Our “WHY:”

We’ve been there. Our team is made up of staff who have been in direct work and national strategic roles across various sectors supporting young people and their families.

It is simply too difficult to keep up with legislation and know all the new innovations in practice, while still holding large caseloads or managing staff and ensuring you are present when in contact with those you’re supporting. It can often feel like one or the other—development or delivery. That has to change, and that’s what SaferNow is for. Building, creating, sharing, and disseminating what you need to know so that you don’t have to spend time you don’t have on self-taught professional development.

Our “HOW:”

We find the gaps and fill them. Whether practice, theoretical understanding, processes or systems.

Building on “what works,” improving staffing confidence and competence, and pulling in innovations from cross-sectors, we can improve the outcomes all our sectors are trying to reach for children, young people, families, and communities. SaferNow takes a relational approach to training and consultancy; in fact, we like to apply all the practices and models we utilised whilst in frontline or direct work roles. Only now those relationships exist between SaferNow staff and our clients. Much our work with our clients-come-partners becomes long-term pieces, spanning months and years.

Come chat with us and book a virtual cuppa, without obligation, to see how we may be able to support you. You can do this via our Contact Us page.

Our “Small but Mighty” Team

At SaferNow, we’re always on the lookout for experts in the field to further enrich our offer. Should you feel you wish to get involved, we’d love to hear from you!

  • Sean Monaghan

    FOUNDER DIRECTOR

    @seanmmona2101

    Sean has spent many years practising within the sectors of youth work, working heavily in multi-agency settings with criminal justice, social care and health as both frontline practitioner and service manager roles. Notably:

    • Running a hyper-local centre based model for a community deeply impacted by violence and trauma.

    • Developing three hospital based violence interruption services to meet the needs of young people presenting as victims of sexual violence, bladed and firearm injuries.

    • A former regular attendee of the Guns, Gangs, and Serious Organised Crime Strategic Board.

  • Taylor Hale

    OPS & DIGITAL CONTENT MANAGER

    @_taylorhale

    Taylor is responsible for all operational tasks as well as our digital content and resources produced for SaferNow.

    Holding multiple qualifications in Creative Media Production, Taylor has since gone on to academically specialise in Modern Slavery and Exploitation, Criminology and Security Studies.

    Taylor has continued to volunteer within local authority youth services and the third sector - working on various projects, including providing yoga sessions to survivors of modern slavery within the local community.

  • Karen Laing

    Karen has over twenty years of experience working with children and families who have been assessed as some of society's most vulnerable.

    She has worked in secure and community environments and has a wealth of experience in engaging children where others have failed.

    More recently Karen has specialised in working with children who have been exploited and trafficked both directly, and by supporting and advising other practitioners. This has involved providing 1:1 support and guidance and designing and delivering well-respected training courses aimed to develop knowledge and practice of those working in this area.  

  • Dr Lizzie Fitzmaurice

    Dr Fitzmaurice is a Registered Forensic Psychologist, specialising in adolescent mental health and youth violence. She has extensive experience working with challenging young people and is passionate about making positive changes for disadvantaged young people.

    Lizzie works in a consultation and advisory role for organisations and governing bodies designing policies and practices for young people, enhancing the efficacy of systems and embedding psychologically informed practices.

    She currently works in the NHS as a Consultant Psychologist and as a director of DLF Psychology. Lizzie holds a number of associate Consultant roles with community organisations and has extensive experience working with the NHS, prison service, voluntary sector, education, youth work and social care.

    Lizzie is renowned for her impactful consultation and training and dedicates her time outside of clinical work to supporting students and organisations better understand key issues and skills related to young people, mental health and youth violence.

    Dr Fitzmaurice works as an expert witness in both criminal and family court settings.

    Lizzie is qualified in a range of therapies, including EMDR and DBT and delivers a range of certified interventions and risk reduction programmes.

  • Jo Fitzsimmons

    STRATEGIC LEAD CONSULTANT

    Jo has an extensive career spanning nearly three decades in the charity sector, working with children and young people most marginalised in society.

    Equipping and inspiring managers to develop key skills in risk assessment, service development and improvement, leadership, and operational governance that enable better outcomes for all young people are central to her vision to upskill practitioners and middle managers to facilitate change in the lives of children, young people, and their communities.

  • Jasmine Newton Howells

    STATUTORY LEAD CONSULTANT

    Jasmine has extensive experience as a qualified social worker, working for a number of years in Child Protection Safeguarding, and holds a position as a senior practitioner within the Family Drug and Alcohol Court. This innovative methodology is based on the "problem-solving court” model. Jasmine support’s SaferNow’s work through her thorough knowledge of Child Protection from a Statutory perspective.

  • Nathan Shillingford

    Trainer Consultant

    With over 23 years of dedicated service within the third and public sectors, Nathan Shillingford is a seasoned leader and advocate for transformative change, particularly in the realm of youth empowerment and criminal justice reform, the latter being where Nathan’s work with SaferNow is focused.

    Nathan is the Founding Director of The Invested Man, www.theinvestedman.com

  • Core Consultants

    A vital part of the SaferNow team is that of our Core Consultants. A small group of young people who have lived-experience of the harms we seek to prevent. These young consultants act in a fully paid capacity, providing insight and direction to SaferNow content, ensuring we remain grounded within the real experiences of young people, but also of their experiences having contact with the systems and services in which we work.

    This group will never be asked to share any part of their stories. What they do is provide valuable insight directly into the content design and direction of SaferNow as an organisation.

Wider SaferNow Networks

Our work spans multiple sectors, whether that be youth work, social care, health or criminal justice. As such, we certainly cannot proclaim to know everything! Thankfully, and gratefully, we rely on the expertise of friends and colleagues spanning the sectors in which we work to feed into, and advise on, our training content.