I have been freelance training since June 2008. I have considerable experience both as a teacher and a trainer. I have a degree in Dramatics Arts from Leeds University, a post graduate teaching certificate in Social Studies at the Institute of Education in London, and a diploma in MSc Women’s Studies at Bristol University. My academic background has meant that my training is always well researched, and evidence based.
I have worked in London for years as an actress and political campaigner for women’s rights. I then moved to Bristol to work as a teacher in a challenging comprehensive school. I left teaching to work for a number of different training organisations, including a private NLP training company, and then the Prince’s Trust Volunteers. The latter involved leading teams of mainly disaffected young people in outdoor pursuits and community projects and gave me a keen interest in teambuilding. I think I excel at making controversial information accessible and clear to a variety of audiences.
In April 2001, I began working for Bristol City Council (BCC), when I was appointed as training manager for the newly established Knowle West Sure Start. This involved the recruitment, induction and training of the entire staff team in Child Protection. I gained considerable experience of child protection case work in a disadvantaged community, as well as group facilitation, partnership working and participative working with service users. My training is therefore embedded in my practical work with children and families.
I then worked as a trainer for the social care training department children and young people’s services within BCC, with special responsibility for developing and delivering training in child protection, equalities, Total Respect (listening to the voice of Looked After Children), the common assessment framework and skills for managers. I then worked as the training coordinator for the multi-agency sexual health training programme, based within the sexual health team at NHS Bristol public health. This experience gave me further experience of Safeguarding with regard to sexual health. I feel my training benefits from an extensive knowledge of safeguarding practice in a variety of different agencies and age groups.
Most recently in 2019 I became a qualified coach, receiving an accredited advanced Diploma from the Institute of Learning and Management in Professional Coaching. This formally provides the recognition of my skills and experience to offer ongoing support and guidance to designated safeguarding leads in a way that is both therapeutic and practically useful.
All this experience has also enabled me to acquire an in-depth knowledge of quality safeguarding practice. As a result, I can now provide an excellent service to settings by writing and reviewing policies and coordinating supportive safeguarding audits.