Our People

BOARD

Sue Barnard Deputy Chair

Sue is a mum to five children one of whom has a severe learning disability and the classic form of autism. Having found that there was very little help available for either of them, she decided to take things in hand herself!  She spent seven years setting up playschemes for autistic children which eventually led to the establishment of the Jigsaw Centre in Aberdeen. Sue has a recently retired as Development Officer with the VSA Carers Centre in Aberdeen supporting families of children with disabilities.  Sue is still very much involved in carer issues and respite in particular.

Philip Bryers Director

Philip Bryers taught social policy and community development at the Universities of York and Glasgow before entering local government in 1979. He held a range of posts in Strathclyde Region Social Work Department and North Ayrshire Council before retiring in 2000. Thereafter he worked for Volunteer Development Scotland, promoting volunteering in health, and for the Scottish Dementia Working Group, before leaving full-time work in 2008.

David Eade Director (Treasurer)

David, his wife Helen and two children, have been involved in family based short breaks since 1992. They began as volunteers with the Shared Care scheme in Dumbartonshire and have since worked for schemes in Argyll and Bute and Perth and Kinross in partnership with Barnardo’s. Due to the difficulties in juggling work with the volunteering role David is now a paid foster carer with Action for Children providing short breaks for children in foster care, some of whom have special needs. He is also a volunteer driver at Rachel House children’s hospice where Helen works as a paediatric nurse. Their daughter Alice is also a volunteer befriender at Rachel House.

David and Helen are currently working towards providing short breaks for children with special needs through Action for Children on behalf of other charities/local authorities.

Debbie Laird Director

Debbie is an Actuary with a wide range of experience covering risk and capital management, audit, process improvement and networking/marketing. She is keen to help build links between companies and charities, promoting the benefits of these relationships to all parties. Debbie lives in Dunfermline with her husband and two children. In her spare time she enjoys diving, white-water rafting and creative writing. She also performs voluntary work for the Red Cross, providing first-aid cover at a range of events across Scotland.

Silvie MacKenzie Director

Silvie is a Care Manager at Badaguish, where she has developed a programme of respite activity holidays, holiday play schemes and SQA accredited training courses, providing 400 places per year for people with a learning disability, locally, nationally and from across the Highlands. Silvie is a trained social worker with over 20 years experience in residential care and therapy for people with disabilities. She has also organised, designed and delivered a variety of training to support front line workers in the voluntary care sector in the Highlands.

She is an active member of many voluntary and statutory community organisations and is committed to the importance of family support and to giving people with a disability and their carers a choice.

Elizabeth McDade Chair

Elizabeth lives and works in Aberdeen City, predominantly in the voluntary sector. Her work over the last six years has involved health and social care issues most especially in the area of informal carers. Additionally Elizabeth is a Non-Executive Member of NHS Grampian board She currently serves, both locally and nationally, on a variety of voluntary and statutory committees relating to carers and respite issues, and chairs a number of these. Prior to this Elizabeth's experience was in the offshore oil and gas industry where she spent several years as Personnel Manager for an offshore service company and had responsibility for several locations within the UK.

Elspeth Murray Director

Elspeth Murray is a freelance ‘poet and wordsmith’ with a background in anthropology, public health policy and health promotion. Elspeth joined the board of Shared Care Scotland following some work she was involved with as a poet in residence for their 2007 annual conference. She has worked in the NHS in patient and carer involvement in cancer care and as a poet in the field of mental health and is keen to raise awareness of the need to listen to people’s experiences when developing services and policies. Elspeth lives in Edinburgh with her husband, poet and puppeteer Richard Medrington.

Margaret Petherbridge Director

My experience has been working within Community Care Services and in particular the implementation of Direct Payments Policy and managing a Short Breaks Bureau which arranges breaks for adults with disabilities and older people. I am currently chair of the ADSW (Association of Directors of Social Work) Self Directed Support Group. As part of this role I participate in the Scottish Government Self Directed Support Strategy Implementation Group. 

