Who We Are: Associate Trainers & Consultants
Elçin Baykal Kök
Associate Trainer & Consultant
Elçin is a psychologist who holds an MA degree in the field of Experimental Psychology. She worked as a Research Assistant at İzmir University and at Bilkent University. She is also trained on family counseling and group therapies. Elçin is one of the members of the team that translated the SAAF materials into Turkish and has served as a co-trainer and a consecutive translator in the trainings held in Turkey. Currently, she is working as a psychologist and trainer at the Directorate of Community Health at İzmir Metropolitan Municipality. She carries out psychoeducations and interventions to promote health, development and wellbeing.
Pedro Bori
Associate Trainer & Consultant
Bori is an experienced psychologist working with people in need. Bori is bilingual (Spanish and English) and is presently based in Mexico. He has studied at universities in Mexico (Colima and Hidalgo) and Spain (Seville). Bori is a consultant and trainer, who's able to deliver courses from accessibility web for the visually impaired, safeguarding, violence, trauma and parenting. He specializes in helping people affected by violence and trauma. Bori has his own private practice. Bori is a former principal of a 'foster home' for teenagers provided by the Mexican government where he managed a large multi-disciplinary staff group, caring for boys from 13 to 18, who faced situations such as recovery from violence and adverse childhood experiences. Bori is a self-published author, with three published books, two fiction and one non-fiction Criando a mis 32 in which Bori described his experiences raising teenagers and is aimed at parents who want to learn psychological theories that can help them. Previously Bori started a social network for people with overweight conditions, building a website where people with overweight or obesity could find people also struggling and finding support from each other. Whilst based in Glasgow (UK) Bori designed and built an electronic board game for visually impaired children and established a British-based company called Smash-a-Ball Ltd to promote its use. This toy helped visually impaired children to improve their cognitive skills, such as spatial awareness, reaction speed, memory and mapping. Now, at JUCONI Mexico, Bori leads the implementation of the CFT Hope for Children and Families training programme, and training on the use of the Assessment Framework and the HOME Inventory (UK Approach) in Mexico. Bori is able to deliver these training programmes in both Spanish and English.
Professor Rachel Calam
Associate Trainer & Consultant
Rachel studied for her PhD and then trained as a clinical psychologist at the University of Liverpool and worked in the NHS in psychology services for children and families. At the University of Manchester, she ran the Doctorate in Clinical Psychology before becoming Professor of Child and Family Psychology and Head of the School of Psychological Sciences. Her research on parenting and families has a particular focus on young children's behaviour problems as a prevention strategy in different contexts, including applications in low resource settings. She is one of the team that developed "In My Shoes" and associated apps, and has carried out research on their use in paediatric settings.
Dr. Mine Cihanoğlu
Associate Trainer & Consultant
Mine is a developmental and clinical psychologist from Ankara, Turkey. She received her M.S. degree in Clinical Psychology from Middle East Technical University and completed her PhD study in Developmental Psychology at Ege University. In the years 2005-2020, she worked as a full-time faculty member at Atılım University Department of Psychology, where she acted as the Vice Chair and Chair for several years. Since July 2020, she is an independent researcher and trainer. Her research interests include suggestibility of children's memories, children's rights, child abuse and neglect, developmental psychopathology, children and trauma, and refugee children. She has been working in Child and Adolescent Unit of Turkish Psychological Association (TPA) and served as an Executive Board member (2018-2020). On behalf of TPA, she was one of the founding members of the Partnership Network for Preventing Violence against the Child in Turkey and for different periods since 2012, she served as the TPA representative at the Executive Committee of the Partnership Network. She is also a member of Turkish Society for the Prevention of Child Abuse and Neglect (TSPCAN). She is in the development team of "In My Shoes (IMS)" Turkish training programme and is one of the two leading trainers of IMS in Turkey. Her training as an Agency-Based Trainer of Safeguarding Children Assessment and Analysis Framework (SAAF) and Hope for Children and Families (HfCF) programmes are in progress.
