Our staff

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.

 

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.

 

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.

 

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.

 

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.

 

 

 

Katie has a great head for numbers. She keeps CELCIS right on the money with important financial, HR and contractual stuff. One of her most critical roles is to keep the staff up to speed with the dreaded Financial Management System. After bringing up five children, Katie has finally found some time for herself and uses it mainly for yoga and running. She's already completed the Berlin Half Marathon and is hatching plans to add swimming to her impressive activity repertoire.

 

Elaine is CHIP Learning and Development Lead at CELCIS.

 

Emma is one of the Communications Managers here at CELCIS. She supports colleagues across different areas of work to share what we do through marketing campaigns and a variety of publications, as well as keeping up-to-date with the sector more generally. Outside of work, Emma enjoys keeping active, particularly through martial arts, practicing her German, and spending time with her friends, family, and rescue dog, Winston.

 

Working closely with members of the Strategic Management Team, Laura provides the all-important PA and administrative support required to keep the team running smoothly. Laura first joined the Strathclyde family at the age of 16 as a Modern Apprentice and since then has completed an SVQ level 4 in Business and Administration and ILM level 3 in Leadership and Management. As a new mum Laura spends her free time with her family and friends.

 

Georgina provides admin support across the CELCIS Hubs including CPC Scotland, Virtual School Head Teachers, and the internationally renowned Scottish Journal for Residential Child Care. A qualified site safety officer with executive assistant and governance experience, Georgina has a background in business support with the Ministry of Defence and in a Hospice. Outside of work Georgina is a bibliotherapist, using a love of reading to coach people to understand themselves better and improve mental health.

 

 

After a long career spent in children and families social work practice, Claire now plays an important leadership role within the CELCIS Directorate. Claire's principle focus is to make sure that we really know and understand what works best when it comes to supporting looked after and vulnerable children, their families and care leavers. Claire is a champion for this knowledge to be included in legislation, policy and guidance and implemented in support services. Free time is spent with her triplet nieces, going running, and singing in the Rock Choir.

 

 

Based in the Improving Protection and Permanence Team, Lisa provides the all-important admin support required to keep CELCIS's Protecting Children Team ticking over smoothly. Lisa is also the Secretariat Support for Child Protection Committees Scotland. Despite her youth, Lisa's a Strathclyde University veteran, going all the way from apprenticeship to ILM leadership training and likes to say that she's a leader-in-waiting. As a plate-spinning working mum, free time is scarce, but Lisa likes to let her hair down whenever opportunity arises.

 

Working closely with the Admin Team Manager, Claire is responsible for leading the successful delivery of CELCIS' administrative support activities, across the organisation. Managing administrators as part of a dynamic, responsive team, Claire drives forward the continuous improvement of CELCIS' environment and processes in line with the needs of the organisation. Claire is also responsible for the co-ordination of all CELCIS' recruitment activity. When not at CELCIS, Claire enjoys attending gigs, walking her dog and weekends away with friends - especially in the East Neuk.

 

 

Linda has worked in children's services for many years, having worked in both social work and education. The focus of her work has always been about supporting young people and their families to enjoy and benefit from the best educational experiences possible. She's particularly interested in building understanding within schools about how to work well with parents. Away from work, Linda sings and skis, occasionally at the same time, and just loves blustery days at the beach with her niece.