Who we are Meet the team Our Trustees Victoria Heeley - Chair of Trustees Victoria was first elected as a Trustee in November 2017 and was then appointed as Secretary on the Board, at the AGM in 2019 the existing Chair retired from Office and Victoria was then appointed as Chair by the Board. Victoria brings a wealth of voluntary experience with her and has worked in the Charity Sector for over five years, having worked at a National UK Charity for several years and is currently a Senior Manager at another Dorset charity. Victoria is also a Qualified Counsellor and has been a placement volunteer at the charity for over three years, supporting clients with long-term trauma-informed counselling. Outside of work Victoria enjoys running and music. Alex Hancox - Vice Chair of Trustees After graduating from Bournemouth University in 2017, Alex was elected Vice President of the Students' Union. It was here that he first heard of STARS (Dorset Rape Crisis Support Centre as it was then known), and started volunteering at events across Dorset, including Bourne Free and Bestival, promoting the charity's Consent Tent. Alex then started volunteering as a support line listener too, and in 2019 was elected as a Trustee and appointed as the Vice Chair. Alex is currently a Civil Servant and brings recruitment experience and an interest in policy and good governance to the board. He lives in Bournemouth and in his spare time enjoys travelling and skiing. Jane Eldridge Having spent over thirty years working in HR and training Jane currently works in a law firm delivering HR internally and providing consultancy services to external clients which include charities and churches. Prior to that she worked as Head of HR at Salisbury Cathedral and was responsible for safeguarding policy and training for both staff and volunteers. Most of Jane's HR work has been undertaken in growing and developing organisations and she really enjoys formulating strategy and plans for growth and seeing the results of their implementation. Jane is deeply committed to the value of education having worked as a lecturer in HR at two local universities for over 20 years and having enjoyed helping teach children at her local church. She hopes this interest and experience will enable her to understand and appreciate the challenges faced by STARS and that she can use this to support planned future growth. In her spare time Jane enjoys swimming, walking and spending time with her family. Professor Peter Hills Peter joined the Board of Trustees in 2021. He has been Head of Department of Psychology at Bournemouth University for 4 years and brings this leadership experience to the Board. As a professor of psychology, Peter leads an interdisciplinary team of researchers (including experimental cognitive and social psychologists, forensic investigators, journalists, lawyers, VR specialists, sexual trauma counsellors) at Bournemouth University exploring attitudes toward sexual violence and evaluating campaigns aimed at reducing sexual violence, in order to develop effective evidence-based campaigns or educational packages that would reduce sexual violence. In addition, he researches the impact of the criminal justice service’s procedures on the reporting, investigating, trying, and sentencing of sexual assault. Anna Mantzouratou Anna joined the Board of Trustees in 2021. She is a senior lecturer in Bournemouth University specialising in human reproductive genetics. She has started as a trainee Biomedical scientist in Great Ormond Street Hospital and continued her career in clinical diagnosis in the Institute for Women’s Health in University College London where she also completed her PhD. She is currently researching how unique we all are and is a volunteer on the charity's the support line. Tanya Steele Tanya is a qualified accountant and joined the Board as Treasurer in December 2020. Tanya has over 20 years of experience in finance and started her career working in accountancy practices in the Bournemouth area. She moved to the Charity sector in 2016 and now works as Head of Finance for a national UK charity. Tanya brings both financial skills and the experience being part of a charity Leadership Team for over 5 years to STARS. Our Staff Helen Stevens - Chief Executive Officer Helen joined the STARS team in November 2016 and brings her extensive knowledge of working in the private, public and voluntary sectors in a number of different roles. She is a creative, strategic business leader who trained with the Institute of Leadership and Management and is passionate about both developing and delivering the highest levels of service to our beneficiaries. Helen believes in building positive trusted relationships that enable effective partnership working. In her role, Helen has led the team through some key development changes including our rebranding; head-office move and opening of a second STARS center in Dorchester. Through her fundraising experience our staff team has grown to meet increasing demand for our specialist support services. She regularly meets with commissioners and statutory services seeking to improve support for survivors, making sure they have access to specialist services to help them in their journey of