Find out more about the Children in Scotland staff team, their areas of expertise, and get in touch.
Please note, as staff will be working from home for the remainder of 2021, most office telephone lines are not being regularly monitored.
Staff can be contacted via email as normal – you can find email addresses following the staff descriptions on these pages.
Billy is a Senior Policy Officer (Children’s Rights), working with the My Rights, My Say service.
Billy has worked for 18 years with and for vulnerable young people and young adults across Community, Health, Education and ASN settings.
Prior to working for Children in Scotland, Billy held service management, learning and development, personalisation, community health development and youth mentoring roles.
He is an innovative person-centred practitioner and visual recorder who has a passion for children’s rights, engagement and research & evaluation.
Emily joined Children in Scotland in December 2020 and supports delivery of our Living Museums project, which aims to make museums and heritage more accessible spaces for young people.
As a graduate of Museum Studies from the University of Glasgow, she specialised in museums and mental health, a keen interest that she has explored through her work.
Emily began her career in museums as a Gallery Assistant for Glasgow Museums where she had previously volunteered whilst studying. Following this, she joined the learning team at the Gallery of Modern Art, Glasgow as a Learning Assistant where she delivered both public and school workshops and collaborated with community organisations to support asylum seekers and refugees, and mental health groups. She also co-manages the GoMA Youth Group, a group of young people looking to enhance their experience and skills in the museums sector.
She has a range of voluntary experience working with children and community groups, including Art in Healthcare, Hunterian Museum and Art Gallery, and Nottingham Castle.
Catherine joined Children in Scotland in January 2020, and is part of Children in Scotland’s Communications Team, with a particular focus on supporting the Membership Service team but also covering marketing, media engagement, publications and digital output.
Previously Head of Communications at Capital Theatres, Scotland’s largest independent theatre organisation, Catherine has worked in public relations for more than 20 years, directing campaigns and communications strategies for organisations including Edinburgh College of Art and the National Portrait Gallery, London.
Before working in communications, she worked as a staff and freelance journalist for UK national and international publications.
Sally is part of Children in Scotland’s Leadership Team and has responsibility for bringing together and developing the work that is delivered by the Enquire and Resolve services, My Rights, My Say and the national Inclusion Ambassadors network.
She supports ongoing improvement within the organisation by leading development in programme management.
Sally joined Children in Scotland in 2006. She has almost 20 years’ experience of working in the children’s sector with a focus on improving support and services for children with additional support needs.
She sits on the Additional Support for Learning Implementation Group, Pupil Support Staff Working Group, Disabled Children and Young People’s Advisory Group, is a trustee of Flexible Childcare Services Scotland and Chair of a Scout group.
Julie assists Valerie Harty, Head of Finance and Central Services, in operating and maintaining Children in Scotland’s accounting and financial reporting systems and leading the staff team in complying with our financial procedures.
Her day-to-day duties include effective operation of sales and purchase ledgers, credit control, customer liaison and our banking systems. Julie also supports the wider administrative function through front office, reception and customer care duties.
Grant develops and maintains Enquire's websites and suite of databases as well as providing IT support to the Enquire team.
Grant has previously worked in various organisations seeking to achieve equality for disabled people in housing, voting, education and health.
In addition to his Children in Scotland role, he is CEO of S'up Products Ltd. The company sells the S'up spoon – the spoon for shaky hands – that Grant created as a result of personal need.
Angus joined Children in Scotland in September 2019 and has worked for several years as a freelance designer.
He is a member of the communications team and the Engagement and Learning department. He contributes design work and expertise across digital materials, print, events marketing, and in support of our ongoing project work and strategic aims.
Angus’s clients as a freelancer included Scottish Canals, Perth & Kinross Council, reallymoving.com, the Scottish Storytelling Centre, Museums and Heritage Highland, Get Glasgow Moving, Lightpress Design and East Perthshire Youth Alliance.
Public transport inequalities is an area of particular interest. At a practical level, Angus is concerned with encouraging the use of intuitive schematic mapping and signage and advocating for improved infrastructure in modern UK cities.
Before joining Enquire, Robert was previously Senior Project Officer on the CHANGE Project, which helped to develop childcare services and family support in the East End of Glasgow.