Professor Hedy Cleaver
Associate Trainer & Consultant
Hedy is a Chartered Psychologist and the author of over 40 research based books, papers and chapters exploring the impact of adverse family circumstances on children's health and development. She started her career as a social worker in Jamaica before returning to the UK to qualify as a child psychologist. After practicing as a psychologist both within schools and clinical settings, she joined the Dartington Social Research Unit. She is currently an Emeritus Professor at Royal Holloway. Her earlier experience as a practitioner informed her research on vulnerable children and families and the impact of professional interventions. The guiding principle underpinning her work is a desire to improve the quality of life for children living in circumstances that place them at risk of abuse and neglect. The findings from her research have had an identifiable impact on policy in the UK in respect to children and families throughout the last 25 years.
Dr. Işıl Çoklar Okutkan
Associate Trainer & Consultant
Işıl is a psychologist who holds MA and PhD degrees in the field of Social Psychology. She has accumulated nine years of professional experience as a psychologist, working in juvenile and family courts in Turkey. Since 2013, she has actively participated in teaching and supervising undergraduate and graduate students. Isil is also a member of the team that translated SAAF tools into Turkish and has served as a co-trainer in the trainings held in Turkey. Currently, she is a postdoctoral researcher at Trinity College Dublin, actively involved in the SEURO project which focuses on enhancing the self-management abilities of older individuals with multiple chronic conditions through the utilisation of digital health tools.
Dr. İlkiz Altınoğlu Dikmeer
Associate Trainer & Consultant
İlkiz is a clinical child and adolescent psychologist with 30 years of experience from Ankara, Turkey. She received her PhD in Clinical Psychology from Middle East Technical University (METU). She has worked in the child psychiatry clinics of a major state hospital and Ankara University Medical School for more than 20 years. Between 2012 – 2016 she has worked as a part-time instructor at METU and Bilkent Universities and full-time faculty member at Atilim University. Currently, she is working as an Assoc. Prof. of Psychology at Çankırı Karatekin University. She also worked as an outer consultant for UNHCR in the psychological assessment of refugee children. İlkiz is a member of Turkish Psychological Association (TPA) since 1990, served in the executive board for different periods and currently is the Vice Chair since 2018. İlkiz has been a trainer in the Continuous Education Program of TPA since 2010 and delivered numerous trainings on "Child Assessment", "Specific Learning Disability – assessment & intervention" and "WISC-IV Turkish Form". In 2019, İlkiz commenced developing the "In My Shoes (IMS)" training programme for Turkey.
Hazel Field
Associate Trainer & Consultant
Hazel is a registered social worker who qualified in 1981. She holds a BA, CQSW and the Advanced Award in Child Care Practice. She has worked extensively in children's services, including safeguarding, training, and as a children's guardian, later becoming the manager of that service. She is currently a Senior Practitioner in a voluntary adoption agency where she undertakes mentoring and training, as well as direct work with families and children. She trains in the ASI for Child and Family Training
Dr. Annabel Goodyer
Associate Trainer & Consultant
Annabel is a qualified social worker registered with the Health & Care Professional Council. She has extensive practice experience in children and families social work, both as a local authority social worker and as a children's guardian and independent chair of the Kent Guardian's Panel. Her research interests include foster children's evaluations of their care, social work skills and working with mixed-race children and young people. Geographically Annabel has worked in London Boroughs and in Kent. She joined the Child and Family Training Group in 2001 and has delivered training in a range of tools for use when undertaking evidence-based assessments. Annabel has managed qualifying social work programmes at Brunel & LSBU. She has published widely in the social work academic press and is the author of 'Child-Centred Foster Care'. Annabel has recently been appointed as a Visiting Fellow at LSBU.
