Matt is a chartered accountant with over 15 years of experience working with companies in and around Cambridge. Currently he is Group Chief Financial Officer for a local electronics firm and a Trustee of Kingsgate Community Church.

James is a Graduate of both St. Andrews University (BSc Geography) and St. Martin’s College (Post Graduate Diploma in Youth and Community Work) and is currently the Programme Manager at Romsey Mill. He is part of the Leadership and Management Team and oversees Romsey Mill’s two pre-schools, the Aspire programme supporting young people with ASC, the youth work team and the young parent programme. James is the Designated Safeguarding Lead for Romsey Mill, a role he has performed for 12 years. He delivers safeguarding training for staff and volunteers.

Aleyejah is passionate about supporting young people who have faced significant challenges growing up and brings a wealth of experience to the team. Having spent a significant portion of her own childhood in care, and continuing to support other young people currently in care, Aleyejah’s unique perspective ensures that the young people’s experience remain at the heart of the support we offer. Aleyejah works for a local Cambridge based company, lives independently and is excited about joining the advisory board of Concrete Rose.

Kaye is part of the team at Hope Into Action, a charity partnering with churches to provide homes and community for people facing homelessness. With over 125 houses across the network, Kaye plays a key role in ensuring each home meets high standards of quality, safety, and legal compliance.  Kaye believes every young person deserves a secure home; the solid foundation to feel safe, find belonging, and be supported to grow into their God given potential.

Rachel has been very fortunate to work with young people within various contexts. As a qualified Secondary English teacher, she derives great joy from forging meaningful relationships with young adults, encouraging their self-expression and supporting them to flourish. In recent years, she has worked for Cambridge University in the Widening Participation Department, and as Programme Director for charity First Star Scholars UK. Within these roles, Rachel worked closely with foster carers and children in care, offering them guidance regarding Higher Education and providing bespoke intervention and pastoral care.

Alison is a counsellor with a special interest in trauma. She runs her own private practice, House of Restoration Counselling.  She and her family have fostered two children and she is passionate about building better outcomes for children and young people who have had a traumatic past. A graduate of Cambridge University herself, she now enjoys working with students who are care leavers or estranged from their parents. She is responsible for recruiting and training mentors and building relationships with colleges, all with a view to helping our students thrive at university and build the foundations for a successful future.  

Juliet’s background is in marketing and communication, primarily in financial services and the arts (particularly in music). She is a volunteer mentor for care leavers and formerly chair of school governors with a remit for children with special educational needs. Juliet is passionate about music as a tool for building communities and individual resilience. Her role at Concrete Rose includes development work with a focus on our innovative models for residential settings.

Susu is an ordained Anglican minister and has spent her entire life working with people, and especially young people, including as an au pair, youth worker, chaplain and school teacher. She is passionate about helping young people flourish and recognises the transformation that can happen when caring adults invest in them. As well as a team member, Susu is also a mentor and has had the pleasure of supporting a Cambridge University student for the past few years.

Ed brings an array of strategic, creative and business experience to Concrete Rose having had senior policy and strategy roles in local government and with a Police and Crime Commissioner and in his current employment as Strategic Director in a local business. Educated at Cambridge (Modern Languages) Ed’s varied professional CV includes time as a Russian and Linguistics teacher, a cricket coach, a software developer and author. Ed will support Concrete Rose in policy and strategy development and, in his own words, is “genuinely very humbled to be working alongside some incredible people to bring meaningful change to the lives of vulnerable young people.”

Margaret has worked within the NHS for nearly 30 years in hospitals in both London and Cambridge. More recently, she has combined this with working as a church administrator at Great Shelford Free Church. She has joined the team at Concrete Rose because she really wants to help young care leavers get the love and support that they deserve!

Patrick has worked in services for traumatised children since 1985 beginning as a therapeutic residential care worker. He has held roles as team leader; senior manager; Director; CEO; consultant and mentor. His organisation development services have been provided in Australia, Japan, UK, Ireland, Romania, and Portugal, among others. The therapeutic models that Patrick has worked on have gained widespread recognition and he is the author of numerous papers and books including Therapeutic Residential Care for Children and Young People: An Attachment and Trauma-informed Model for Practice (Barton, S., Gonzalez, R. and Tomlinson, P. (2011)).

Diane has 30 years experience working in the charity sector including consultancy roles for a number of organisations. She has been the Operations and Resources Manager at Romsey Mill since 2015. Her current role includes managing matters relating to HR, buildings and facilities (including overseeing three community centres) and the administrative team. Diane also has ultimate responsibility for areas of policy and procedure including health and safety, equality and diversity and GDPR.

Hayley is currently a SENCO at a primary school in Huntingdon. She has 20 years teaching experience including 10 years in alternative provision settings. She has experience as a teaching and learning lead and has been the Head of Key Stage 3 and 4 at Oakfield PRU in Leicester and the Amber Centre PRU in Huntingdon.

Dillon is a marketing and web design entrepreneur with a specialism in brand design, development and communication. The CEO and founder of Little Lemon Media he works alongside multi-national and national companies whilst also maintaining a portfolio of local businesses..

Rachel is a Strategic Consultant and the founder of Get Synergised, a bespoke consultancy service that brokers and facilitates partnerships and opportunities between businesses and the charitable and public sectors to build thriving communities. Rachel has dedicated over 20 years to working directly in communities in either a work or voluntary capacity to drive social change and improve the lives of individuals, with the belief that everyone should be given the opportunity to thrive and flourish.

Olivia is a recent University of Cambridge, Clare College graduate in Psychological and Behavioural Sciences with a specialism in modern families. She has since started in the UK’s most prestigious graduate scheme – The Civil Service Fast Stream. She is also a Diversity, Equality and Inclusion Consultant and keynote speaker. Olivia had a challenging childhood, was the first in her family to accomplish any formal qualifications and grew up on free school meals. Amongst her personal success, she has paid it forward to the most underserved members of her community and is an award-winning social mobility advocate and youth worker.

Heather is a registered social worker and since 2017 has been Service Manager at Sunflowers Care Ltd, a care home for children with complex health needs in Cottenham. Prior to this Heather worked in fostering, initially in Cambridgeshire County Council for Family Link, and then from 2010 in the charity sector for Scope. Heather was registered manager at Scope Fostering Services 2012 – 2017 and was also Advisor to the Independent Foster Panel during this period. Heather’s interest in working with diverse and marginalised communities lead her to study MA (Hons) Social Anthropology with Development at The University of Edinburgh before moving to Cambridge to study MA Social Work at Anglia Ruskin University.

Alan runs a software agency by day, and a fostering household by night. With 10 years of experience in welcoming children into their home for time-limited and long-term placements, Alan and his wife are strong advocates for the joy and opportunity that each extra person brings into the family. Alan believes in creating opportunity, in community and in being generous with time and energy – to pay it forward wherever possible. His role at Concrete Rose on the approvals panel is to be as wise and pragmatic as possible and to offer an additional viewpoint as needed.