AIM PROJECT - Key Persons
Job Titles:
- CORE TEAM Director
- Director of Carol Carson Associates Ltd
- Registered Social Worker
- the AIM Project Manager
Carol Carson has been a registered social worker for over 35 years working with children and families in a range of settings including field social work, residential and education safeguarding. She also has experience of the management and delivery of children's services as Head of Safeguarding.
Carol is Director of Carol Carson Associates Ltd and an independent social work consultant and trainer, with a specialism in working with children and young people with harmful sexual behaviours (HSB) gained over 20 plus years of experience of assessments, direct work, development, training and consultancy and is currently offering management services to The AIM Project as a Core AIM Associate and part of the Central Team.
Job Titles:
- CORE TEAM / Training and Admin Coordinator
- Training and Admin Co - Ordinator
Christina is the first port of call for contacting the Project.
Job Titles:
- Social Worker
- AIM Associate Trainer
- Project As Administrator
Christine is a registered qualified Social Worker, for over 25yrs specialising in work with children and young people with harmful sexual behaviours.
In 1994 she managed and developed the Halt Project, one of the first specialist projects in Scotland working with harmful sexual behaviours. In 2005 she became an independent Social Worker and set up Safer Futures Ltd which provides consultation, training and direct work with young people with HSB and the adults around them. She also provides support to staff working in specialist services and residential and foster care organisations. This focuses on understanding trauma and responding to the complex needs of children and young people presenting with harmful sexual behaviours.
Christine has developed risk management processes for Local Authorities and written multi agency risk management protocols which were widely used throughout Scotland. She co-authored MARR (Management, Assessment and Risk Reduction), a practice guide for practitioners and managers working with children and young people with HSB. For several years she has been an AIM Associate trainer and has co-written the AIM Intervention Guidance (2019).
Dr Jeyda Ibrahim has a BSc. Psychology (First Class Honors & Dean's List Recognition) from University College London and in 2015 qualified as a Clinical Psychologist from the Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology and Neuroscience (IoPPN, Kings College London). Since qualifying she has worked in the Parenting and Child Service at Great Ormond Street Hospital, and both Inpatient and Outpatient National and Specialist Services at South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust. She is currently employed (Lambeth Youth Offending Child and Adolescent Mental Health Service, South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust) as a Highly Specialist Clinical Psychologist and the Lead Clinician for Harmful Sexual Behaviour. She is also the Diversity teaching coordinator for the IoPPN. Dr Ibrahim has developed areas of expertise in research, assessment and intervention with children who have experienced abuse, neglect and trauma. Through her current role she has developed a specialist interest in sexual abuse that occurs between siblings, and restorative practice work for these families.
Duncan was a Police Officer for 30 years with Suffolk Constabulary retiring in 2016. For the last 13 years of his career he worked in Safeguarding roles. Firstly, in Child Abuse Investigations working with victims and perpetrators. Secondly, from 2007 he managed the Suffolk unit responsible for the management of sex offenders (now known as MOSOVO). From 2013 to 2016 he became the National Lead for the Multi-Agency Public Protection arrangements (MAPPA) for England and Wales. His main responsibility was to support the design of the new risk assessment tool for Police and Probation known as ARMS and for its implementation. This work was completed by 2016 when he retired from the Police.
In 2016, he set up his own company and has been continuing to work in the field of sex offender management ever since, working all over the UK, Ireland, Gibraltar, New Zealand and Hungary. This has included working with sports, religious, public sector and charitable organisations in this field by conducting reviews, completing risk assessments on individuals, training and updating the organisations safeguarding responsibilities.
He is a trainer for a number of risk assessment tools including, Risk Matrix 2000, ARMS, Stable and Acute 2007, AIM3 and became an AIM associate trainer in 2019.
He is a Trustee of Circles UK and committee member of NOTA.
Job Titles:
- AIM Associate Trainer
- Director of McGibbon Consultancy
- Registered Social Worker
Gareth McGibbon is the Director of McGibbon Consultancy and Safeguarding Services Ltd. Gareth is a registered social worker with over 20 years' experience in the fields of sexual abuse, family violence and child protection. His experience in public protection, safeguarding, risk assessments and therapeutic programmes of intervention within both the criminal justice and child protection arenas is employed locally, nationally and internationally.
