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Sheila is passionate about working with communities and making sure they are heard.

 

Being brought up in Aberdeen, she was involved in her local community and with voluntary organisations from an early age. Her passion for supporting local people continued when she became a young mum, setting up a toddler group and later out of school care for local families. Later, she was actively involved in her own neighbourhood gala committee, chairing the day care for the elderly and became a community councillor.

 

Sheila's community involvement went beyond her personal life and into her professional career. She trained as a business counsellor with Scottish Business in the Community supporting people to set up and develop their own businesses within the local area. She also assisted the development of community businesses (early social enterprises), before moving on to become chief executive of Freepark Community Enterprise. In this role she supported the local community by creating employment opportunities, a breakfast club and community transport.

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Sheila's commitment to her local community saw her elected as their representative on Aberdeenshire Council from 2003-2007. She then continued in Aberdeenshire as the office manager for a local MP. During both these roles Sheila held senior positions on the boards of many local community groups and charitable organisations.

 

Her professional career then moved into assisting NHS Grampian in its aim towards modernising Primary Care through her role with a Scottish charity, Community Renewal Trust. During this project she was involved in ensuring GP practices gained a deeper understanding of community groups and organisations available to support individuals and help improve their patients' physical and mental well being. Sheila then went on to set up the initial mental health link worker service across Moray and trained the team to hold holistic listening conversations with clients which led them to setting reachable goals towards improving their mental health through coaching.

 

In recent years Sheila has been involved in developing community listening conversation and goal setting training courses across the central belt of Scotland and Newcastle. She has also supported people from some of the most deprived areas in Scotland be heard and helped them gain access to services in their own local communities. 

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