Fiona Gren
Associate Trainer & Consultant
Fiona has been a practising social worker in adult and children's services since 1979. She is also a qualified teacher and person centred counsellor. Fiona is currently a part time social work team leader in a multi-disciplinary team of social workers, teachers, therapists and family workers, working directly with schools and families where pupils are exhibiting social, emotional and behavioural difficulties. She works alongside CAMHS and the child protection teams. Fiona has worked in the parenting field for many years. She supervises trainers on several different parenting programmes. Fiona is also an independent trainer and consultant, working for Local Authorities and the independent and private sectors. She was a foster carer for 10 years. Fiona is a trainer for Child and Family Training.
Dr. Duygu Güngör Culha
Associate Trainer & Consultant
Duygu is a psychologist who holds a PhD degree in the field of Psychometrics. In early years of her career she worked with children in kindergarten. She received her PhD degree in 2012 while she was working as a research assistant. She is one of the members of the team that translated SAAF tools into Turkish. She participated in the trainings in Turkey as a co-trainer. Currently, she is working as an Assoc. Prof. at Dokuz Eylül University, İzmir.
Dr. Mehmet Akif Güzel
Associate Trainer & Consultant
Mehmet is a clinical psychologist since 2007 and a cognitive psychologist since 2012. After obtaining his PhD degree from the University of Southampton, England/UK, he commenced working as an assistant professor in several psychology departments in Turkey, e.g., in İstanbul and İzmir. He is currently working as a faculty member in the Department of Psychology of the Middle East Technical University Northern Cyprus Campus (METU NCC) since September 2016. His research areas cover cognitive and metacognitive processes as well as psychopathology, involving particularly mood disorders (e.g., depression) and eating disorders. Akif has took part in translating the materials of C&FT into Turkish and he has been working as a trainer and a consecutive translator in the workshops of C&FT delivered particularly for Turkish psychologists and social workers who serve child protection services in Turkey.
Liz Hobson
Associate Trainer & Consultant
Liz is currently seconded to work in the Family and Friends Assessment and Support Team for Gloucestershire County Council. Her role involves assessment and training of prospective kinship carers and private fostering arrangements. She has previously worked as a fostering recruitment social worker for Gloucestershire County Council. Her role involved recruitment, assessment and training of prospective foster carers. She has also been involved both the commissioning and delivery of training programmes for the children's workforce in Gloucestershire and foster carers (post approval). Earlier in her career she worked as a Children and Families Social Worker for South Gloucestershire County Council; this role involved working directly with children and their families who were both in need (s.17) and in need of protection (s.47).
Cheryl Hood
Associate Trainer & Consultant
Cheryl is a qualified social worker additionally holding an Advanced Certificate in Child Protection and an MA in Child Welfare and Child Protection. Cheryl has held a range of practitioner, supervisory, managerial, independent and teaching roles within the field of child welfare and protection services, spanning 37 years. Cheryl has worked in London and the north west of England. Cheryl joined Child and Family Training (C&FT) in 2005 as an associate trainer and consultant and is licensed to use and teach the range of evidence-based assessment and intervention tools.
Israel Cruz Miranda
Associate Trainer & Consultant
He completed his degree at the National School of Social Work of the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM). He is certified in "Therapeutic Communication with Children and Adolescents. Special Time" by The Tavistock and Portman NHS Foundation Trust of London. He's accredited as a guide in video interactions by The United States National Training Center. Since 2000 he has worked in different organizations that assist children and adolescents. In 2008 he joined Fundación JUCONI México A. C. where he worked as coordinator of the physical health area serving families, children and adolescents. In 2016, he started working as an advisor at the JUCONI Institute advising, training and strengthening the skills of people who care for girls, boys, adolescents and families affected by violence in government and private organizations. He has coordinated projects to strengthen the skills of professionals and participated in the implementation of foster care pilots led by UNICEF and RELAF in the Federal and Mexico City family care systems, in relation to family reintegration processes of children and adolescents in alternative care in 2017 and 2018. Co-author of the book "Therapeutic re-educational community for adolescents deprived of liberty" edited by Fundación Reintegra A.C.
