Staff

Denis Rowley - Director

Denis Rowley joined Equal Futures as part-time Director in the summer of 2007. He has worked in Community Care and Community Work for over thirty years. He started his career in “services” as a volunteer and then as a Nursing Assistant in Gogarburn Hospital on the outskirts of Edinburgh. This was a life changing experience and three decades later he had the privilege of locking the door, having overseen the resettlement of over three hundred people into better lives in the community. He played a key role in several other similar programmes of service redesign and resettlement across Scotland.

Denis can boast an unusual breadth and depth of experience that has encompassed all sectors – public, voluntary and private. He has worked in the full gamut of care settings – hospital, fieldwork, residential, supported living and day services. He also has experience of academic teaching, practice teaching, consultancy and training design and delivery.

Rosalind Bryson - Network Coordinator ( West of Scotland)

Rosalind joined the Equal Futures Team in July 2009. She has worked for many years in the West of Scotland building relationships and networks in a wide range of settings in the statutory, voluntary and private sectors. Her experience includes developing services for people with physical disability and sensory impairment in NHS Argyll and Clyde. In 2005 Rosalind moved to the voluntary sector as a project manager in an alcohol counselling agency which brought a different perspective through more face to face contact with clients, many of whom were vulnerable, isolated and often with chaotic lifestyles. Sometimes very challenging she also found it inspiring what some people could achieve through personal commitment and the support and care from those around them.

Rosalind is an Accredited Life Coach and Neuro-Linguistic Programming Practitioner and is passionate about every individual having the opportunity to reach his/her potential and the best life possible. She is currently supporting our lifetime member families in the West of Scotland to plan for the future and supports our Community Connectors in the area to build and maintain circles of support. She is also working with our families to encourage and inspire other families to be involved in our work.

Sheila Mackay - Network Coordinator (Perthshire)

Sheila Mackay joined the Equal Futures team in August 2009, working in Perthshire. She plans to develop membership and raise awareness of our work. Like Rosalind, she will also support current members in future planning and Circle building. She has set up an online network for the charity and supports Circle members with personal networks.

Sheila also runs a small social enterprise company working in the community with people with disabilities, their carers and support workers. She leads workshops to promote digital inclusion and the use of computers. She continues to work on many partnership projects in the local area to help people develop their skills and make connections and she also connects with many other charitable organisations.

Emma Robinson - Network Coordinator (Central)

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Emma Robinson joined the team in January 2010 and as Network Coordinator she will help to raise awareness of the work of Equal Futures while supporting the Community Connectors to help families build and develop Circles of Support in central Scotland. She will look for connections to make the most of partnership working in her area and encourage fundraising activities.

Emma has experience of work in mental health within schools, raising awareness of discrimination and disability rights. She has delivered training for drug and alcohol abuse, supporting staff working with these vulnerable groups. She has delivered creative workshops in schools, community centres and public spaces. Emma has a background in creative arts and art therapy.

Suzanne Cockburn - Administrator

Suzanne Cockburn has worked in the Equal Futures office since January 2008, initially as a voluntary worker and then from May 2008 as part-time Administrator. She has a background in Health Services and has also worked with children with additional support needs.

Suzanne is based at the office in Edinburgh. She keeps the accounts up to date, which involves processing the Community Connector payments and keeping a record of the Community Connector hours that Lifetime Members have used and the hours they have remaining. It is also important to contact famlies regularly with this information. She keeps all the administration up to date and makes sure everyone knows about news and events as well as recording meeting minutes and supporting the rest of the staff team and Board.