Lindsay Martin
Hello, I’m Lindsay and I am a Lead Practitioner (Specialist Qualified), Having completed my MA in Early Years and Education in 2010 my career has led to a variety of experiences to bring to Warwickshire, a National Safeguarding and Quality Practice Trainer for a National Charity, Community Education Work and moving into teaching, and managing a College Health and Social Care/Early Years department.
I have worked with neighbouring local authorities within the CAF arena (what it was back in the day) doing MASH duties and supporting fellow Social Workers and Children’s Practitioners. I love a solution focussed approach in all the areas I work in whether it be organisation outcomes, training deliveries, strategies and plans and demand for service. I have a love for Learning and Research, and welcome challenges and debates which helps us reflect and develop our knowledge, making a positive impact for our children and families. To add some experiences into this I spent five years as a Special Constable for West Midlands Police. I am currently a WCC Link Officer for Community Care Inform and Research in Practice so please get in touch if you need some support in that way.
Alex Proctor
Hi, my name is Alex, and I am a Development Officer. I have worked for Warwickshire since 2006 across multiple teams including initial assessment, the parenting assessment team and the domestic abuse support team. My roles have always been about creating good relationships with people to create accessible assessments in which people recognise themselves and their experiences, and to support better outcomes.
I moved into the Restorative Practice Team in 2021 because I am passionate about creating better relationships with all the people we work with; I believe that restorative practice enables us to do this by working together and developing improved communication as well as focusing on solutions that are driven by the families we work with.
As well as working for Warwickshire, I also live within the county, so this adds to my passion for building a better community for where I work and where me and my family live. I love to hear about new and exciting places for days out that I might not have yet tried.
Penny Forrest
Hi my name is Penny, and I am a Development Officer. I am from central London growing up in Police flats and then I joined the Metropolitan Police. I moved to Warwickshire over 23 years ago and soon joined Warwickshire Youth Justice Service as a practitioner. I became an accredited practitioner in Restorative Justice facilitating many restorative meetings between young people and victims.
Working with young people and Restorative and Relational practice has been a passion of mine for many years so when Warwickshire Children and Families started on their journey of cultural change of Restorative and Relational Practice, I was lucky enough to be part of the Restorative Practice Team.
Tina Muctor
Hi. My name is Tina and I am a Team Leader within the Practice and Learning Hub. I have been a social worker since 2004 and I have experience working in Initial Response teams, Fostering, Hospital Social work and as an independent social worker.
For the last 8 years I have been working in practice development. I am passionate about how staff within the workforce are supported and enabled to be the best that they can be. I think relational and restorative practice is at the heart of all our work, including how we work with one another and ultimately our children and families. I believe that looking after staff and their needs builds an effective workforce, skilled and knowledgeable and confident in practice.
I have worked as a practice educator for over 10 years and supported many asye’s, social work students and experienced staff within my roles. I hope I can help and support you on your individual journey to learn, develop and evolve in your practice and thus be proud of your professional identity.
Rachel Baker
I've been a qualified Social Worker since 2004. I moved from a neighbouring local authority to work for Warwickshire in 2008. I have spent those years in a range of roles including Family Assessments and Direct Work, Child Protection, Child In Need, Duty and Referral, Adoption and now in practice development.
For me, what makes someone's social work practice great is when the person is willing and able to see the people they are serving as equal human beings, as well as also being willing and able to be human themselves. In doing this it enables us to look out for and work with our families in a restorative and attachment informed way, which are proven approaches in children and families work.
Shunay Bbrophy
Hi, I’m Shunay. I am a Social Work Lead Practitioner and qualified as a social worker in 2014. I have been in Warwickshire for all my career and became employed after having my final placement here. Most of my work has been in duty and assessment pre the Front Door and Initial Response as it is now known.
I became a practice educator in 2019 and found a joy in supporting, coaching and mentoring social workers in training, newly qualified social worker’s and those early on in their careers. In 2021 I joined a safeguarding and support team and became a consultant social worker for the Frontline programme and supported 3 cohorts of units of 4 social workers in training on a fast-tracked programme.
I am currently leading on the newly expanded social work apprentice programme with my colleague Samantha Bolitho. I will also be supporting the newly qualified social workers on the ASYE programme, and you may see me co-delivering training. I feel privileged to call myself a social worker, and for me the heart of social work practice is building relationships and being aware of our social graces and how they can influence our professional values and decision making. I truly believe in advocating for children and families and using our positional power to challenge oppression and social injustice in whatever form it comes in.
Yvonne Saidi
Hi I’m Yvonne, I am a Social Worker Lead Practitioner. I qualified back in the “dark ages” 1994 (don’t try and work out my age!) and I’m proud to see that the values of social work practice in WCC are what I have always truly believed in and practiced. Putting the family at the centre, they are the experts, the importance of building relationships and helping facilitate repair and healing, not being the rescuer and believing in the power of change.
My social work career has been quite different to most. I was drawn to working therapeutically with families so did not do the “standard statutory” jobs. I started out in Youth Justice, where I loved working with young people, however in those days YJS was not about working early on to avoid young people coming into the system and I realised that was where I wanted to be. I then moved into supporting and managing family support workers and then eventually found the wonderful “Holly Walk team”. Here I was at my optimum, working with families in distress in a direct work capacity. Sadly, after 6 years in this team due to a restructuring I left to work in Solihull in a similar team where I again found “my tribe”.
I worked with survivors of sexual abuse as well as those displaying sexually harmful behaviour, “families at war”, and those who had lost their way. Another restructure after 4 years in this team then led me into learning and development where I remained. I have absolutely loved being a part of developing others in their careers in social care, from newly qualified social workers, family support workers, foster carers, YJ panel volunteers through to managers
Gill Shipman
Hey, I’m Gill, I joined Warwickshire and the Practice and Learning Hub in October 2023. I started off my career working in a children’s secure home, I did this part time alongside my final year of my Social Work degree. I qualified in 2005, and started working in an initial assessment team (pre MASH/front door and IRT days), I really enjoyed the fast pace nature of this work and it was a massive learning curve having never been in a front line team before.
I moved on to Youth Justice, working as a Youth Justice social worker. This gave me experience from a completely different perspective and widened my Court experience. I left Youth Justice and worked within a team where we assessed adults who had sexually abused children, assessed and supported adolescents who had displayed sexually harmful behaviours and supporting children who had been sexually abused. My main role within this was supporting children who had been sexually abused, it was a new team and role to the council, so was both exciting and challenging to be part of developing something from scratch. Unfortunately, this team moved into a charity and so I moved on to a Safeguarding team. Following that I worked within Adoption, assessing and supporting prospective adopters. My last role was in fostering, initially assessing but latterly also supervising foster carers. I feel lucky to have experienced so many teams and hope to be able to share some of this experience within my current role.
Sam Bolitho
Hi, I’m Sam. I am a Social Work Lead Practitioner. I have been employed in Warwickshire since 2004 initially as a family support worker and qualifying as a social worker in 2009. I have always been within the safeguarding team but in 2017 my role changed, and I became a Consultant Social Worker for the Front-line programme. I supported 6 cohorts each unit consisting of 4 social workers in training on a fast-track programme.
These different roles and experiences have allowed my own growth and personal development enabling to support others. I have been given the opportunity of leading on the newly expanded social work apprentice programme with my colleague Shunay Brophy, I also support with training and support newly qualified social workers on the ASYE programme.
The principles and values of social work connect with my own values empowering others, influencing change, and making a difference in the lives and communities we support. I am proud to be a social worker and of the achievements in my career so far and want to continue with my progression and continue to share my knowledge with others and support them in their journey.