Partners' Council Members
This is a short video showing three members of the Partners' Council talking about their role
SCIE is represented on the Partners' Council by Allan Bowman, chair of SCIE. He also co-chairs the Partners' Council.
Members
Abbeyfield Society - Helena Little
Helena is a qualified as a social worker and has worked across all service groups. She currently works as the Director of Care for the Abbeyfield Society which provides housing and care for older people in either supported sheltered houses or in care homes.
A National Voice - Maxine Wrigley
A National Voice is a user-led organisation run by young people from care for people from care. Anyone under 25 who has personal experience of care can become a member free of charge. They provide a national platform to hear the voices of over 60,000 children and young people in care in England.
Action for Children - Dory Dickson
Action for Children works with the most vulnerable and neglected children and young people in the UK to help them break through injustice, deprivation and inequality and achieve their full potential. They help nearly 156,000 children, young people and their families through nearly 420 projects across the UK.
Dory Dickson has worked for Action for Children since 1992 in a number of roles. She is currently Customer Service and Complaints Manager, a role which includes collecting and promoting good practice, coordinating feedback and providing support to respond to issues raised by service users.
Age UK (Age Concern England & Help The Aged)- Stephen Lowe
Age of Diversity - Lindsay River
Lindsay also works with a range of other organisations to promote the interests and inclusion of older people from LGBT communities. She was previously the Director of Polari, promoting awareness of older LGBT people's needs. She also worked for seven years in community development for Age Concern Camden, supporting local independent community groups that work with older people. Lindsay is the convener of Age of Diversity, a user-led organisation of older people who are lesbian, gay, bisexual and transsexual or transgender (LGBT).
Being the Boss - Anne Pridmore.
Anne has been active in the disability movement for over 25 years and has a particular interest in independent living and direct payments. She is a direct payment user and employs her own personal assistants. She runs the website Being the Boss which gives advice to service users who employ personal assistants.
The British Association and College of Occupational Therapists - Julia Scott
Julia worked as an Occupational therapist in both the NHS and social care settings prior to becoming the Chief Executive of the College of Occupational Therapists – the professional body for Occupational therapy staff. Julia’s last post in social care was Head of Physical Disability services at Kensington and Chelsea Social Services and she has also taught occupational therapy at Brunel University. In 2006 Brunel awarded Julia an Honorary Fellowship in recognition of her contribution to undergraduate Occupational Therapy education.
British Association of Social Workers (BASW) - Bridget Penhale
Bridget is Reader in Gerontology at the University of Sheffield. She previously worked in a range of roles in adult social care but her main interest is services for older people. BASW is a professional association for social workers in the UK. They promote the best possible social work services and work for the wellbeing of social workers who are our members.
Cardiff University - Andrew Pithouse
Andrew has practised in social work and has taught and researched in social care for several years at Cardiff University where he is currently Director of Research in the School of Social Sciences. He has published extensively on family services evaluation, foster care, family centres, user involvement, assessment and information technology and is working on a number of projects around children’s services.
Care Quality Commission (CQC) - vacant
Carers Wales - Elaine Gwynne
Elaine has been a carer for many years, providing support to her mother and then her husband and three adult sons when they became ill. She has been active in many community and voluntary organisations and is a committee member for Carers Wales, which is part of Carers UK.
Carers UK - Michael Hirst
Michael formerly worked in the Social Policy Research Unit at the University of York and joined the Board of Trustees of Carers UK in 2005. Carers UK provides a voice for carers and works for greater recognition of their role and the contribution they make to society. Michael cares for his eldest son with his wife and other son.
Children's Workforce Development Council - Keith Brumfitt
The Council works to support the development of the workforce in the whole range of services for children and young people. Keith worked in a range of education roles before joining the Council in 2006. He is currently the Director for Children's Trusts and as part of this role he leads the Council's programme to support the recruitment and retention of social workers.
Contact A Family - Karen McLean
Crossroads - Gill Chilvers
Gill is Crossroads Care’s Director of Support Services and is responsible for support services provided to local Crossroads Care organisations in England and Wales. Crossroads Care is a network of charities offering a range of services for carers.
Evelyn Oldfield Unit - Zemikaelh Habte-Mariam
Zemikaelh is a poet and freelance consultant on social justice/human rights, the environment, and the social care and health of refugees and migrants. He has lived in the UK for over 30 years and has worked in a range of roles, including as Social Inclusion, Equalities and Diversity Policy Officer for the London Borough of Waltham Forest and Case Worker and Researcher for the British Refugee Council. The Evelyn Oldfield Unit works to develop specialist support for refugee organisations to enable them to meet the needs of the communities they serve.
Friends, Families and Travellers - Henry Chapman
Friends, Families & Travellers works to end racism and discrimination against Gypsies and Travellers. They provide information, advice and advocacy to Gypsies and Travellers and training and advice to organisations about working with traveller communities.
Henry is a Romany Gypsy who volunteered with FFT before joining as a paid employee in November 2009. He is a passionate advocate for his community and is working to bring about greater representation of the Traveller voice within political and democratic structures and processes.
