Meet the Team
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Professor Helen Minnis - Child and Adolescent Psychiatry at the Institute of Health and Wellbeing. Helen Minnis has been interested in attachment and the mental health problems associated with abuse and neglect since working as an orphanage doctor in Guatemala in the early 1990s. Since taking up post as an academic child and adolescent psychiatrist at the University of Glasgow in 2003, her research has focussed on Attachment Disorders, including developing and testing treatments and preventative interventions. |
Elizabeth King - A founder member of Scottish Attachment in Action, and like many others who had responded to the invitation from Edwina (in partnership with Aberlour and Ballkinrain) to attend a scoping day in May 2006 on the application of attachment theory, the interest and passion for the subject was already ignited by her personal and professional journey. Elizabeth is currently working part time as a Health and Care Professions Council (HCPC) Registered Practitioner Psychologist, undertaking research for South Lanarkshire Council Children`s Services, on an initiative to support young people at risk of, or on the edges of care. Prior to this Elizabeth retired from a full time post as Principal Educational Psychologist in South Lanarkshire Council, where she was involved in a wide range of direct and strategic work, including membership for many years of the local authority Fostering and Adoption Panel and the Corporate Parenting Strategy Group. Elizabeth also led on the development of an attachment strategy for Education practitioners which was informed by the research programme she undertook, with the support of South Lanarkshire Council, on the impact on Education practitioners of training, coaching, and mentoring in attachment informed practice. The findings of this research are soon to be submitted as part of a PhD in Psychology. Elizabeth`s interests in attachment theory range from its implications for Education practitioners and their strategic managers; in the application of attachment theory in empowering and building resilience in the community; and how attachment theory can inform the structures and the life of organisations. |
Colwyn Trevarthen - Emeritus Professor Child Psychology & Psychobiology University of Edinburgh. Colwyn is also a Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh and a Vice President of the British Association for Early Childhood Education. He originally trained as a biologist, before going on to study infancy research at Harvard in 1967, and has since published on brain development, infant communication and emotional health. His current research concerns how rhythm and expressions of musicality in movement help communication with children and may help parents, teachers and therapists give care and companionship to young children. |
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Edwina Grant - Edwina is an independent chartered educational psychologist and certified Dyadic Developmental Psychotherapy (DDP) practitioner, consultant and trainer. She has over thirty years experience of working with children and families in a range of contexts from residential care to family therapy. The majority of her work is with looked after and accommodated children, foster and adoptive families. Edwina’s professional passion is attachment theory into practice. Recognising the crucial importance for all children of secure healthy family relationships and the need to support all parenting figures to achieve this. Some parents and children need more support than others; parenting can be a tough as well as joyful! As well as her therapeutic work with families Edwina provides training and consultancy in attachment and trauma - informed practice for organisations – local authority and third sector, social work, health and education She coordinates and co-facilitates Dan Hughes DDP training in Scotland and is an Honorary Associate of DDP Connects UK Board of Directors. Edwina has authored and co-authored several publications about the importance of attachment; she also represented SAIA on the Workforce work group of the Independent Care Review. Edwina is a founding member of SAIA and has chaired the organisation for most of its life. SAIA becoming a SCIO in 2015 was the fulfilment of an ambition that required much commitment and work from the many people - practitioners and parents / carers together - who have contributed to the organisation since its beginnings in 2006. |
Judy Furnivall - Judy is an independent consultant working primarily in the children’s social care sector. She was formerly a lecturer at the Centre for Excellence for Looked After Children in Scotland based in the University of Strathclyde with lead responsibility for consultancy. She worked as a member of staff and assistant director at Peper Harow Therapeutic Community for seven years. Since moving to Scotland she has worked as a lecturer, researcher, trainer and consultant with a particular focus on residential child care. She is a founder member of SAIA and has co-authored several documents on their behalf focusing on the importance of attachment - particularly in work with children in care but also across the whole children’s sector. Her passionate belief in the importance of attachment as a foundational theory and approach in all relational work underpins her choice to support SAIA in the role of Trustee and Vice Chair. As well as her interest in attachment she also maintains a focus on the need to adopt an approach to vulnerable children that is informed by a trauma perspective but which recognises the importance of recognising and developing resilience. Her other interests include the education and health of children in care, social pedagogy, therapeutic care, the interface between fostering and residential care and the dynamics of organisations. She is currently completing a PhD looking at the suicide of careleavers and is also undertaking a professional doctorate at the Tavistock looking at physical restraint of children in residential settings. |
Moira Greentree - Moira is Director of Innovation, Care Visions Children’s Services, the focus being on developing practice and provision in keeping with #ThePromise and Care Visions Values. She previously held the Director of Operations role, encompassing Care Visions residential, fostering and continuing relationships services. Moira is on the executive board of the National Association of Fostering Providers and sits on the various sub-groups with Social Work Scotland. Moira has extensive experience within Children’s Services having experience in the voluntary, statutory and third sector, across operational and corporate roles. Moira is clear, although the focus of her work has changed within her different roles, her aim of providing the best possible services for young people has not. Making a positive difference to the lives of young people and those who care for them is a constant priority. Moira has been fortunate in being able to contribute to national developments and experience international collaborations. Passionate about the importance of recognising the impact of trauma, attachment and experiences on all individuals and their care givers and ensuring processes and systems are supportive of all individuals, Moira joined SAIA in 2007 and became a Trustee on the Board of SAIA in 2015. |
