Bernie Ryan joins LimeCulture’s Core Team

LimeCulture is delighted that Bernie Ryan has now joined their Core Team as Training and Development Manager.  As reported in a recent blog post, due to LimeCulture’s steadily increasing workload and their recent success in being awarded a number of significant new contracts, there has been an urgent need to strengthen the Core Team to meet the demands while continuing to ensuring their high standards of quality remains a key priority.

Bernie, who joined the Core Team this week, will be responsible for overseeing the delivery of LimeCulture’s significant training and development work stream. This will include managing the delivery of their accredited professional training courses for ISVAs, as well as managing the significant requests for bespoke and in-house training that LimeCulture receive from a range services and organisations. Bernie will also oversee the development and delivery of LimeCulture’s new Sexual Violence Liaison Officer (SVLO) Development Programme aimed at key university and higher education institutions (HEI), which will be launched in November. Bernie has also been tasked with developing a specialist course for counsellors and psychological therapists working with people who have been sexually abused, taking in to account the pre-trial therapy requirements and disclosure of records, a course that will be launched next year.

Bernie has been involved with LimeCulture since 2011, when the organisation was established. Bernie has been a key trainer on the ISVA Development Programme and for Crisis Worker training, as well as acting as a consultant on a number of LimeCulture’s bespoke consultancy and service improvement projects. In addition to her on-going involvement with LimeCulture, Bernie comes with an impressive cv and extensive professional background supporting victims and survivors of sexual violence more generally.

A trained nurse and qualified counsellor by background, Bernie’s most recent role was as Manager of the (internationally recognised) St Mary’s Sexual Assault Referral Centre (SARC) in Manchester, which she developed and led over a period of 15 years. St. Mary’s is a co-ordinated NHS SARC made up of a range of professionals including forensic doctors, counsellors, crisis workers and ISVAs, who together provide high-quality support to children and adults following sexual assault.  As part of her role at St Mary’s SARC, Bernie was selected as a SARC Operations expert adviser to the Department of Health’s National Support Team for Response to Sexual Violence (2009-2011). For several years between 2005 to 2015, Bernie was the chair of the National SARC Advisory Group and the North West SARC Advisory Group, each role meaning that Bernie has had a significant impact on the way SARCs have been developed nationally. Bernie has sat on a range of national, regional and local boards, committees and steering groups, at both strategic and operational level, to influence and improve the response to sexual violence across the UK – an area that Bernie is extremely passionate about.

In recent years, Bernie has frequently been involved in the delivery of training frontline professionals responding to sexual violence across the UK and internationally. It is these broad range of professional experiences that give Bernie the right skills and knowledge to take on this challenging role in LimeCulture’s Core Team.

LimeCulture is delighted that Bernie Ryan has joined their Core Team and are looking forward to having her as a key member of the team.

To get in touch with Bernie please email her Bernie.Ryan@limeculture.co.uk  or call her on 0203 633 0018

Photo: Bernie Ryan sits on the stage after speaking about the importance of SARCs at the first Knowledge & Network Event for ISVAs © 2013 by Geoff Reardon Photography

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