The Director
Celia Ferns (CQSW)
Celia is a White English project consultant who has a background in social work and has worked for many years in
public sector and not-for-profit organisations managing a variety of
community based projects and establishing innovative services for
children and adults. As an independent consultant Celia has provided
consultancy to a variety of organisations including housing
associations, children's services, advocacy and befriending groups,
mental health and learning disability services. Celia has always worked
to ensure that the views and concerns of service users are heard; she
has run workshops on various topics such as respite care for disabled
children, self advocacy for people with learning disabilities, tenants
rights and Direct Payments.
The Senior Consultant
Peter Ferns (M.Sc., CQSW)
Peter is a Black Asian trainer who has a background in social work and has worked for many years as
a Training Manager in public sector organisations. As an independent
consultant, he has provided training and consultancy to a wide range of
public sector organisations including the Department of Health in the
UK. He has developed long-lasting and productive training partnerships with service user and carer trainers. He has also provided training on leadership and teamwork in the
commercial sector. Peter has published several articles, book chapters
and training materials, including a video-based training package on
supervision skills for managers.
Our People
We have a national network of consultants, trainers and project workers who have been extensively trained and are all experienced in a variety of research and consultancy projects. We have expertise around race, culture, disability including learning disabilities and mental health, issues for children and older people, spirituality, gender and sexuality. Most of our Associates and Consultants are disabled people, mental health survivors and/or experienced practitioners in health and social care fields.
Our Approach
In our approach as a training and consultancy organisation, values are fundamental to the delivery of effective public services as well as in the running of a successful business. We model our commitment to promoting equality in all of our consultancy work. We believe in a coherent approach to organisational change and development based on a Systems Leadership approach that focuses on culture change, systems design and structural development as well as practice development. We start from where our clients are and assist them to identify ways forward through the use of a range of helpful tools and techniques (many of which we have devised ourselves).
Our Commitment
- promote equality and diversity in services
- genuinely value the uniqueness of their people,
- release the potential of employees at work,
- maintain a service user/customer focus and actively contribute to the well-being and empowerment of communities and society at large.
Our Focus
Our focus has been:
- skills development for practitioners in health and social services (including holistic assessment, individual planning and risk work)
- management skills training
- leadership and team-working
- promoting equality and diversity.
As a group of consultants, we have a rich mix of backgrounds in terms of work experience, ethnicity, gender, disability and age. What binds us together is an uncompromising commitment to promoting equality and improving public services and businesses, not only for people on the receiving end of products and services but also for the employees working in those organisations.