North East Staff List

Please Note:  Individual e-mail addresses have been removed from the site.  Any member of the team can be contacted via the office e-mail address nefc@swiis.com

Regional Director

Sarah Rack BSc (Hons),DipAss,CQSW, Cert Management
Joined SWIIS Foster Care December 1999

Sarah Rack has developed and managed children’s residential and fostering provision within local authority social services departments and has a wide range of background experience including residential childcare, youth justice work, and personal experience as a foster carer herself.  Sarah has worked in children’s services since 1980 and also has experience as a counsellor, training officer and a lecturer in health and social care.  

Operations Managers

Terry Docherty BSc, CQSW
Joined SWIIS March 2000.
Appointed Operations Manager December 2004

Terry has a wide range of experience in family placement work gained in a career spanning more than 25 years.  Terry has worked for both local authority social services and a voluntary agency and has managed services in both fostering and adoption.  Since joining SWIIS he has taken a particular interest in the assessment of new carers and his current role includes supervising a multidisciplinary team and co-ordinating the Fostering Panel process.

Marie-Rose Gregg B.Ed, MA, DipSW
Joined SWIIS  March 2000.  Appointed Operations Manager Darlington October 2005 

Marie-Rose Gregg has vast experience in child care social work and the management of children's provision including specialist residential work with troubled adolescents since 1980.  She is qualified as both a teacher and a social worker and brings both sets of skills to her role as  manager of the multidisciplinary team based in the Darlington office.

Principal Social Worker

John Penrose  CSS, PQ Child Care Award, Practice Teaching Award;
Joined SWIIS Foster Care December 2002
Appointed Principal Social Worker December 2004

John is an accredited practice teacher who qualified with the CSS in Child Care in 1990 and has extensive experience of working with young people both in residential care and as a foster carer.  John has been involved in training and assessment of residential workers and foster carers since 1997.  He holds the CCETSW Practice Teaching Award, the Post Qualifying Child Care Award and is a registered Mentor, Practice Assessor and Portfolio Reader.  As Principal Social Worker John now has supervisory responsibilities within the Newcastle Team as well as responsibility for the organization and delivery of training to foster carers throughout SWIIS (NE).
 

Senior Social Workers / Social Workers

Sheena Mitchell B.A. PGCE DipSW
Joined SWIIS Foster Care April 2004

Sheena joined SWIIS Newcastle Team after a career in residential social work and including teaching, spanning more than twenty years.  Sheena has managerial level experience of working with very damaged and behaviourally challenging young people and further experience gained in working with teenage female victims of sexual abuse and of developing therapeutic interventions.  Her knowledge and skill add another dimension to an already widely experienced staff team.   

Alison Masterman DipSW, Dip in Management, NNEB (Nursery Nursing)
Joined SWIIS Foster Care October 2004

Alison joined SWIIS Darlington Team after gaining useful social work experience within a local authority long-term team specializing in work with children and families.  Prior to this, Alison had gained much experience working with younger children in both nursery and residential settings and including management experience.  Alison has quickly established herself as a valued member of the Darlington Team

Meg Middleton DipSW
Joined SWIIS Foster Care January 2005

Meg is an accredited Practice Teacher and holds the Training Award in Therapeutic Crisis Intervention .  Meg has experience in both field social work, community support and fostering as well as management experience in children’s residential services.  She is based in the Newcastle office.

Geraldine Smith BA (Hons) PGCE, Diploma in Management, DipSW
Joined SWIIS Foster Care September 2005

Geraldine is an experienced social worker and child care manager with 20 years experience of work with adolescents.  She has worked as a teacher and in a wide range of residential settings with children of all ages.  Geraldine is based in the Darlington team.

Principal Education Case Worker

Christine Roddam Cert.Ed
Joined SWIIS Foster Care January 2004
Appointed to Principal post  December 2004

Christine began teaching in 1973 and has had extensive experience of teaching across all key stages in both inner city and rural areas.  Prior to becoming a primary school head teacher, she held posts of responsibility for literacy, special needs and behaviour management.  In 1994 Christine decided to widen her experience and pursue a different career path as Carer’s Relief Scheme Co-ordinator for the British Red Cross.  During this time, she gained qualifications in psychology and counseling.  Christine subsequently returned to the North Yorkshire Education Service to co-ordinate a government funded inclusion project.

Education Case Workers

Cath Ridley B.Ed
Joined SWIIS Foster Care January 2004

Cath began teaching science and physical education to 11-18 years olds in 1983 in a large secondary school in the west end of Newcastle. In the mid 1990’s she moved into the middle school system and soon became co-ordinator of physical and health education and developed education programmes for both subjects supporting other staff. She further developed a wide range of extra curricular activities with the help of local coaches.  In recent years, Cath has enjoyed working within the pastoral care system and was a head of year for 4 years.

