Our Trainers

Claire

Training Manager

Claire is responsible for managing the Training Team who deliver interactive courses on a wide range of topics and levels including safeguarding, child rights, children looked after and child development.

Sian

Training Officer

Siân delivers the Children in Wales, advertised, commissioned and contract training courses on a range of subjects. She has particular expertise in training around safeguarding, children's rights, direct work with children, young people and families who have experienced different forms of abuse and neglect and supporting children and young people from marginalised groups.

Natalie

Training Officer

Natalie facilitates a number of the Children in Wales, advertised, commissioned and contract training courses and has practitioner experience of training around safeguarding and children's rights in both statutory and voluntary sectors.

Natalie has worked directly with children and families in a range of settings, including education, charities, and children's services. Natalie is a qualified teacher and has particular expertise in group facilitation & working with volunteers.

Kelly

Training Coordinator

Kelly is responsible for all administrative tasks linked to our training courses, together with our conferences and events.

Ceri Reed

Ceri is an Associate Trainer for Children in Wales and is passionate about the Rights of Children and Young People.

Ceri was a specialist dietitian and later involved in clinical research prior to founding Parents Voices in Wales in 2018. Ceri works across sector and is passionate about inclusion and wellbeing of neurodivergent children, young people and their families. Ceri is the co-Chair of the Ministerial Advisory Group for Neurodivergence, having previously coproduced the NEST/NYTH Whole System Framework now being rolled out by Welsh Government across statutory services. Ceri’s cross system working benefits her ability to share the role of the whole system in meeting the needs of neurodivergent children and young people to prevent poor outcomes. There are two training programmes run by Ceri, one on neurodiversity awareness and one focusing on ADHD specifically.

Cheryl Martin

Cheryl has over 20 years’ experience of working in social care, in a variety of roles including foster care, child protection, youth offending, equality and diversity and domestic abuse. Cheryl's experience and knowledge of child sexual exploitation comes from Cheryl's work as a foster carer, in youth offending and with charitable organisations working with children and young people. Cheryl has been a qualified trainer for over 10 years and delivers a variety of training to a wide range of professionals and practitioners. Cheryl is also a qualified counsellor and independent mediator.

Deryl Dix

Deryl is an independent facilitator, trainer, and consultant with considerable experience in developing leadership and management development programmes and well-being, mental health, and resilience programmes in the workplace.

Jon Trew

Jon is a highly engaging and enthusiastic trainer who has the ability to draw in, develop and maintain learner’s interest. Uses his wide range of technical and creative skills and draws on his extensive experience of working with vulnerable groups. Excels at winning round and then influencing participants of all ages to achieve goals, often against the odds in order to make a sustainable difference.

Mike Lewis

Mike has over thirty years in the Public Sector, and has a wide range of operational, management and leadership experience. Mike is a highly experienced facilitator and trainer in English and Welsh covering a wide range of topics including diversity, assessment, child and adult protection, migration, positive ageing, quality, leadership, management and workforce development. Mike is currently developing the use of Positive Psychology and Mindfulness within the workplace. Mike is increasing his practice around Independent Social Work Assessments relating to Migration and to Safeguarding. Mike has extensive experience on training relating to SSWBWA 2014 and RISCA 2016 and am a Trauma Informed Practitioner.

Mike was also a visiting Lecturer in the University of Finland Rovaniemi, focusing on Social Protection in the context of EU Migration (2015-2020). Mike also a visiting lecturer at Cardiff University School of Social Work where he focussed on Organisational Development and Migration (2016-2022).

Mike Mainwaring

Mike has worked with Children and Young People for over 20 years. Mike specialises in substance misuse, youth homelessness, participation and children’s rights. Mike is a qualified trainer and has trained children, young people and adults on substance misuse, LGBT issues, children’s rights, participation, dealing with difficult behaviour, safeguarding and child protection, Child Sexual Exploitation and boundaries.

Mike has also developed and run youth lead research projects and has worked in various settings such as street drug projects, residential rehabilitation, outreach work, play, youth work, managed housing projects and run youth councils. Mike has an art background, working with young people in distress through the medium of art and exhibiting his own work about social issues and has recently qualified as an Art Therapist.

Sian Owen

Sian was born and raised in Ammanford, Carmarthenshire and can communicate fluently in both Welsh and English.

Sian's passion is to ensure a better awareness and understanding of autism spectrum disorders as well as promoting and enabling the required skills to ensure that individuals, children, and adults always receive the best possible support.

Sian worked for thirty years in the field of learning disability nursing supporting, caring, and advocating on behalf of individuals with learning disability and autism. The source of Sian's passion coming from the fact that she has personal experience of having a brother with autism and learning disability.

Sian also had the opportunity to work as the Director for Inclusion for ‘Mudiad Meithrin’ (Welsh Early Years Specialists) for ten years, Sian saw this as a wonderful opportunity, and challenge to support staff, families and young children with additional needs. Sian was innovative in the role raising awareness of autism and providing training on autism for the early year’s practitioners across Wales.

Training has always been a key factor in Sian's career, believing that high quality training, tailored thoughtfully and skilfully for the audience, is vitally important to increase the awareness and understanding of autism.

Most recently, Sian has worked as a Practice Education Facilitator for nurse students in the field of learning disability and mental health at Bangor University. This post gave Sian opportunities to provide training sessions for the students of both fields of nursing.

Sian's personal experience with her brother, over a period of fifty years, enables her to offer an additional level to her training and advice. This ensures empathy and sensitive understanding from the personal perspective of the individual with autism and their family. Sian now works as an independent advisor and trainer in the field of autism, learning disabilities and inclusion.