Meet our Trustees

I have been a Trustee at Choice Support since March 2019 and I am humbled and privileged to be in this role. As an information technology professional, I obtained a Master’s degree in information technology, completing a dissertation on information security. I have worked for various organisations, both in the public and private sectors operating at executive level as a chief information officer, providing strategic digital direction and transformation in support of an organisation’s overall strategic objectives.

I am a parent with lived experience, who has a son born with a disability that falls under the learning disability spectrum. I became a Trustee of Choice Support for a number of reasons. The organisation’s values, with specific reference to the people we support, always put people at the forefront of what we do. The services offered and provided to a diverse group of people are some of the best on offer. But most importantly, I have always been passionate about everyone having the right to live a life of their choice, with dignity. I believe being part of Choice Support will provide the opportunity to do so.

I hope to add value and make a difference to ensure a better life for all the people we support by applying both my lived experience and professional expertise.

I am delighted to be on the Board of Trustees at Choice Support. I am an engineer by profession and began my career in property development consultancy.

In 2009 I established my own domiciliary care business in South Manchester providing care and support to adults and children. I worked diligently to establish an award-winning service and became a leading care provider in the area. My focus was enabling the people we support to remain independent in their own homes, and I worked to develop innovative solutions to achieve this.

I have three children and in my spare time work with several charities. My proudest accomplishment is travelling to the Syrian refugee camps to raise funds and support displaced families. I also sit as a Magistrate in court and am a member of the BAME group in the Magistrates Association where I will continue to champion diversity, something I am passionate about.

I became a Trustee of Choice Support to give back to the community and use my skills to support and safeguard vulnerable people. I hope that I can add my value to the work they already do and collectively make a lasting difference to the people we support.

I have been the Chair of Trustees - of mcch initially and then of Choice Support following the merger in 2019.

I am a qualified social worker by background and was Director of Adult Social Services for Kent County Council before working on improvement in adult social care at the Local Government Association for six years, until 2017 when I retired.

I have always been interested in how to make sure that people with disabilities have choice and control in their lives, and so it has been a privilege to be involved with Choice Support which lives its values in practical ways, day by day.

With the pandemic and lacking a vision for adult social care set by government, I think the future lies with good not for profit organisations, and so I firmly believe that Choice Support can make an even bigger contribution to improving the lives of the people we support.

I have been a Trustee at Choice Support since 2016. My career has been in the NHS, where I trained as a mental health nurse. I was the Director of Nursing and Modernisation for the Kent and Medway NHS Trust. I also completed an MBA in strategic health service management, and trained in family therapy and coaching. Since my retirement in 2008, I continue to work within the NHS at a national level.

Being a Trustee for Choice Support has been a great pleasure as I believe it is an organisation with the right values, always putting the people we support at the forefront of all we do. The learning disability services provided by Choice Support are some of the best available in the country and I’m proud to be associated with them. Our smaller mental health services are growing fast and demonstrating that they are innovative and able to adapt to the needs of those we provide services for and for our commissioners.

In recent years I have been involved in working with other countries to support the development of high-quality mental health services. I have worked in Cairo in Egypt and Abu Dhabi and I am currently working in Ghana in West Africa. I very much enjoy using my training, experience, and expertise to help influence better mental health care for all.

As a Trustee, I share Choice Support’s commitment to ensuring that everyone has the right to live the life they choose. My commitment to these ideals spans the three strands of my career as a doctor, journalist, and policymaker. I am also currently training in medical law at the Kings’ Inns.

I trained as a physician, and completed a Masters in Translational Medicine, at Trinity College Dublin. Throughout my education, I have conducted research to improve diagnostic practices and therapies for people with neurodevelopmental conditions, autism, ADHD, and other issues relating to mental health. Alongside this, I have been active working in crisis mental health and health rights advocacy on a national and global scale. I was profiled for my work by the New York Times and awarded Woman of the Year from the Lord Mayor of Dublin in 2019.

I have extensive experience as an academic and have been editing scientific journals for the last six years. I’m currently working as trainee editorials editor of the British Journal of Psychiatry and a reviewer of the Journal of Medical Ethics. I also work as a public-facing freelance journalist, for publications such as Irish Tatler and the Sunday Business Post.

I have acted as advisor to the Irish Human Rights and Equality Commission for my projects such as “All Equal, All Human,” and informed the work of the Oireachtas Joint Commission on disability matters from my professional and lived experience. I am currently part of the READ Advisory group to the NIHR Maudsley Biomedical Research Centre, making sure clinical research and practice are inclusive of the experiences of the communities I serve and represent.

I was delighted to have been appointed as a Trustee of Choice Support in 2020. I want to help ensure that the people we support receive the support they need to live their lives to the full.

During my career as a qualified accountant, I have worked in professional account practice within local government and more recently for housing associations delivering affordable homes and a professional medical membership charity. I have held senior finance roles for the past 20 years.

I have an interest in making a real and positive difference to people’s lives both in my day job and in a voluntary capacity outside of work. This has included working with young people through scouting and sports coaching as well as the homeless at a local winter shelter.

Outside of work I enjoy a wide range interests including time with my family, cycling, walking and bellringing.

I am excited and proud to have been appointed, in April 2023, to the Board of Trustees at Choice Support, an organisation that I have known since its inception.

Choice Support have a history of always striving to do the right thing for the people they support both on an individual basis and through initiatives that improve the lives of disabled people, autistic people, and those with mental ill health.

At the very beginning of my career, I was inspired by meeting a little boy who happened to have Downs syndrome at my mum’s playgroup. He and his family were so inspiring that over the next 45 years of work I have tried to follow the same values and always strive to do the right thing for people with disabilities.

I am a learning disability nurse and have worked in a variety of senior roles in the health and social care sector. Over the last 12 years I have been self-employed working in senior interim roles and been involved in quality improvement work and with mergers and acquisitions. I am an experienced active support trainer and am still involved in supporting organisations with this.

I am a keen watcher and participator in sport. I follow Manchester United’s women’s and men’s football teams and of course the magnificent Lionesses. I play golf and still compete in triathlons albeit in the small ones nowadays!

My favourite thing now is being a grandmother.

I joined the Choice Support Board of Trustees in April 2023. I have known the organisation for many years and have always admired its instinct to pursue the best option for the people it supports, irrespective of external challenges. I’m delighted to be part of it.

I am now retired, but my professional background has always been focused on people with learning disabilities and their families, autistic people, and – to a lesser extent – people with mental health difficulties. I started my career working in an old psychiatric institution, before moving on to work in a similar institution for people with learning disabilities. Over the years, I have helped develop and manage community based small scale support services for people with learning disabilities.

My main professional roles have been as managing director of United Response and of Dimensions, and I have also worked latterly as interim CEO of Abbeyfield, which mitigates loneliness through the provision of accommodation for older people. I have worked both in local authorities and in the not-for-profit sector.

My motivation for applying to join Choice Support, apart from its merits as an organisation, was to once more have contact with autistic people, and people with learning disabilities and mental health difficulties, and to support the work of Choice Support’s staff, whose commitment is outstanding.

Sarah Maguire one page profile

Mark Ferry one page profile