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Catherine Cooke - Qualified counsellor and therapeutic supervisor, with a background in psychology. She currently works in her own private practice in the West of Scotland. Her work as a therapist has included experience in a variety of settings, including trauma services, school and youth service settings, the NHS and the voluntary sector. As well as providing supervision to individual counsellors, she also provides supervisory support to staff groups within organisations. She has additional specialist training in couples therapy, play therapy, family therapy and in working therapeutically online. Catherine has developed expertise in trauma and attachment, and has worked across these fields throughout her career. This work is enhanced through her qualifications in trauma-related therapies and techniques such as EMDR (Eye Movement Desensitisation and Reprocessing) and Flash Technique. She is also trained in level 1 and level 2 DDP (Dyadic Developmental Psychotherapy). She has found that the nature of healing from trauma through secure attachment really fits with her relational style of working. She has a particular interest and focus on attachment throughout the lifespan and how early childhood experiences impact into adulthood. As a member of the board of SAIA, Catherine has been delighted to be able to contribute to the work of the Trustees in increasing the organisation’s wider impact; supporting events and training; and broadening SAIA’s network of contacts and allies. She brings her passion and commitment around attachment’s crucial role in human development to the board, and looks forward to meeting and connecting with members and interested attendees at the various events organised by SAIA across Scotland. |
Kenny Fulton - Team Leader, CrossReach’s Daisy Chain Early Years Project. I have been working in social care for CrossReach since 2007, originally with adults with learning disabilities. As the team leader at CrossReach’s Daisy Chain Early Years project I have been supporting families in one of the most ethnically diverse communities in Scotland since 2011. It has been my privilege to walk alongside children and families, encouraging parent’s to realise their potential and create an environment which facilitates quality interactions and play in order to strengthen those crucial relationships in the earliest years of life. With significant experience and insight into the dynamics between cultures, communities and attachment relationships in early years I have a passion to learn from others whilst seeing children get the best possible experiences of love. I have always had a passion to see children thrive in the face of the most challenging circumstances and to know their worth. This has led me to train in DDP level 1 and use approaches such as Theraplay within after school programmes in Glasgow. I think it is crucial that all care, education, health and policy should be viewed through the paradigm of love that sees each other as of infinite worth. I joined as a trustee of SAIA in 2018 as I believe strongly in the importance of attachment relationships throughout the lifespan and the HOPE that relationships can heal us and our communities. |
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Alison MacDonald - Alison was formerly Principal Educational Psychologist in North Lanarkshire and has many years’ experience as a practising educational psychologist. Following retirement from her full time post, Alison was interim Lead Officer for the Scottish Attainment Challenge in North Lanarkshire and latterly Health and Wellbeing Lead. Alison’s long standing interests include early intervention and prevention, attachment and resilience, the inclusion of young people with social emotional and behavioural needs, the needs of young people experiencing loss and trauma and the promotion of emotional wellbeing. Within her various roles, Alison promoted attachment informed practice within schools, establishments and wider children’s services with a particular focus on building the capacity to support children and young people disadvantaged by poverty, loss and trauma. Nurturing relationships as the cornerstone for the promotion of resilience was central to this work. Alison is committed to developing and supporting psychologically informed policy, systems, culture and practice within children’s services. As a trustee of SAIA she hopes to contribute more widely to promoting the understanding of attachment as key to enhancing emotional wellbeing. |
Gillian Neish - Gillian is a trainer who for more than thirty years has worked with individuals and organisations in all sectors to help them recognise and fulfil their potential. The focus of her work is power, whether challenging the power inequalities of racism, sexism and the other ‘isms’ or developing personal power through personal development programmes. She has an MSc in Managing Diversity, a PG Diploma in Transactional Analysis Counselling and has taken part in Dr. Dan Hughes DDP Level 1. Gillian’s interest in attachment developed because of her own experience. She was born in London and, from just weeks old, was raised by white carers. It was many years before she began to make sense of the effect this has had on her and on her relationships with others and with herself. “Knowing about attachment theory and the impact of insecure attachment gave me a better understanding of my own vulnerabilities and the way my childhood experience was continuing to influence my adult decisions and behaviours. With that knowledge, I was then able to see that, rather than repeat unhelpful patterns, I had, and could make, more positive choices. I am excited to be part of SAIA and to be working towards making sure more people, both those directly affected and those who support them, understand the impact of attachment, in childhood and across the life span, and are able to see and make choices that enable them to offer and accept love and to improve the quality of their lives and relationships.“ |
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Christine Hadfield is an adoptive mum, a former teacher and a Lecturer in Teacher Education at the University of Glasgow. She is very excited to join Scottish Attachment in Action as a Trustee as she is passionate about spreading the word about attachment. After working as a secondary modern languages teacher for ten years, Christine adopted her three children and has since become an advocate for increased awareness of attachment issues and their impact on children.