His involvement with Children in Scotland began in 2014, when he volunteered as a Research Mentor on Beyond4Walls – a participatory youth research project exploring young people’s experiences of Housing.
Robert’s background is in community development and he was involved in establishing community food projects that later became part of Children in Scotland’s Food, Families, Futures programme.
He is also a Participation and Engagement Associate at Children in Scotland and recently worked on the Young Media Voices project, supporting children and young people across Scotland to learn new skills, create multimedia content and share the stories that matter most to them.
Jennifer is a member of the Communications Team and editor of our bi-monthly Children in Scotland Magazine. She leads on all aspects of the magazine, from planning and commissioning to editing and layout.
Jennifer also provides communication support for the organisation, including producing web content, press and media activity.
Jennifer has a degree in Public Relations and Management. She started her career working in PR for an independent firm specialising in food and drink and lifestyle clients. She then worked for a political communications company where she led on children, family and social issues.
The Enquire service’s Helpline Officers listen and respond to questions and concerns from parents, carers, professionals, children and young people about additional support for learning.
The team members come from various backgrounds, including teaching, policy, support work and other advice lines.
The team undergoes an extensive induction and continuous training programme to develop their knowledge and keep up to date with developments in the law relating to additional support for learning.
0345 123 2303
Lynn is part of Children in Scotland’s Communications Team, with responsibility for the organisation’s digital and social media output. She also provides marketing, editing and IT support and leads on communications for specific projects.
She is actively involved with our Participation and Engagement work and work on LGBT+ equality.
Lynn joined Children in Scotland in November 2004. She has 20 years’ experience working in journalism, PR, events management, schools outreach work and charity fundraising.
She is a qualified journalist and has worked in a range of roles, including reporter and editor, for local and national newspapers and magazines.
Valerie is part of Children in Scotland’s Leadership Team. She is responsible for Central Services’ functions and driving the sustainability of Children in Scotland through robust and proactive financial management.
Valerie joined Children in Scotland in October 2015. She previously worked for Coram Children’s Legal Centre, originally as their accountant and subsequently as their Head of Finance and Operations.
Valerie completed her training contract with PricewaterhouseCoopers, becoming a member of the Institute of Chartered Accountants in Ireland in 2010.
Access to Childcare Fund Lead
Before joining the Access to Childcare Fund, Alison was previously, since 2017, the Senior Policy and Participation Officer for the CHANGE: Childcare and Nurture Glasgow East project.
She has 30 years' experience of working in the Early Years sector in various roles including as a frontline practitioner, Senior Early Years Officer, Training Officer and Internal Verifier.
Prior to joining Children in Scotland, she worked within third sector organisations and the local authority. As well as being qualified in Early Years, Alison has a BA (Hons) in Humanities and a Postgraduate Qualification in Strategic Thinking: Systems for managing change.
Angela is the administrator for the Early Learning and Childcare Inclusion fund, which Children in Scotland administers on behalf of the Scottish Government. She also works on finance related tasks within the Finance team.
Angela has worked in administration and finance in the voluntary sector for a number of years, which included working in community education centres and, more recently, working with IDEAS, a development education organisation.
Angela administered the Development Awareness Mini-Grants in this role which IDEAS administered on behalf of DFID.
Tracy focuses on developing new relationships and securing a sustainable future for the organisation. She is also the key contact for our members.
Tracy has significant experience in membership support and development through her previous experience at the Royal Zoological Society of Scotland, where she was Assistant Development Manager. Before joining Children in Scotland she was Head of Marketing and Membership at the Scottish Business Resilience Centre.
Lucy works as part of the Enquire team and has a focus on raising awareness of children’s rights to be supported and listened to, in particular those with additional support needs. This includes engaging with children and young people and generating opportunities for them to have effective and fulfilling participation in Enquire’s work – including the Reach website, social media and the My Rights, My Say service.
Lucy’s background mainly lies in education. She joined Children in Scotland in August 2018, bringing with her a range of experience from her previous role as a teacher, where she specialised in history. For many years she has championed children’s rights in schools, which she continues to do in her current role.
