussion about the distinction between technicians and analysts in digital forensics. Si shares highlights from the Leica Geosystems Conference, including fascinating audio forensics research by Henry Vega on deriving vehicle...

Policing's Well-Being Problem: Stigma, Isolation And The Retention Crisis

Forensic Focus

Dr Sarah-Jane Lennie, Associate Professor at the Centre of Excellence for Equity in Uniformed Public Services at Anglia Ruskin University, joins the Forensic Focus Podcast to talk about mental health and well-being in policing — and the often-overlooked toll on police families. Drawing on 17 years as a police officer before moving into academia, Dr Lennie shares the moment her own mental health forced a career-defining decision, and how that experience shaped her research into the culture of silencing, stigma, and emotional masking that still pervades policing today. She explains why the...

Rob Fried On New Challenges In Digital Forensics

Forensic Focus

Rob Fried, digital forensics consultant, author, and assistant professor at Hofstra University, joins the Forensic Focus Podcast to talk about the evolving challenges of forensic practice, AI in investigations, and his latest book. Rob discusses his annual publication cadence — now in its fourth edition — and how each year's content is shaped by real cases, collaborations, and emerging topics in the DFIR community. This year's edition tackles AI policy, data culling strategy, and the documentation practices that keep forensic work defensible in court. The conversation also covers the...

Preparing Investigators For Trauma Exposure In Digital Forensics

Forensic Focus

📝 Complete the Forensic Focus International Well-Being Study: https://www.forensicfocus.com/survey Bunmi Bloom, co-founder of Sena Forensics, joins the Forensic Focus Podcast to discuss the emotional reality of working in digital forensics and the psychological toll of long-term exposure to traumatic material. Drawing on her background with the Metropolitan Police and the Financial Conduct Authority, Bunmi reflects on how DFIR practitioners navigate disturbing images, case reports, and the pressure to “stay strong and get on with it.” The conversation explores coping mechanisms inside...

More Episodes

Hannah Bailey, founder of Blue Light Wellbeing, joins the Forensic Focus Podcast to share her powerful journey from frontline policing to becoming a psychotherapist, trauma therapist, and well-being coach. Drawing on 15 years in the police — including CID and major crime — Hannah brings unique cultural credibility to her work supporting digital forensics professionals, first responders, and other high-risk roles.

She talks openly about living with PTSD and burnout, facing two breast cancer diagnoses, and how those experiences inspired her to focus on proactive mental health support. Hannah and Paul discuss why cultural awareness in therapy matters, how approaches like psychoeducation and regular supervision can help, and why therapy isn’t just for people who are “broken.”

Hannah also explains BrainWorking Recursive Therapy (BWRT), a modern trauma therapy that transformed her own recovery, and shares practical advice for those in digital forensics and other trauma-facing roles on spotting early signs of stress and building long-term resilience.

#DigitalForensics #DFIR #MentalHealth #WellBeing #PTSD

00:00 Introduction

02:44 Hannah Bailey's Background and Career

04:08 The Onset of Mental Health Challenges

06:01 Breast Cancer Diagnosis and Its Impact

06:37 Returning to Policing and Further Challenges

09:44 Lack of Support

12:14 Proactive Mental Health Approaches

17:18 Hannah's Work with DFIs and Other Forces

20:22 The Importance of Early Intervention

26:28 The Value of Therapy in Organizations

27:35 The Importance of Culturally Aware Therapists