Gareth has undertaken research on the effectiveness of interventions with adults who have offended on-line and with young adults who have engaged in harmful sexual behaviours. He has also designed strength based systemic programmes of interventions for adults who sexually abuse and programmes of support for carers of children at risk from sexual or domestic abuse.
He is the co-author (McGibbon & Leonard, 2019) of the CASP-R (Capacity & Ability to Supervise and Protect - Risk Framework) a structured professional judgement framework for practitioners completing an assessment of a proposed carer's capacity and ability to supervise a person of concern and protect a child at risk of sexual or domestic violence.
Job Titles:
- Social Worker
- AIM Associate Trainer
Gina is a registered, qualified social worker for over 12 years. Prior to qualification she worked for many years as a Family Outreach Worker and support worker for Looked After Children, Since qualification, between 2008 and 2010 she worked as a Supervising Social Worker in Fostering and Adoption before becoming Senior Practitioner in a placement team and later management team in Worcestershire.
Since relocating to Gwynedd in North Wales in 2012, Gina has worked as a Social Worker in the Meirionnydd Children and Families Team. During this time her interest in working with young people who have problematic and harmful sexual behaviour developed and resulted in her having case responsibility for a number of cases across all ages and became a ‘champion' in this field for her team. Gina is trained in the AIM models of assessment and intervention, adopted by Gwynedd and has recently carried out assessments under the AIM3 Model framework rolled out in November 2019.
In March 2019, Gwynedd Local Authority were successful in accessing funding for a PSB/HSB team and Gina's current position is setting up this specialist team, hosted by Gwynedd and Ynys Mon Youth Justice Service. This role involves providing support and guidance through consultancy with staff from all 14 social services teams and working closely with health and education practitioners to develop a multi-agency approach within Gwynedd. In 2020 Gina was delighted to be invited to become an AIM Associate trainer
Job Titles:
- Associate
- Trainer
- AIM Associate Trainer
- Registered Social Worker
BSc, BA, MSc, Jennifer is a Forensic Psychologist in training, studying the DForenPsy at the University of Nottingham
Jennifer is a Registered social worker who has worked in the child protection arena since 2002. Jennifer qualified with an MSc Forensic Psychology in 2016.
Between 2012 and 2018 Jennifer was employed by NSPCC, providing consultation, assessment and therapeutic intervention for children and young people who have displayed harmful sexual behaviour. Jennifer was both a social worker and team manager during her time at NSPCC and she was also significantly involved in national development and training as part of the harmful sexual behaviour service.
Jennifer also has significant experience working with adults that have sexually harmed. She delivered the probation sex offender treatment programme for a number of years and has been employed by The Lucy Faithfull Foundation since 2011, delivering a psychoeducation programme to men who have perpetrated online sexual offences.
Jennifer is currently employed by the NHS, where her role is Harmful Sexual Behavior Lead, working within the Youth Secure Estate and the community. She also undertakes independent consultation and assessment work. Jennifer has been an AIM Associate Trainer since 2017
Jennifer Allotey - AIM Associate trainer
BSc, BA, MSc, Jennifer is a Forensic Psychologist in training, studying the DForenPsy at the University of Nottingham
Karen has worked in Youth Justice for 15 years and has developed the Harmful Sexual behaviour Service in Suffolk and currently manages the Service working closely with Children and Young People's and Youth Justice Services. She has previous experience of working with Harmful Sexual Behaviour in both residential settings and in the community as well as working with adult sexual offenders in a custodial setting. She has 18 years' experience in the field of HSB and has an interest in the supervision of HSB practice.