Elaine leads on our direct engagement and participation work with children, young people and families. This is often through our project work.
Elaine joined Children in Scotland in September 2016 and brings a wealth of experience in young people’s health and wellbeing, rights and participation.
Elaine was a secondary school teacher for more than 18 years. Most recently she was Principal Teacher of Pupil Support at Linlithgow Academy. She also enjoyed a secondment with Education Scotland where she was responsible for developing national guidelines relating to Health And Wellbeing for practitioners.
Elaine is a board member of Fast Forward, Edinburgh, and West Lothian Drugs and Alcohol Service, Livingston.
Cat joined Children in Scotland in January 2019 as a Learning & Events officer. She has spent 16 years working in the education sector focusing on professional learning, outreach education and environmental education. She has a keen interest in equality and sustainability.
Previously, she has worked on community education programmes that supported asylum seekers, refugees, the Traveller community and disadvantaged young people.
As someone who enjoys the great outdoors, Cat combined her degree in natural resource management and postgraduate diploma to manage a forest education service where the rainforest was her classroom.
Having worked in Australia, Poland, Ireland and the UK, Cat brings a range of international experience to the team.
Cathie leads on the organisation’s Human Resources functions and has a key focus on organisation and people development. She is a member of Children in Scotland’s Leadership Team and part of the Child Protection Review Group.
Cathie joined Children in Scotland in October 2000.
She spends much of her home life participating in outdoor activities and is keen that children and young people have the opportunity to gain similar experiences.
David leads a range of projects to generate evidence and help to inform Children in Scotland’s policy work at a local, national and international level.
David joined Children in Scotland in April 2019. He has worked on children and family programmes in several cultural organisations including National Galleries of Scotland and Scottish Book Trust. As a graduate of Edinburgh College Art, he is passionate about children and young people’s access to the arts and culture.
David has significant experience of multi-agency working, bringing together contacts from health, education, local authorities and third sector organisations. During his time in the Early Years team at Scottish Book Trust, David managed the organisation's early intervention family support programme and lead on audience development work.
He has a range of professional and voluntary experience working directly with children and young people.
Simon is part of Children in Scotland’s Leadership Team and manages the Engagement & Learning Department, consisting of the Communications Team, Learning & Events Team and the Membership Service.
He has a keen interest in equality and diversity, particularly LGBT+ issues and led the organisation through LGBT Youth Scotland's LGBT Charter of Rights accreditation. He is also a rep on the Workforce group of the Independent Care Review, a member of the Basic Income Cross-Party Group, a member of SCVO’s Intermediaries Network and part of the internal Children in Scotland Child Protection Group.
Simon joined Children in Scotland in September 2015 and has more than 30 years' experience working in the children’s sector in various roles including volunteer, front-line practitioner, manager and consultant.
He is a qualified social worker and has undertaken extensive child protection and post-abuse therapeutic social work as well as work in residential childcare settings. He is also a qualified practice teacher with experience of the social work education field and local authority workforce development.
Simon is a Trustee on the Board of Bright Light, an Edinburgh-based charity providing relationship counselling services.
smassey@childreninscotland.org.uk
07469 149 135
Nazmi joined Children in Scotland in March 2020 and currently has two part-time roles in the organisation.
She is the Administrative Assistant in the Learning & Events team, where she supports the delivery and day-to-day administration of the team’s events and webinar programme.
Her other role is as Administrative Co-ordinator for the Supporting the Third Sector Project, which sees her contribute to the smooth running of the project by providing administrative and organisational support, as well as providing administrative support across the Policy, Projects and Participation department.
Nazmi has more three years admin experience both within and outwith the third sector and has spent time supporting disadvantaged young people. These experiences have made her passionate about working to support children and young people.
She also has a keen interest in equalities, particularly of those who live at the intersections of marginalised groups.
Finance Manager
Madeleine is part of the Central Services team with responsibility for financial management, reporting, budgeting and fund management. She is passionate about providing a professional and high-quality finance service.
Madeleine joined Children in Scotland in April 2021. She previously worked in various finance departments within the SME sector.
