Tackling Child Sexual Abuse Scotland Conference

Martin Crewe has been the Director of Barnardo’s Scotland for 16 years and has worked in the charity sector for more than 30 years. He has been a member of several boards including Edinburgh College, OSCR and Evaluation Support Scotland, and has chaired the Scottish Government’s Getting It Right For Every Child (GIRFEC) Programme Board. Martin initially trained as a geochemist and has worked for a trade union, the National Health Service and charities both big and small. He has recently completed a DBA focused on charity leadership and effectiveness.

Stuart Allardyce is a Director at the child protection charity, The Lucy Faithfull Foundation. He has responsibility for research as well as Stop It Now services in Scotland. He has worked in the child sexual abuse field as a social worker for over 20 years and is chair of NOTA UK and Ireland, the membership association for professionals working with adults and adolescents who perpetrate sexual harm. He is a visiting researcher at Strathclyde University and co-author of ‘Working with Children and Young People Who Have Displayed Harmful Sexual Behaviour’ (Dunedin Press, 2018) and the Centre for Expertise on child sexual abuse’s ‘Sibling Sexual Abuse: A Knowledge and Practice Overview’ (2021). He was a member of the Scottish Governments expert working group on preventing sexual offending amongst children and young people.

Dr. Peter Yates is a qualified social worker with particular experience of working within a specialist service supporting children and young people who have displayed harmful sexual behaviour. A Lecturer in Social Work at Glasgow Caledonian University, Peter is co-chair (with Anna Glinski) of the Association of Child Protection Professionals’ special interest group on child sexual abuse. He has published a number of papers on the subject of harmful sexual behaviour and sibling sexual abuse including Allardyce, S. and Yates, P. (2018) Working with children and young people who have displayed harmful sexual behaviour, Dunedin Academic Press, and Yates, P. and Allardyce, S. (2023) Sibling sexual behaviour: A guide to responding to inappropriate, problematic and abusive behaviour, Centre of Expertise on Child Sexual Abuse.

June has been a qualified social worker for 34 years, practicing/ managing practice in both local authority and third sector services, including frontline children’s services, adult mental health; Third Sector fostering services and, within Children 1^st, practiced and managed an abuse recovery service, offering assessment and support to families affected by child sexual abuse. This service contributed to early recognition of the need to support vulnerable witnesses, including children who have experienced CSA, achieving a Care Accolade for that work. Since 2016, her accumulated practice experience has been directed towards multi-agency child protection learning and development, most recently in a national L&D role within CELCIS, updating the National Framework for Child Protection L&D in Scotland 2024 and developing child protection-related L&D materials, including learning on Understanding Child Sexual Abuse. She is currently working with colleagues in CELCIS supporting the development of a Scottish Government led CSA/E Strategic Group.

Mary started her career as a Social Worker specialising in child protection and her experience to date includes 15 years as a social worker, leader and trainer in a number of  Scottish Local Authorities, and a further 18 years in leadership roles in the children’s  charity sector. Throughout her career, Mary has specialised in creating teams and models of service that focus on the prevention of harm and the delivery of whole family support to uphold children’s right to live safely in their own families and communities.

Mary is a passionate advocate for children’s rights in policy and practice. She is the Chair of Together, the Scottish Alliance for Children’s Rights, and is a former trustee of Starcatchers, Scotland’s arts and early years organisation. She was formerly on the Board of Social Work Scotland and is Chair of the Children and Families committee of the Coalition of Care Providers in Scotland. Mary has a particular interest in the impact of childhood trauma and is a passionate campaigner for trauma responsive and relationship-based approaches to supporting children and their families recover from adversity.

Gavin Calder, Chief Executive, has been in educational leadership since 1999, having spent the last 16 years as a headteacher. Prior to joining Harmeny In April 2024. Gavin was the headteacher at Edinburgh Academy’s Junior School and has been at the forefront of the independent school sector’s understanding and Integration of ever-developing best practice, including those with additional support needs. He Is also a board member of the Scottish Council for Independent Schools (SCIS). While at Lomond School and Loretto School, Gavin has worked closely with local authorities who placed children from looked-after backgrounds in the boarding houses. The boarding facilities in both schools were praised for their high level of care and Individual attention by the Care Commission (now the Care Inspectorate).

Gavin Is passionate about sports, music and Outdoor Education. He Is a trained coach and the Chair of Triathlon Scotland. He also holds the role of Chair of the Board for the Scottish Outdoor Education Centres.