Helen Moulinos Chief Executive Expand I joined POhWER in May 2020 in the middle of our generation’s worst health and social care crisis – Covid-19 pandemic. The opportunity to lead POhWER at a time where advocating for equal treatment and access in social care for those of us living with mental health, impairment and disability is more important now than ever as our society fragments and becomes more isolated during Covid-19. POhWER’s mission to address inequality in society through social care support and advocacy resonates with my own values. POhWER is one of the Charity sector’s best kept secrets supporting thousands each year to live independent lives. I see incredible potential for us to be reaching more people in the next few years, growing POhWER and look forward to moving forward to the next stage of our growth building movements and influencing change on a grander scale. Since it was founded, POhWER’s commitment and unwavering efforts in health and social care has been significant supporting thousands of people in Britain. Our commitment to pushing on those closed doors - fighting for equal treatment, empowerment and independent choices will only grow and our voices over the next few years will be heard louder than ever in every corner of British society. I live with PTSD and hearing impairment following on from surviving 9/11 attacks in New York and have coped with lifelong dyslexia and depression. It is important to me that all barriers to independent choices and equal treatment for 13.9m people living with disability in Britain are removed in our society. I have previously held senior interim roles most recently as the Director of Change Delivery at Marie Curie, one of Britain’s largest Charities and an established leader in Social Care. Prior to this I was the Chief Operating Officer of Stonewall Europe’s largest LGBT+ Human Rights organisation in Europe. Over a 25-year career, I have held senior Organisational Change and Transformation positions the Charity Sector for Age UK, Alzheimer’s Society and The Children’s Society and the private sector for Goldman Sachs, Deutsche Bank, Lloyds Banking Group and HSBC. I bring a creative, empathetic but commercial leadership style to POhWER. I am personally motivated and driven by a passion to deliver sustainable change to address inequality in society and have always been an active human rights advocate, believing in the power of an individual’s diversity. I have advocated for change in HIV/AIDS community, LGBT+ Rights, Mental Health and acted as a coach and pro bono consultant to Civil Society. For the last 30 years since I was a student, I have actively advocated for Sexual Health and Mental Health reform in New York and London and served as a Civil Society Board Trustee and Volunteer. I hold a Bachelor of Arts degree in Creative Studies from Hofstra University and Master of Science degree in Finance from Baruch City University of New York. Originally from New York, I now live in North London since re-locating in 2001. I have a passion for experimental cooking, yin yoga, long distance walking and off the beaten track travel. You can follow me on Twitter @helenmoulinos or LinkedIn: Helen Moulinos or email me at [email protected]
Elyzabeth Hawkes Deputy Chief Executive Expand I am the Deputy Chief Executive at POhWER and I am passionately committed to POhWER’S mission to empower people to have a voice and make a real difference to their lives. POhWER was established in 1996 by a group of inspirational individuals who wanted to be able to choose how to live their own lives and make their own choices. It is this passion and strength that our founder members showed that runs through POhWER today and motivates me to continue to grow and strengthen POhWER’s services to reach out to more people who are in need of support. It is essential to empower people and protect their fundamental human rights and ensure that we reach the most excluded members of society, so they are listened to when decisions are being made about them or the services that they need. I have a BA Hons level in Health, Psychology, Health Politics and Social Care Policy alongside 23 years’ experience in acute and complex multi-site and national services management across the health, social care and the charitable sector. Initially achieving registration as a State Registered Nurse (SRN), I worked in the NHS and progressed to becoming a Ward Sister before moving into a senior management role within a surgical directorate focusing on the quality of clinical care to patients I have worked with POhWER for 13 years joining as an Operational Manager/ Director before becoming the Deputy Chief Executive in 2020. I am responsible for the effective delivery of POhWER’s front line services nationally to empower our beneficiaries’ people to have a voice and make a real difference in their lives, leading on the development and delivery of empowerment and advocacy services to enable all who need it to have a voice and be heard.
Roan Dyson Director of Support Services Expand I have worked for POhWER since 2003. I began my career with POhWER as an NHS complaints advocate and have since enjoyed a variety of roles managing operational services, including regional advocacy contracts. I have specialised in Business Development since 2010, having direct responsibility for income generation, contract management including contract implementation, commissioner engagement and contract review and reporting. This experience has allowed me to develop new models of delivery for a range of Information, advice and advocacy services, working with commissioners and other voluntary sector providers across the country to develop and deliver services modelled to meet local needs. Before POhWER, I worked in forensic medicine, assessment and treatment services for people with Mental Health, Learning Disabilities and dual diagnosis. I am also a member of the Chartered Institute of Leadership and Management.