Madeleine is an Association of Chartered Certified Accountants Affiliate member, and she hopes to complete the requirements of full membership within the next 18 months.
Madeleine also acts as a treasurer and board member for a not-for-profit nursery in North Edinburgh. Outside of work she is a keen crafter.
Laura’s varied role includes coordinating Children in Scotland’s recruitment process, maintaining HR records, providing assistance and information to our growing membership base, and administering its records on our database.
This is in addition to the core administrative and reception functions of an extremely busy office.
Laura started volunteering with Children in Scotland in 2012 and worked briefly in Policy and Events before settling full-time with Central Services. She has a degree in English Literature, and coordinates Children in Scotland’s staff book group.
lmckale@childreninscotland.org.uk
Karin is responsible for our Learning and Events programme, ensuring that our events are relevant and inspiring, and contribute to strengthening the knowledge of the children’s sector workforce.
Karin joined Children in Scotland in March 2014 from NHS National Services Scotland, where she was responsible for staff learning and development, including the management of their network of learning centres.
As a long-suffering girls’ sports coach, Karin has a particular interest in gender equality and children’s health and activity.
Sandra is the Mediation Manager of Scotland’s leading Additional Support Needs mediation service, RESOLVE: ASL, based in Children in Scotland.
Sandra leads on the development, delivery and management of Resolve, and is a member of Children in Scotland’s Leadership Team. She is committed to developing collaborative and supportive relationships to ensure Resolve as a national service brings about positive change for practitioners, families and young people across Scotland.
Sandra is also an experienced mediation supervisor, national course verifier and supports, trains and supervises other mediators. She has produced a range of national ASN resources and co-produced publications such as Communications Matters with the universities of Edinburgh and Manchester.
Sandra qualified as a mediator more than 17 years ago and over the course of her career has mediated hundreds of cases with positive outcomes in family, education, intergenerational and workplace mediations across Scotland. She is a registered mediator with the Scottish Mediation Network and has Certificates in Family Mediation, ASN Mediation and Education Law, Consulting Children in Mediation, and Workplace Mediation.
On a part-time basis Alison supports Resolve: ASL’s manager Sandra Mitchell with the delivery and management of the mediation service, organising and co-ordinating mediations and carrying out administration.
Alison joined Children in Scotland in May 2017. She has many years’ experience of project management and administration and has worked in the third sector for more than seven years in variety of roles, as both employee and volunteer.
Chris’s role is to monitor policy developments, liaise with partners and elected members, support participation and engagement work, and contribute to wider policy work.
Chris joined Children in Scotland’s policy team in 2017. He graduated with a BA (Hons) in Politics from Strathclyde University in 2014 and then completed an MSc in Health Inequalities and Public Policy at the University of Edinburgh, where he focused on the impact of welfare reform on health inequalities.
Chris has worked with adults with additional support needs and with children and young people in an after-school setting.
Svenja joined Children in Scotland in August 2016. She is responsible for the successful planning, organisation and delivery of our training and conference programme.
Svenja brings international experience in events and cultural management to the organisation. In Germany, she led a team that provided educational events for children and families in socially deprived areas. At the Goethe Center in Atlanta, USA, she organised training courses and high-level events in collaboration with European Consulates, local businesses and schools.
Prior to joining Children in Scotland, Svenja worked with the Scottish Government as a Policy Adviser and Engagement Officer.
Away from work, Svenja volunteers as chairwoman of a small charity that supports local community projects for children and young people in her hometown.
Parisa joined Children in Scotland in January 2021 as Policy, Projects and Participation Officer.
Before joining the organisation, she worked at a busy child law centre on projects that help young people experiencing homelessness and those who have left the care system and also worked in their Policy Team. She previously worked in political offices in Holyrood and Westminster carrying out research and casework. These roles allowed her to appreciate the importance of well-informed and beneficial policy in achieving positive change.
Parisa studied Law at Durham University and completed an LLM in General Law at the University of Edinburgh in 2017. Through her pro bono experience as a Volunteer Advocate for parents whose children are involved in the care system, she developed an interest in family law and children’s rights.
In her spare time, she is learning Farsi to communicate with her Iranian family, she enjoys reading and spends a disproportionate amount of time petting dogs.