She is currently a registered MSc student at Coventry University studying Forensic Psychology and Crime and her dissertation is focusing on practitioner experience of supervision when working with HSB. Karen joined AIM as an Associate in October 2019 and leads on the delivery of HSB for Supervisors training as well as delivering training in the AIM3 model of assessment. She also undertakes independent consultancy and assessments
Kieran McGrath holds a degree in Law and a Masters in Social Work from University College Dublin. Part of his post-graduate studies was undertaken in the Sacramento Child Sexual Abuse Treatment Agency, California. In the late 1980s he worked as a Social Worker and Social Work Manager with the Eastern Health Board in Dublin before being appointed Principal Psychiatric Social Worker in St Clare's Child Sexual Abuse Assessment & Therapy Unit, Children's University Hospital, Temple St., Dublin, in 1988, later becoming its Assistant Director.
In 1990 he co-founded the Northside Inter-Agency Project (NIAP) a treatment service for young people who sexually abuse; the first service of its kind in Ireland. He represented St Clare's Unit on various expert working parties including the Video Evidence Committee which drew up guidelines for the taking of video-statements from children and people with intellectual disabilities in cases of alleged abuse
He was also the Irish partner on two European research projects: the Concerted Action on the Prevention of Child Abuse in Europe (CAPCAE), a European research project on child abuse prevention strategies and a DAPHNE-funded project looking at the legal obstacles to victim and offender rehabilitation in cases of child sexual abuse in Spain, Ireland and the Netherlands. A report on this latter study was published by the Council of Europe in 2003
He is also a Visiting Research Associate in the Dept of Social Studies, Trinity College Dublin and is the author of guides for parents/carers on sexualised behaviour in children and adolescents in both English and Spanish. He is an AIM Associate Trainer and in 2010 was responsible for having AIM2 translated into Spanish. He is also an accredited trainer of the "Staff Supervision in Social Care" course developed by the late Tony Morrison. In January 2006 he established the Irish Child & Family Institute, an independent Child Welfare Consultancy, which operates in both Ireland and Spain. Since 2007 he has been consultant to the ATURA'T Project in Palma, Majorca, a service for the evaluation and treatment of young people convicted of sexual offences, which operates under the auspices of the Menors i Familia section of the government of the Balearic Islands. He has recently had AIM3 workbook translated into Spanish and intends promoting its use in Spain
Lindsey Dickinson qualified in 1992 at the University of Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa. She has over 25 years' experience, specialising in working with adolescents who display harmful sexual behaviour. She was at the NSPCC for 12 years, where she was acting team manager for a period. Whilst at the NSPCC she was the team lead in developing their services for working with this service user group, she was also the consultant to a residential unit for adolescent males.
In 2011 she co-founded DG Etali Ltd, where she works directly with young people and their families/carers. She offers consultation to staff. In this role, the company has been successful at procuring many contracts with local authorities and agencies. Within this role she undertakes training on all aspects relating to sexual harm. She has been an AIM Associate since 2012 and continues to deliver on various aspects of AIM training.
Job Titles:
- CORE TEAM / Project Development
- Director of Leonard Consultancy
- Project Development
Marcella is the Director of Leonard Consultancy and qualified as a social worker in 1989. Marcella has specialised in assessment and treatment in the fields of sexuality, sexual deviancy and sexual trauma. She has two areas of specific interest, one, in developing the understanding of those working within criminal justice and risk management in utilising the knowledge of normal sexual development to understand sexual deviancy. The other area is in as her role as a psychosexual therapist to assist victims of sexual trauma to regain a healthy sexual life without re-experiencing trauma. As Director of Leonard Consultancy, Marcella works in New Zealand, Abu Dhabi, Australia, Gibraltar and Canada as well as throughout UK and Ireland in delivering specialist training, consultancy and programme development. She completed 3 years as Co-ordinator of Public Protection Arrangements in N. Ireland (PPANI). Marcella has assisted NOMS and College of Policing in their roll out of the ARMS risk assessment training for public protection Police in England and Wales.
She currently provides risk assessments for children, adolescents and adults and ability to protect assessments for range of organisations including Social Care Trusts, Education, Religious, Sports and Solicitors and employing agencies throughout UK and Ireland. She is an external public and child protection consultant with the Royal Gibraltar Police, Prison, Probation and Care Agencies as they further develop their multiagency public protection arrangements. She also provides clinical supervision for senior social work and psychology personnel throughout Ireland in their work with victims and offenders of sexual abuse. Marcella also undertakes reviews of social work practice in child and adult social care cases. Marcella is currently the Chair of NI NOTA Conference and Training Committee. Marcella has written several book chapters and co-authored articles in relevant professional journals and regularly provides expert opinion to media outlets as well as expert advisor to several documentaries for television productions. Marcella is co-author of AIM3 Model of Assessment for Adolescents who have sexually harmed with Prof. Simon Hackett and is co-author of the Capacity and Ability to Supervise and Protect - Risk (CASP-R) assessment tool for non-abusing partners / parents with Gareth Mc Gibbon.