Catherine Jacobs
Associate Trainer & Consultant
Catherine is a Research Psychologist working for the Centre for Abuse and Trauma studies (CATS), Middlesex University. She has a with a particular focus on Knowledge Exchange - bringing research into practice. For Child and Family Training she delivers the Attachment Style Interview, which was designed by the CATS team
Phil Jimmieson
Associate Trainer & Consultant
Phil is a lecturer in the Computer Science Department of the University of Liverpool. Phil is the programmer and member of the development team for the In My Shoes project, the initial work on which, was the foundation of his MPhil degree research in the early 90′s. He has been involved in teaching and student project supervision over a number of years at the University of Liverpool. He is particularly interested in the field of User Interfaces and developing software for humans to use. He has been involved in delivering In My Shoes training since 2006.
Sheila Groth Larsen
Associate Trainer & Consultant
Sheila B.A (hons) M.Ed. (Ed.Psych) M.Sc. Ethics, a chartered educational psychologist worked in local authority for many years. In 1987 she moved to Barnados NW employed as psychologist to support many of their projects including fostering, family support, youth offending, residential care and with children who show / convicted of sexually inappropriate behaviours. She was the consultant psychologist for West Kirby Residential School for over 20 years working with pupils with emotional, social and psychological needs. Sheila joined the In My Shoes development team in 1991 and has been and active member of the team piloting many of its developments and delivers In My Shoes training.
Carole Moore
Associate Trainer & Consultant
Carole has been a trainer for Child and Family Training since 2000, Carole has a background in social work having been involved across most childcare teams including fostering and adoption since 1988. In 2003 Carole moved into the field of inspection and inspected a variety of children's services across the independent sector and Local Authorities before retiring from Ofsted in 2015. Carol has delivered a variety of child protection social care courses. Carole was also an independent assessor having gained the practice teachers award from Bristol University. Carole is now an independent consultant, registered with HCPC carrying out a variety of quality assurance functions across children's homes and fostering and adoption agencies. Carole also investigates complaints at stage 2 and allegations. Carole also sits on fostering and adoption panels.
Dr. Solana Orlando
Associate Trainer & Consultant
Dr Solana Orlando is a psychiatrist who graduated at UBA (University of Buenos Aires) Argentina and is a Master in Psychoneuroinmunology awarded by the Hospital Braulio Montalvo Buenos Aires. She trained as a Psychoanalyst and Family Therapist and was a member and professor at the Argentinian branch of the MRI (Mental Research Institute). She is a Consultant at an NGOs devoted to work with street children, the Conociendo Nuestra Casa (Knowing Our Home) in Patagonia, Argentina, and teaches at the Family Institute in Toulouse and Lille in France.
Elaine Rose
Associate Trainer & Consultant
Elaine is a qualified as a social worker in 1978 and as a Child and Family Psychotherapist in 1994, she also has an Msc in Child Forensic Psychology and Law. As a UKCP registered therapist she has a private practice in Kent where she works closely with everyone in the adoption triangle but particularly helps the children manage their difficulties. Elaine is the Safeguarding Adviser for the Diocese of Canterbury, a job she shares with Simon Tapp. She has been a trainer for Child and Family Training for many years. Elaine lives on Romney Marsh with three English Setters, a flock of rare sheep and rescued chickens.
Rosemarie Roberts
Associate Trainer & Consultant
Rosemarie trained as a teacher, a social worker and as a consultant systemic family therapist and has worked in education, social services and CAMHS in both research and clinical roles for over 35 years. She worked at the South London & Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust from 1997 until 2014. For the last ten years she was Director of the National Implementation Service for Evidence Based Interventions (for children looked after, on the edge of care or custody or adopted) leading on the Department for Education funded national implementation of evidence based programmes and the design and development of new evidence informed interventions. She joined Child and Family Training as a consultant for the Hope for Children and Families project in March 2014.