Chris leads our Communications Team, covering digital, media engagement, marketing and our bimonthly magazine.
His strategic responsibilities include taking forward our 25 Calls campaign and developing our digital communications.
Starting his career as a sub-editor at the Scotsman newspaper, Chris has more than 20 years’ experience in journalism, communications and marketing. He has worked previously as Communications Manager at the Children and Young People's Commissioner Scotland, reporter for TESS, publications officer at the University of Edinburgh, and web editor at the Scottish Parliament.
He has also worked extensively as a freelance writer, editor and consultant, and was editor of the culture magazine Product for 11 years.
Chris joined Children in Scotland in November 2014, having been Communications Officer with us from 2005-8.
Millie joined Children in Scotland in December 2020 to support delivery of the Living Museums project in Dumfries.
She is a recent graduate of Museum Studies, with an interest in accessibility to the cultural heritage sector. Her degree in Primary Education Studies supports this further, looking at the government impacts of school funding on children from low socio-economic backgrounds.
Millie has spent time with Glasgow Museums, volunteering for the Hunterian, and with different lottery funded projects aimed at aiding women in Glasgow.
Alongside her experience in museums, she is a trustee for a children's charity in Glasgow.
Cat’s role is creating strong partnerships with organisations working with and supporting children of additional support needs and their families. Cat leads on developing accessible advice and information about Additional Support for Learning and promoting Enquire to parents, carers, professionals, children and young people. Cat’s particular interest is supporting families to work in partnership with schools so children have the support they need to get the most from school.
Since joining Children in Scotland in 2004 Cat has worked on a range of projects about listening to and providing information to families, including the Esmee Fairbairn-funded project Opening Doors to Learning.
Previously Cat worked with the Drugs Misuse Information Strategy Team at Information Services Division Scotland and as a Performance Review Manager at the Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh.
Dana joined Children in Scotland in January 2020 and supports a range of projects as part of our Policy, Projects and Participation team.
Prior to joining Children in Scotland, Dana worked with MCR Pathways, supporting projects championing the participation of young people with experience of the care system. She has extensive experience mentoring and working with care experienced young people.
Dana's background is in digital, events and content marketing. She studied History and Communications at university, with a focus on Social History and amplifying the voices of marginalised communities. She is currently pursuing a Masters degree at the University of Glasgow in Policy and Management.
Vicky took up the Project Manager post of the National Third Sector GIRFEC Project in 2019. The project subsequently developed and re-branded to become the Support for the Third Sector (STTS) project.
The STTS Project sits within the Policy, Projects and Participation team. She is responsible for supporting the third sector and partners to facilitate and strengthen work which enables the third sector to play a full role in the development and delivery of Children’s Services.
She has 17 years’ experience in the third sector. Before joining Children in Scotland, she spent 5 years in Barnardo’s on the GIRFEC project to support Third Sector Interfaces and local children’s services forums to consolidate their involvement in children’s services planning and delivering Getting it Right for Every Child.
Vicky has a community development background. She has extensive experience of managing partnership projects including a health collaborative between three voluntary organisations; a joint initiative between a Carer centre and Day Care Services; a racial equality organisation as well as a local project in Edinburgh.
She is currently a trustee and a member of the Finance sub-committee at West Lothian Drug and Alcohol Service.
Jacqueline’s varied role includes day-to-day administrative support for the Enquire service; responsibility for the design and maintenance of Enquire information resources (online and print); service reporting and evaluation; and administrative support to the Enquire Advisory Group.
Jacqueline studied architecture for three years and has an HND in photography.
Amy is part of Children in Scotland’s Leadership Team and heads the organisation’s policy work.
She has overall responsibility for the organisation’s participation and engagement activity with children and young people, has shared responsibility for project development and oversees a portfolio of Children in Scotland projects.
Amy joined Children in Scotland in May 2015. She has a particular interest in children and young people’s mental health, stemming from 16 years working in the mental health sector for a variety of national third sector organisations.
Amy has extensive experience of managing qualitative research, evaluation and development projects at national and local levels. She is a keen supporter of child rights and evidence-informed policymaking and practice.