Karen leads the Future Hope provision for Durham Council, supporting young mothers who have been separated from their children. Her work is focused on care experienced young people and victim survivors of domestic abuse, with special interests including trauma-informed care and strengths-based approaches.

Eileen is a qualified Social Worker with 30 years of experience of working with veterans, asylum seekers, torture victims and fostering agencies.

Emily works in the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government. She previously worked for Handcrafted, first joining through its graduate scheme before progressing to manage the Business Development Team.

Charlotte has experience in higher education leadership and currently works at Durham University as Associate Pro-Vice-Chancellor for Health. Her practice and academic background is in dementia and health care, and she focuses her work on amplifying the voice and potential of people who are vulnerable to exclusion. Charlotte is delighted to be working with Handcrafted and looks forward to the coming years!

Mike supports Handcrafted as a Finance Business Partner and Board Adviser, contributing financial insight and guidance through our Finance Steering Group and Trustee meetings. He is a Chartered Accountant with experience as a Finance Director.

Paul is a Chartered Engineer and holds a PhD in Civil Engineering from the University of Edinburgh. He brings over a decade of trustee experience to Handcrafted and is also a trustee of King’s Church Durham.

Norman has had 40 years of experience teaching woodwork and metalwork in schools up to Deputy Headteacher level.

Tom is a retired mathematician who worked on the executives of several universities. His area of responsibility generally involved education and the student experience.

Dan (a qualified Chartered Accountant of 11 years) founded Handcrafted and developed it as a part-time volunteer whilst working a senior finance role in the public sector. He’s since completed an MBA, but says he’s probably learned more from fostering and adopting several children, who have taught him about the immense strength people need to overcome traumatic situations in their lives.

Stacey has a background in youth and community work, supporting children, young people and families facing complex challenges. Her career has included work in prisons and secure units, with young people at risk of offending, children in care and young people experiencing homelessness. She has also developed services and designed training for other professionals.

John brings broad domestic and international experience in project management, community development and social enterprise, with a career spanning charities, ethical retail and international development. He joined Handcrafted in 2016.

Ruth specialises in supporting people with experience of domestic abuse, drawing on her lived experience. She has established six protected women’s only groups and pioneers our support pathway for women who have experienced domestic abuse.

Seymour has a professional background as a mental health nurse, having worked for Northumberland, Tyne and Wear NHS Mental Health Trust. Since joining Handcrafted as a Support Worker in 2016, he has helped shape our approach to staff support and psychologically informed practice. As Support Quality Manager, he oversees training and welfare, supports policy development, and provides supervision and debriefing for frontline staff.

Keith leads on training within Handcrafted - leading the training team, developing new courses, and supporting trainees. One of his greatest joys is seeing trainees achieve a certificate, often for the first time in their life. Before Handcrafted, Keith worked in education up to and including at Deputy Headteacher level, then in leadership development; coaching; and in teacher training working for both Coventry University, and the University of Buckingham.

Jack manages our Business Development & Finance teams that encompass funding, strategy, systems, communications and finances. He comes from a background in Mathematics and joined on our Graduate Programme.