General Social Care Council (GSCC) - Graham Ixer
Graham is Head of Social Work Education at the GSCC. He has also worked on their policies for service user and carer involvement. The GSCC is the regulator for social workers. They set standards of conduct for everyone working in social care and have a register that all workers have to join.
Homeless Link - Sarah Gorton
Independent Living in Scotland Project - James Elder-Woodward
James has had life-long experience of disability as a health and social service user and also as a service provider, planner and researcher. He was a senior social work officer (physical disability) for Glasgow City Council when he retired in 1999. He continues to serve in a number of voluntary roles within the disabled people's movement, including being the Convenor of the Independent Living in Scotland Project.
Independent representative - Doug Paulley
Doug lives in a residential care home. He sees himself as unusual in being articulate and empowered despite the institutional barriers experienced by care home residents. He campaigns on issues that affect disabled people, especially the "hard to reach" residential care service users.
Joint Universities Council - Social Work Education Committee - Dr Hugh McLaughlin and Professor Monica Dowling
Local Government Association (LGA) - vacant
Macmillan Cancer Support - Carol Gibbons
Carol is a qualified social worker and works in service user involvement and support at Macmillan Cancer Support. Macmillan provides information and practical and financial support and promotes better cancer care. Carol has also volunteered in social care and lesbian and gay organisations as a trustee and telephone counsellor.
National Care Forum - Maria Patterson
National Council for Independent Living (NCIL) - Sue Bott
Sue is the director of NCIL and has previously worked with other organisations controlled by disabled people. NCIL works to promote independent living through disabled people having choice and control over their lives. They also campaign for the broader rights and equality of disabled people.
National Survivor User Network (NSUN) - Tina Coldham
Tina has been a long-user of mental health services and uses this experience in her work as a freelance lecturer, trainer, researcher and consultant. She has helped to set up and is now the chair of NSUN. They work to create links between service user groups and individuals, build the capacity of service user groups and support dialogue between service users and policy makers. Tina is also the co-chair of the Partners’ Council.
Northern Ireland Social Work Education Partnership - Anne Campbell
Northern Ireland Social Care Council - Miriam Karp
Miriam Karp is a carer for her son who has learning difficulties and is a Council Member of the Northern Ireland Social Care Council. NISCC is the regulatory body for the Northern Ireland social care workforce. Miriam works extensively in training and consultancy in the public, private and community sectors, designing and delivering training packages on a wide range of issues. She is also active in a number of voluntary organisations.
Northern Ireland Social Care Council Participation Group - vacant
NSPCC - vacant
People First (Self Advocacy) - Raymond Johnson
Princess Royal Trust for Carers - Linda Cooper
Race Equality Foundation - vacant
Research In Practice For Adults (RIPFA) - George Julian
SACCS - Mary Walsh
Mary has worked with traumatised children for over twenty-five years. In 1987 she started SACCS and this has grown in response to need from a very small consultancy and training project to an organisation with twelve residential homes offering recovery through the integration of therapeutic parenting therapy and life story work. She also runs a fostering agency and a training organisation.
Self Unlimited - Patrick Wallace
Patrick is a trained social worker and is Chief Executive of Self Unlimited. He was previously the chief executive of four other national provider charities; was a UK representative on the European Association of Care and Help at Home; a founder member of Mo Mowlam’s Charitable Trust and an adviser to the Allied Dunbar Charitable Trust. Self Unlimited is a network of support services for people with learning difficulties that covers the UK. They assist people to live as independently as possible and to realise their full potential.
Shaping Our Lives - Jennifer Taylor
Jennifer is a member of Shaping Our Lives’ National User Group. She also works at the self-advocacy organisation People First Lambeth. Shaping Our Lives is a national, independent user-controlled organisation, think tank and network. Jennifer’s work with Shaping Our Lives and People First Lambeth involves attending outreach groups, meetings and conferences where she speaks about her experiences as a person with learning difficulties. She is one of the co-authors of the book 'We are not stupid'.
Skills for Care - David Croisdale-Appleby OBE
Social Care Association (SCA) - Nick Johnson
Nick works for the Social Care Association, which is a professional staff association that aims to keep everyone in social care working at their best. Their priority is promoting good practice and they see working with people who use the services where their members work as central to the achievement of this objective.
Turning Point - Lorraine Moore
Lorraine is Turning Point’s Service Performance Director and leads on quality, risk, governance and user engagement. She is a qualified mental health and learning disability nurse. Turning Point provides services for people with complex needs, including people affected by drug and alcohol misuse, mental health problems and people with learning difficulties.
United Kingdom Homecare Association - vacant
UNISON - Chris Tansley
Unison is Britain’s largest trade union with a membership of over 1.3 million from all parts of the public services. Health and local government workers make up the majority of the members. Chris is a team manager in children’s services and has several roles in Unison, including chairing their National Social Care Forum. He is currently Vice President of Unison.
Voices from Care Cymru - vacant