She has a PhD in Latin American Studies and previously worked as an Advanced Skills Teacher in England. Once back home in Scotland, she worked as a Support for Learning Assistant before taking up the position at the School of Education, University of Glasgow in 2016. She now teaches Modern Languages and Health and Wellbeing to trainee teachers at undergraduate and postgraduate level. She has reflected on her own lack of awareness of child development, not least attachment issues, during her time as a teacher and how she often faced what she would now call ‘distressed’ behaviour on the part of young people. Becoming an adoptive mum and facing the challenges of that has lead her to an appreciation and deep knowledge of attachment theory and its ‘lived’ experience. She now focuses on developing trainees’ awareness of this and relational approaches within the school setting. Previously a volunteer for Adoption UK, Christine believes fervently that an understanding of attachment is fundamental if we are to truly understand human relationships and mental health across the lifespan. She is looking forward to learning from and working with the other Trustees and members of Scottish Attachment in Action as we try to create a society founded on love, nurture and connection. |
Fiona Carmichael is a Service Manager with Early Years Scotland, having made the move to the early years sector following 25 years in residential childcare and education.
Fiona has extensive experience of delivering core training for staff, completed her DDP level 1 training in 2004 and progressed to DDP Level 2 in 2010. Fiona is passionate about the power of relationships and the vital role of advocacy on behalf of, and for, care experienced children and young people. This passion fuelled her desire to be part of the journey from children’s earliest years and led Fiona to study and achieve her BA Childhood Practice. In her current role, Fiona is pivotal in supporting both children and their families through the planning and delivery of intergenerational play-based services in multiple and diverse communities. Facilitating and nurturing child led play, early learning, attachment and family wellbeing is central to the practice Fiona leads across her staff team. She is committed to empowering parents and is empathic of the complexities faced by families and indeed communities overall. Fiona is motivated by her previous positive experience of working within residential care to ensure she supports her staff team to understand the benefits of trauma informed practice and help to embed this in their own practice. Fiona is committed to investing in capacity building for the children and families she works with to support positive outcomes. Fiona recognises play as a vehicle in building confidence, learning and relationships. Through her current role she understands and demonstrates how it can be a powerful tool in the creation and development of quality interaction from a child’s earliest years, significantly influencing an individual’s future outcomes |
Sonya Campbell – Perry is a Programme Leader and senior lecturer for the BA(Hons) Business Management at Glasgow Caledonian University.
With over 25 years’ management and leadership experience in both private and public sector, Sonya is a certified trainer, and a Senior Fellow of the Higher Education Academy. Sonya is an experienced Trustee, Programme Leader for BA(Hons) Business Management 2020 GSBS Sonya has 10 years’ private sector management & 15 years’ public sector management experience. She is a certificated trainer, facilitator, speaker and lecturer in business related subjects, with specialism in customer service. Sonya moved from a full time management role to a full time teaching role in January 2020 after previously holding both a Professional Services Role and part time teaching role for nearly 10 years. Sonya has sector links in retail, construction, housing associations, IT, libraries, training & development, professional Services and customer services. She completed a Professional Doctorate researching service delivery within higher education sector, and was the first graduate from GCU with a DBA. Sonya is passionate, enthusiastic and motivational. Honest, credible and has developed good listening skills across the years. She is an experienced coach and mentor but still developing in both roles. |
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Margaret-Grace McManus is a former foster carer with experience and passion for the principles of attachment and how these can make a positive contribution to development of children and their families. ‘Maggie’ is also increasingly interested in how attachment informed practice can support nurturing relationships and wellbeing across the life span. Before becoming the Development Manager for SAIA, Maggie worked in leadership roles across the public sector, including the NHS, Social Work, Children’s Hearings and change management Consultancy, with experience in organisational development, business planning, and management of front line services. Her accreditations include an MBA, and Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development. Maggie has also completed level 1 training in DDP (Dyadic Developmental Psychotherapy) and wants to build on her understanding of attachment whilst supporting the Trustees of SAIA to achieve their ambitions. Maggie also has strong experience of governance having with Chair’s and Chief Executive’s in governance roles, and served on the Boards of West College Scotland, and Quarriers. |
Sarah Grant has a background in visual communication where she has previously created digital content for a range of organisations. In the past she has worked in a voluntary capacity alongside children with additional social, emotion and behavioural needs. Sarah has an interest in the principles of attachment and application of the practice throughout the childcare sector and the subsequent impact it can have throughout people’s entire lives. In her spare time Sarah enjoys gardening – she is currently a horticulture student at the Edinburgh Royal Botanic Gardens. |
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Claire Slocombe is an Associate Trainer working to improve trauma informed practice within foster and adoptive families and residential care settings. As an Attachment Lead Teacher her work also extends to improving awareness of attachment theory and practice in educational settings. Claire developed an interest in attachment when preparing to become an adoptive mother and has continued to develop her skills and knowledge through research. training and on the job practice!
Claire is also a Trainer with the Children’s Hearing Scotland Learning Academy, responsible for developing the practice of panel members to ensure that the voices of our most vulnerable children and young people are heard and that children and families have a say in decision making about their futures. |
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