Marcella has been awarded NSPCC and AoCPP UK Child Protection Trainer of the Year 2019
Job Titles:
- CORE TEAM / Administrator
Job Titles:
- Academic Advisor to AIM
- Professor of Child Abuse and Neglect at Durham University
Simon is Professor of Child Abuse and Neglect at Durham University. His work in relation to sexual abuse and harmful sexual behaviour in childhood is internationally known. He has conducted extensive research and has published widely in this area. Recent work includes a study of long-term outcomes for children and young people between ten and twenty years after the initial identification of their harmful sexual behaviour. Simon was part of the NICE Public Health Advisory Committee which has established the first UK national guidance on early interventions for harmful sexual behaviours. He has given evidence to the UK Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse and previously supported the Australian Royal Commission on this topic. He is immediate past Chair of NOTA in the UK and Republic of Ireland and is currently a member of the ATSA Board. Simon is first author of the NSPCC harmful sexual behaviour framework, designed to improve multi-agency responses to children and families. Simon is co-author of the 2019 AIM3 Assessment Model with Marcella Leonard. Simon's practice base in this area extends back to the early 1990s. He was previously a Programme Director and one of the co-founders of G-MAP.
Raminder has worked with children and families within both the education and youth justice sector for over 20 years. She is an accredited specialist safeguarding trainer and the lead education safeguarding officer responsible for supporting schools with strategic safeguarding policy, procedures, training and advice in a large local authority. Her role involves working closely with head teachers, principals, designated safeguarding leads, Ofsted Inspectors, the DfE and the Education Funding Agency.
Rezina is a passionate educationalist, with a particular focus on helping vulnerable children to succeed in education. She has over 20 years of experience; as a Primary Teacher, working and managing teams in Youth Justice, supporting schools as both an Education Safeguarding Advisor and LADO (responding to allegations against staff), and most recently as a Virtual School Head focusing on Children Looked After and Previously Looked After. Rezina is now an Education Consultant offering consultancy, training and coaching to adults working with children in education and beyond
Rezina is committed to safeguarding children, and supports Local Authorities, Multi-Academy Trusts and individual schools across the country. She is a member of CAPE (Child Protection in Education), and through this organisation has facilitated member and national conferences. She has co-developed Harmful Sexual Behaviour Toolkits for a Local Safeguarding Partnership and has supported schools in the application of Risk Assessments to education settings. She is also passionate about developing Trauma-informed practices within schools and developing more inclusive practices, especially for children with Social, Emotional and Mental Health needs
Job Titles:
- AIM Associate Trainer
- Registered Social Worker
Vince Mercer is a registered Social Worker specialising in Youth Justice. He was a Senior Practitioner and Team Leader in Youth Justice for over 20 years and established and ran the Greater Manchester Family Group Meetings Project, working restoratively with young people who committed serious harm, the victims and families as part of the Youth Justice Board's introduction of Restorative Justice into the youth criminal justice system. He is a trained Restorative Conference and Family Group Conference facilitator and Serious Case Mediator.
In 2003 he joined The AIM Project to focus upon restorative practice in the field of child and adolescent harmful sexual behaviour and became a Core Associate. On behalf of The AIM Project he contributed to the DAPHNE/ European Commission Project on ‘Developing integrated responses to sexual violence; an interdisciplinary research project on the use of restorative justice'. Vince is a registered trainer with the European Forum for Restorative Justice, jointly running the 2017 EFRJ Summer school in Como, Italy on RJ.
He has trained extensively on the subject of restorative practice and harmful sexual behaviour in the UK and in Europe and has developed a range of practice tools over the years reflecting The AIM Project's experience in the field.