Sue Skrobanski
Associate Trainer & Consultant
Sue has worked for Child and Family Training since 2000. She has over 20 years social work experience mainly working in the area of child protection. Sue also has 20 years experience of delivering freelance training to a range of Local Authorities, LSCBs, and Voluntary agencies mainly in the area of child and family work and child safeguarding. For the last 17 years Sue has worked in the Department of Social Work at Royal Holloway and is a Senior Lecturer. She is accredited to deliver a range of Child and Family Training courses.
Barbara Simpson
Associate Trainer & Consultant
Barbara is a Qualified Social Worker and currently holds the position of Senior Practitioner within The Lucy Faithfull Foundation. She joined the Foundation in 2012. Prior to this she has worked with both the voluntary and statutory sector as a Child Protection Practitioner and Trainer, she worked as a Manager with the Children with Disabilities Service, and has also considerable experience of working with services for survivors of Domestic Abuse. In her current role she is responsible for providing supervision for the Birmingham based Children's Practitioner Team. The work of the team includes specialist assessments and interventions for criminal and family courts. In addition she personally works with protective carers both individually and in groups, she contributes to a range of specific safeguarding projects and delivers training and consultancy in safeguarding children and young people.
Beverly Sokel
Associate Trainer & Consultant
Beverly is a clinical child psychologist who has worked for over thirty years with children and families in social services, CAMHS and paediatric settings including Great Ormond Street Hospital. She now works in private practice at the multi-disciplinary Child and Family Practice in London. She has extensive experience of working with children using cognitive behaviour therapy, behavioural interventions and relaxation/guided imagery as well as in the provision of training and skills development in working with children.
Tracey Stephens
Associate Trainer & Consultant
Tracey has worked in children's social since 1995 and is a registered social worker. She initially worked as a residential worker in children's homes with children and young people aged eight to sixteen, until she qualified as a social worker in 2000 and went on to work in child protection and family support. In 2006 she became a training officer for a large county council and was responsible for the training of childrens' social care staff and foster carers, which included implementing a county wide training programme on the use of evidenced based assessment tools and approaches. She is now an independent trainer and social worker and undertakes fostering and parenting assessments. She joined Child and Family Training in 2012 and delivers a range of training courses and has contributed to the development of some of the course materials.
Margreet Timmer
Associate Trainer & Consultant
Margreet has been working in youth care since 1988. First as a residential worker in a children's homes with children and young people aged two to eighteen, after that in child protection and now as a trainer, registered family mediator and 'Kindbehartiger' (a coach for children when parents are in a conflict during their divorce, looking out for the interests of the children) her own practice TIMM Consultancy in The Netherlands. During her work as a guardian she specialises in safety planning (Signs of Safety). She provides training on safety planning and risk-assessment, talking with children about child abuse, multi-disciplinary work and high conflict divorces. As a freelance trainer she works with a lot of different professionals in the area of child and family work and child safeguarding.
Dr. Mehtap Tufan
Associate Trainer & Consultant
Mehtap is educational technologist with 10 years of experience from Ankara, Turkey. She received her PhD on Computer Education and Instructional Technology from Middle East Technical University (METU). She developed a tablet application for the concept acquisition of students with intellectual disabilities in her PhD dissertation. Between 2013-2015 she has worked as Instructional Technologist, in Movement of Enhancing Opportunities and Improving Technology Project (FATIH Project) at Ministry of National Education. This project is the greatest and the most comprehensive educational movement implemented for the use of educational technologies in Turkey. She has also worked as research assistant in METU and as educational technologist in TED University. Currently she is working as a research assistant and lecturer in Information Systems Engineering Department of Atılım University of Ankara, Turkey. She is technical member of the Turkey team for the In My Shoes project.
Dr. Yvonne Walker
Associate Trainer & Consultant
Dr. Yvonne Walker is a consultant psychologist with over 25 years' experience of working with children, young people and adults. She has worked in child and family assessment settings in Local Authority, NHS and the private sector and has extensive experience undertaking complex child and family assessments. She is a culturally competent practitioner and diversity mediator, specialising in facilitating communication and understanding.