recovery. Helen is a non-executive director or her husband’s company; Trustee of a local charity and advisor to a newly established charity that she helped to establish. She is also a passionate gardener. Gerry Jones - Head of Clinical Services Gerry Jones is BACP accredited, Tavistock-trained psychotherapist with over 18 years experience working with individuals and organisations in the private, public and charity sector. Gerry believes that the environment in which we develop profoundly affects the individual: socially, culturally and in our family units. Gerry describes herself as working with a relational stance, specialising particularly in complex trauma and childhood issues. As a Clinical Supervisor, she is interested in the secondary traumatic stress present in individuals working with those who have been traumatised. Tracey Parsons - Lead Independent Sexual Violence Advisor Tracey passed her NNEB qualification in 1985 and worked with children who were from deprived areas that had experienced physical and sexual abuse and neglect. She then took some time out to bring up her own children before starting work in 2008 with BCHA as a Domestic Abuse support worker covering Christchurch, Bournemouth and Poole, She then completed her NVQ3 in Management and went on to Manage the Independent Domestic Violence Advisor Service (IDVA) , 2 Domestic Abuse Outreach services and 2 Mother and Baby units. She joined STARS Dorset in July 2012 as one of three newly appointed Independent Sexual Violence Advisors (ISVAs) and then 18 months later became the Lead ISVA. Since Tracey's appointment the STARS Dorset ISVA team has grown from three to ten ISVAs in eight years. Alison Woodward - Head of Clinical Services Alison is a Supervisor, UKCP accredited Psychotherapist and Certified Transactional Analyst. She trained with Metanoia Institute initially and continues her learning to support her practice, most recently she has started working with EMDR. She works both in private practice in Bournemouth and for the Sexual Trauma and Recovery Service (STARS) in Dorset. Alison also runs training events for counsellors and other related professional organisations specifically related to working with Trauma. Alison has developed her experience in working with clients who have symptoms of complex PTSD. She works within a three-phase therapeutic trauma framework with her clients to ensure clinical safety and space to understand and resolve the intrusive symptoms that clients experience. She is passionate about finding effective ways to work with complex trauma clients, she has seen how recovery can and does happen when clients are given the time and space to work. Simone Gosden - Operations Manager Simone has worked within the statutory and voluntary sector for 20 years. Both as a front-line worker supporting vulnerable young people and managing and co-ordinating projects. Prior to working at STARS Dorset she managed a team of contact supervisors supporting families, many of which, were party to court proceedings. Simone joined STARS Dorset in 2016 developing our volunteer programme and community engagement projects. As Operations Manager Simone is passionate about the work STARS Dorset delivers and is committed to supporting the wider team to deliver quality services to survivors, of all ages, in Dorset. Natalie Giles -Head of Adult Counselling and Support Services Natalie has worked within the Complex Needs and Domestic Abuse Sector for over 20 years. She previously worked in Southampton and London with homeless individuals and those living vulnerably with alcohol and drug dependency. Whilst in London she also worked outreach with women who were at risk of sexual exploitation. Before moving to STARS Natalie was the Manager for the Somerset Domestic Abuse Service and managed a staff team who worked directly with families and individuals at high risk of abuse and with those needing Refuge accommodation. During her time with the Domestic Abuse Service, she worked within the Safeguarding Unit at the Avon & Somerset Police Offices in Bridgwater as part of a Multi-Agency Team working with high-risk victims of domestic abuse. She has trained agencies on domestic abuse and has also spoken at National Conferences on the need for Health Providers to be aware of domestic abuse when talking to patients. She is a Safelives qualified Service Manager and has a BSC (Hons) Degree in Sociology, English Language and Linguistics. Karen Templeton Mepstead - Head of Children and Young People and Family Services Karen has a BA (Hons) in Educational Studies and is a qualified 16+ Lecturer to students with special needs, as well as holding a PRINCE 2 qualification. She has worked within the education and charity sector for 25 years. Karen has designed and delivered projects with Hampshire Constabulary in the past including The Autism Alert Programme and Easy Read Custody Sheets and has spoken on the subjects nationally and internationally. Her main skills lie in developing services and partnerships. She has had senior roles in several charities and worked with the Department of Health and Central / Local government to highlight the needs of vulnerable people to help shape policy. Click4Assistance UK Live Chat Software