Our staff

Michael Bettencourt has over 15 years’ experience working with Virtual School Heads and care experienced education services. He is leading on the support and development of Virtual Schools and Care Experienced Teams in Scotland. Michael was previously Research Lead and a Trustee of NAVSH (National Association of Virtual School Heads). He also led on PALAC a knowledge exchange programme at the Institute of Education, UCL. PALAC supported schools and local authorities to implement evidence based interventions in their settings.

Sandy is our bookkeeper in chief, she manages the money and is responsible for all things financial for us. She is in charge of our day-to-day transactions and ensures these are dealt with promptly, and in line with our Scottish Government funding objectives. She also manages income generated from our services and keeps a close eye on our expenditure column.

Joanne is a qualified children and families' social worker with 25 years' experience in a wide range of local authority, voluntary and policy roles. Joanne heads up the Improving Care Experiences team at CELCIS which has a particular focus on core practice, assessment, planning and review for our looked after children. Joanne believes if you care, support, and carefully challenge people you will get the absolute best from them. Her growth and nurture agenda extends to the care she bestows on her beloved garden.

Halima has recently taken up the post of Contracts and Compliance Advisor. By way of background, Halima is a qualified solicitor, with a background in litigation. After qualifying from her traineeship, Halima went on to work in private practice before moving In House. Most recently Halima was working as a Lawyer at the Scottish Government before joining CELCIS. Halima is the ‘Go to’ for all things Data Protection/GDPR and Contracts. Outside of work Halima is a keen sewist, designing and sewing a range of clothes and accessories.

Having spent over twenty years working for national newspapers, I now work in the CELCIS Comms department, looking after the website, social media and producing digital content.

Sarah is a former Academic Skills Lecturer and Academic Advisor who discovered a passion for online education. She oversees and promotes our online learning options on offer, options which include our unique distance learning 'MSc in Child and Youth Care Studies', our 'Caring for Vulnerable Children' MOOC, and our many learning opportunities for the sector. Sarah moved to Scotland from Australia in 2014 and loves the cool weather and beautiful scenery.

George provides admin support for the Improving Care Experiences hub at CELCIS and brings several years of experience in similar roles with the Scottish Government, Perth and Kinross Council and Community Safety Glasgow. He has previously worked in video production and is currently studying a Masters in Film Curation. In his spare time he enjoys reading books, going to the cinema and listening to music.

Sharon joined the CELCIS redress team as a Research Associate to work on the consultation with victims and survivors of historic child abuse in Scotland. Previously, she worked on various university and NHS funded research projects, and on research connected with the Scottish Child Abuse Inquiry to help chart the development of care services in Scotland between 1900 and 2014. Sharon is also a graduate member of the British Psychological Society with an interest in the psychology of coaching. In her spare time, Sharon can often be found on the side-lines watching her son and husband playing rugby or supporting her national side at Murrayfield or on TV!

Emma uses the analytical skills she developed as a criminology student in the wide range of large exploratory research projects, and specific service and programme evaluations CELCIS is involved in. She enjoys working alongside all kinds of professionals to evidence and showcase good practice for looked after children and young people. She loves to travel and escapes to foreign lands as much as she can.

Lorraine's been a registered social worker for 25 years, and still is. She's always worked with children and families, either in social work or learning and development settings. She remains a huge fan of the potential power of group work to bring out individual and collective strengths, and for solving problems. A dedicated gig-goer and music lover, Lorraine prefers small, sweaty and sticky-floored venues over gigantic arenas, but she'll go to see her all-time favourite band Admiral Fallow any time, any place.

Throughout Steven's career he has worked in organisations that support children and young people to improve their experiences and life opportunities. At CELCIS, he leads business development, financial planning and HR to ensure effective and efficient delivery of all of our services. As a Fellow of the Chartered Management Institute, and former graphic designer, Steven combines practical and creative approaches to problem solving. Steven also delivers inputs as a guest speaker on Leading Change, including partnerships with HR, at other UK Universities.

Emma has worked as a speech and language therapist for many years, specialising in autism. She has worked as a Speechie in a range of contexts, from the big blue skies of remote and regional Australia to a vibrant inner city Manchester. More recently, she was involved in the implementation of the Scottish Strategy for Autism, sitting on the National Governance Group. She currently works as part of the Protecting Children Programme team and is enjoying applying Active Implementation methodology to support whole systems change, in order to address neglect and enhance wellbeing. Emma enjoys going for a good stomp and discovering new bands at local venues.

Laura joins CELCIS from working as a social worker at Glasgow City Health and Social Care Partnership, and has 12 years’ experience working in children and families and fostering and adoption services. She also has experience of supporting families in a community addiction team.

Amy has a background in children’s residential care, supporting children with ASD and additional support needs. She has worked in the sector for over 10 years and more specifically within learning and development for the last 5 years. Her role at CELCIS is to help coordinate and manage the events that are hosted for workers across the children’s care sector.

Joe comes to CELCIS with a background of almost 30 years in local authority work with children, young people and families, including youth work, groupwork, child protection practice and training. He is particularly interested in supporting the development of best practice in child protection and safeguarding and use of evidence and innovation to achieve positive change. A keen music fan and gig goer who also enjoys playing guitar and gigging himself, as well as exploring the great outdoors – when the Scottish weather permits!

Deborah is a Children’s Services Implementation Consultant at CELCIS. She is a qualified children and families’ social worker with 20 years’ experience of working in child protection and early help and preventative work. Deborah is also an experienced Solihull Approach Trainer. Deborah believes that all children, young people and their families deserve the opportunity to be equal partners in how services that support them are shaped. She also believes that empathy, compassion, valuing each other’s differences and believing in other’s potential should be at the heart of everything we do. When not working, Deborah enjoys squeezing in a bit of running and general exercise, keeping up with friends & family from near, far and wide and listening to anything from early 90’s house anthems to Scottish folk music or Radio 6.