Sandra Black Head of Training, Risk and Quality Expand I have worked at POhWER since 2012, and since 2015 I have been POhWER's Head of Training, Risk and Quality. The organisation has to manage these three elements carefully to ensure we have a strong foundation to build on: excellent training provision and dedication to quality mean that risks are lessened for our service users, stakeholders, staff, volunteers and the organisation as a whole. Although my background is in business, I have worked as an advocate for POhWER and so know the front line as well as the support services. If someone had asked me to design my ideal job, this would be close to it. It takes elements I have had experience in (and great passion) for too many years to remember without feeling very old and melds them together to enable me and my team to support the rest of the organisation to deliver high quality services. As a team, our touchstone is the set of POhWER values – these are re-enforced through our internal training and we try to live them in everything we do: being professional; empowering others to be the best they can, through our training and through the processes we put in place, the quality we monitor, and best practice we share; and making what we do accessible to all. I’m very privileged that I get to be the facilitator for our external quality awards; enabling our teams to demonstrate their practises, experience and innovation in delivering high quality services to our clients, sometimes in very challenging circumstances. Part of my role involves looking at feedback from clients, professionals and others about the service they have received from their advocate or advisor. It never fails to move me when I see the impact that our advocates and advisors have had on people’s lives. I’m also involved with our influencing strategy, to widen the scope from individual changes to societal ones. Being able to share the amazing work done by my colleagues, and use this to effect larger change, is just one of the things that makes me very proud to work for this charity.
Tim Jarvis Chief Finance Officer Expand Hi I’m Tim and I am POhWER’s Chief Finance Officer, working with a small team to look after our money. We are proud to support our advocates and advisors behind the scenes so they can get on with their job empowering some of the most vulnerable people in our society. I joined POhWER in 2017 after a few years working as a professional interim for a variety of charities and non-profits from start-up to £40m. Before then I trained and worked in the commercial sector with experience in a wide range of industries from manufacturing and construction to retail and services. I am a qualified Management Accountant (FCMA) and have a Master’s degree in Strategic Business Management earned with distinction.
Fiona McArthur-Worbey Head of New Business Expand I am strongly committed to building a fairer society and have worked in the third sector for POhWER since 2007. Prior to that I developed two start-up businesses in Glasgow and worked in the care sector with men with mental health, learning disabilities and dual diagnosis. At POhWER I have worked directly with clients as an advocate. My passion for improving services for clients and my business experience meant that my next step was to lead the development of a flagship information, advice and support scheme. I then moved on to implementing POhWER’s new contracts. Now as Head of New business I lead a team responsible for procurement, service modelling, partnerships, website, marketing and our internal communications. I am proud to work for POhWER and honoured to have the opportunity to work with so many amazing people on this journey to value people in everything we do.
Riaz Khan Regional Manager Expand I arrived at POhWER in 2006 after spending a number of years in the public sector working in the regulation, inspection and compliance of Early Years facilities. I have held various posts at POhWER, all linked to our operations teams and focussed on ensuring people who access our services receive good quality information, advice or advocacy. In my current role as Regional Manager for POhWER I lead on our Help Hub services. I also have responsibility for ensuring we are able to provide good quality reports about our work and oversee IT development. POhWER is a great place to work and I am always thankful for the opportunity to lead staff teams and volunteers who work so hard every day to make sure those who often are the most vulnerable in our society, have a voice.
Penny Bodger-Yates Regional Manager Expand I was TUPE’d into POhWER in 2013 and have never looked back! Joining as a Local Service Manager, I soon became Community Manager for the East Midlands, covering IMCA, Relevant Person’s Paid Representative, IMHA, Care Act and NHS Complaints advocacy services in Lincolnshire, Leicestershire, and Rutland. Currently on secondment as Regional Manager for the West Midlands, I embrace the learning and development opportunities offered by POhWER and use my previous experience in customer facing environments and in providing induction, bespoke training, supervision and performance management and well as hands on service management in my role every day. I am the lead for the NHS Complaints Focus Group which reviews policies, procedures and system issues around the NHS Complaints Advocacy service. I feel privileged to work for a charity that truly supports anyone in society who wishes to have their voice heard.
Daniel Anderson Regional Manager Expand I have been with POhWER since 2009 and have worked in a variety of roles in the organisation, starting out with our secure services team before taking on IMHA, NHS complaints and RPPR work in a peripatetic role. I also qualified as a National Advocacy Qualification assessor before taking on Community Manager posts, managing teams in Medway, Sussex, and finally Norfolk. I subsequently became Regional Manager for POhWER’s services in Central and Eastern regions. I joined POhWER as my educational background was in Psychology and I saw advocacy work as a pathway into a career in that field. I soon came to realise that the organisational values of POhWER and the ethos of advocacy itself was very much in keeping with my own personal values, and decided to dedicate myself to a career in this field. From my years as an advocate I have seen first-hand the challenges that face our clients, and I am proud to work for an organisation which is dedicated to helping people overcome those challenges. I also feel that we as a charity will have greater opportunity in the near future to influence societal change on broader level, and I personally relish such an opportunity.
Alette Beavis Regional Manager Expand I have worked for POhWER since 2011 as the Regional Manager for Secure and Complex Services, East Midlands and the South Coast. Our Secure Services spans across the country including units in Scotland. I have seen services in all areas grow during my time at POhWER. My priority has always been to ensure quality delivery of advocacy to our clients whilst ensuring that individuals and teams feel very much part of POhWER and our values. I am always mindful and proud of how POhWER started and my belief is to remain true to this in all we do, this should be our motivation and our focus in the face of all challenges. I believe we do this well but should never be complacent. I am privileged and proud to work alongside the people I do. I am inspired by those we support and groups/partnerships we work with who can face such adversity but are determined to have their voice heard. We work hard to do our part but its together we can make change.