As a trained nurse I also have many years of experience of working within health. 

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 ADVISERS TO THE BOARD

John Leggate Adviser 

 John is a former community development worker, and was the National Development Officer at Shared Care Scotland between 1993 and 2003. Although now retired John keeps busy with many interests which include Chairing the committee of the Princess Royal Trust for Carers Centre in Perth.

Louise Morgan Adviser young carers issues 

 Louise has been involved in young carers work since 2001, when she took up post as the first Young Carers Development Worker in Highland.  She moved into her current role as Scottish Young Carers Services Development manager with The Princess Royal Trust for Carers in 2004.  This work involves co-ordinating a nationwide network of over 50 agencies called The Scottish Young Carers Services Alliance. Despite having been a young carer herself, Louise is constantly amazed by the diversity of issues faced by young carers.  A favourite part of her job is attending the national Young Carers Festival – an event which brings together over 500 young carers to have lots of fun and to tell decision makers what they should do to improve the support available.  Louise now lives in Ayrshire, has three grown up sons and a passion for anything to do with horses.

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STAFF

Don Williamson Chief Executive

Don has been with Shared Care Scotland since January 2006. Prior to this he was the Programme Director in Edinburgh for the international leadership organisation Common Purpose, and before this was 8 years with The Duke of Edinburgh's Award as Assistant then Deputy Director for Scotland. Don has been a member of the Visiting Committee for Polmont Young Offenders Institution and a is a Board Director for GreenTeam, an Edinburgh based environmental education charity.

Lesley Gudgeon Administrator

Lesley started her career in administration after 10 years working as a hair stylist in her home town of Dunfermline. After completing her admin training at Lauder College, Fife she started work as an admin trainer for SAMH in Edinburgh before moving to the City of Edinburgh Council as an SVQ admin trainer/assessor. Wishing to work closer to home after the birth of her son, Lesley joined Shared Care Scotland in January 2004 and continues to enjoy the challenges her role brings. Lesley currently lives in Crossford, near Dunfermline with her husband Mike who is a Policeman and their son Ewan. In her spare time she sings with a band and enjoys taking part in amateur musicals.

Amanda Moffat Administrative Assistant

Amanda has been working at the Shared Care Scotland office since September 2010, she has over 10 years secretarial experience and returning to work in the voluntary sector after a four year career break has been influenced by her volunteering work.  Amanda is a trustee with FACE a Cancer Charity based in Edinburgh and is involved with Samaritans.  Amanda lives in Dunfermline with her husband and 2 children.  Amanda is the main point of contact for any administrative enquiries about our online directory of short break service.

Christi Orr Short Break Fund Manager

Christi started at Shared Care Scotland team in February 2011, working on behalf of Scotland's National Carer Organisations to manage and develop the Scottish Government's Short Breaks Fund. She started her career in the voluntary sector when she moved to the UK to be a full-time Community Service Volunteer, supporting people with disabilities. She spent 8 years working with various charities in London, gaining experience in fundraising, grant-making, project management, and development work with small charitable groups. Christie moved to Scotland in 2006, and worked as the Director of Organisational Development for Firsthand in Edinburgh, which provides short breaks to lone parents and carers of children with disabilities. She lives in Dunfermline with her husband Paul, and spends her free time swing dancing.

Ben Hall Communications Developer

Ben joined the Shared Care Scotland team in April 2011. He has worked in the voluntary sector for 18 years for various charities across Scotland. These included organisations that specialised in supporting children and families, homeless people, and most recently people with poor mental health. He started in the sector by volunteering with Community Service Volunteers providing respite holidays for families living in poverty. A graduate of Stirling and Strathclyde universities Ben now lives in Haddington with his wife Pamela and enjoys hillwalking and gardening.

Alison Stevenson Short Break Fund Manager