David Tait   B.PhiI Cert.Ed
Joined SWIIS Foster Care January 2004

David began teaching in a large mixed comprehensive before moving overseas to teach general subjects in Zambia. Back home he began work as a residential social worker and later helped establish an independent all age boys residential school for children with severe emotional and behavioural special needs. Later he became an assessment teacher for at risk children in Sunderland before moving to Newcastle as head of a mixed residential special middle school. Recently, David has worked as a trainer with foster carers and as a senior learning mentor.

Maureen Grace B.Ed (Hons) - Higher education certificate (counselling) MA
Joined SWIIS Foster Care January 2004

Maureen qualified as a teacher in 1992 and worked within a multi-disciplinary team with young people experiencing behavioural difficulties. She developed self-esteem programmes and packages and devised strategies to address attendance and truancy, which are now widely used in schools. From 1996 Maureen taught adolescents who had been permanently excluded from school. Prior to joining SWIIS Foster Care, she worked as a behavioural specialist in a special needs service. Maureen is also an experienced trainer of teachers and has a particular interest in developing nurturing techniques for vulnerable young people.

Kathryn Appleby  BA Hons QTS
Joined SWIIS Foster Care September 2004

Kathryn joined SWIIS (South Team) in September 2004.  She has nine years teaching experience including both junior and secondary class teacher experience.  More recently, Kathryn has worked within the independent sector with children and young people in the Looked After System and therefore brings a wide skill base to her work with SWIIS.
 

Melanie Thomas  BA Hons, PGCE, FAETC
Joined SWIIS Foster Care September 2004

Originally a teacher of English and Modern Languages in the sphere of further and adult education, Melanie gained her PGCE in 2002 and teaching experience in local comprehensive schools before joining SWIIS in Sept 2004.  Working from the Newcastle Office, Melanie has quickly adapted to her new role and is establishing herself as a valued member of the team.

Vivienne Evans Cert Ed
Joined SWIIS Foster Care April 2005
Viv brings enormous experience of work with disaffected and marginalized young people both in and out of school.  She has worked in a peripatetic advisory and support teacher role and has great experience of working with a wide range of different schools and situations.  Viv has a thorough knowledge of the SEN system and experience of monitoring and tracking pupils as they move or transfer between areas.  She is based in the Darlington office.

 Support Workers

Vanessa Robinson NVQ3 Caring for Chilren and Young People, HNC Childcare
Joined SWIIS February 2003

Vanessa is an experienced parent and foster carer with 10 years experience in caring for looked after children. She has undertaken extensive training and contributes from her own experience to SWIIS Foster Care training and to practical support and advice for carers. Vanessa forms excellent relationships with carers and the children in placement and also facilitates activities and support for carers own children.

Jenna Patton  BA Hons Playwork, Dip HE, BTec Dip Childhood Studies
Joined SWIIS Foster Care September 2004

Jenna joined SWIIS (Newcastle Team) in September 2004 to augment our Education Team.  She is concerned with direct work and support for children and young people who are either in full time education, excluded from school, or subject to a re-integration programme.  Qualified to degree level, Jenna is an experienced sessional playworker who brings entusiasm and creativity to her role and builds very positive relationships with young people.

Julianne Alderson: 
Joined SWIIS Foster Care Part time Dec 2004, Permanent Full-time Dec 2005.

Health Advisers

Debra Bell S.E.N, C&G, RSCN, Dip Health Studies
Joined SWIIS Foster Care January 2005

Debra joined us as Health Adviser within the South Team where her knowledge and experience in matters of child health will be of great benefit.  As a qualified nurse Debra brings almost 20 years experience of working with children, young people and their families within both general and school nursing environments. Debra also has additional specialist experience of work with children with significant disabilities.

Helen Preston  RGN, RMN, DipSw, National Learning Mentor Qualification
Joined SWIIS Foster Care May 2005 on a temproary basis covering maternity leave.  Permanent appointment Ocober 2006

Helen has a background in general and community nursing including mental health work and mental health social work.  She also has experience of working in local secondary schools as a learning mentor and carrying out health screening.  Her wide range of relevant expericne makes Helen a valuable member of the multidisciplinary team.

Office Administration Manager
Pat Laybourne City & Guilds (Child Care & Education), RSA III (Advanced)
Joined SWIIS August 2004
Pat joined SWIIS as Administration Manager (Newcastle) in August 2004.  She has extensive work experience in social work and medical settings and qualifications in secretarial, administration and I.T. skills.  Pat has also undertaken child protection training and worked as a family support worker. 

Administrative Staff
Alan Ponton
Appointed April 2000
Alan has provided administrative support to SWllS Foster Care in the North East since the team was first established. He has a background in retail management and data entry, and has contributed greatly to the development of systems and procedures.

Heather Moscrop
Joined SWIIS Foster Care November 2000
Heather has proven organisational and administrative skills, and is a key member of the team. She has previous experience of work in a quality audit and continuous improvement team and of teamwork within local industry.