AVA training is delivered by our expert staff and a number of freelance specialists.
Lorraine Anderson-Reid
Lorraine is a qualified Domestic Abuse Prevention Advisor (DAPA) with over 10 years’ experience in the sector. She also has a postgraduate certificate in Family Therapy & Systemic Practice. Lorraine has supported and advocated for victims/survivors of abuse in issues around housing, the criminal justice system, emotional support and safety planning. Lorraine has worked on the frontline in the Emergency Department of St George’s Hospital, London’s largest hospital and Major Trauma Centre. Lorraine has been a MARAC coordinator and is currently a DRIVE Case Manager where she works closely with perpetrators of abuse around behaviour change and domestic abuse disruption. She has a passion for delivering training in this field and also works closely with churches to educate them on domestic abuse and to help better prepare them for disclosures. Lorraine believes that prevention work is a key component in tackling this issue. She has delivered workshops to young people as well as professionals including teachers, social workers, youth workers, medical staff and religious leaders.
Roz Davidson
Roz has been working with children and families for the local authority in Lewisham for 25 years since 1993 and was the Centre Leader at a Children’s Centre in Lewisham from 2003 for 9 years working closely with families affected by domestic abuse before opening her own company in 2013. She is now the Director of The Positive Parenting Company delivering preventative and recovery interventions for families exposed to domestic abuse. Roz’s website can be accessed here. Since opening her own company Roz has worked across Lewisham, Greenwich, Southwark and Redbridge boroughs delivering interventions including, Triple P, Teen Triple P, Escape the Trap, The Freedom Programme and The Community Groups Programme. Roz joined AVA in 2018 and now travels across the country as a National Trainer for The Community Groups Programme.
Althea Cribb
Althea has over twelve years’ experience in the domestic abuse and violence against women and girls sector, including volunteer and paid experience, covering frontline contact with survivors and strategic partnership development. Since 2013 she has been a self-employed consultant, working with strategic partnerships on their response to VAWG including delivering evaluations, needs assessments, research with survivors, training as well as being a Domestic Homicide Review Chair. She has an MSc in Gender and Politics from Birkbeck University of London and is studying towards a PhD with the Connect Centre for International Research on Violence at Harm at UCLan.
Linda Finn
Linda is a qualified nurse and health visitor. She has been coordinator of the Community Group Programme for children exposed to domestic abuse since 2003. This project won the LGC award for innovation in 2006. She has developed an anger management programme for children aged 5 -11 years.
Anne-Marie Harris
Anne-Marie has valued freelance trainer with AVA for many years and she currently also works for the University of Bedfordshire as a researcher on a project looking at the high custody rates for children in care. She recently completed my PhD on the criminalisation of children in care. Prior to this Anne-Marie worked as a Senior Policy Adviser at the Youth Justice Board, and was national lead for a number of areas, including domestic abuse.
Shabana Kausar
Shabana is the Strategic Lead for ending Violence against Women and Girls across the boroughs of Hammersmith and Fulham, the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea and the City of Westminster. She is passionate about women’s rights and tackling inequality and has worked actively on ending gender based violence on a national and international level, through training, policy work, and developing best practice. Shabana has worked in this field for 10 years and previously been based at Against Violence and Abuse and Women’s Aid. She is on the Board of Trustees of ‘My Body Back’ which supports sexual violence survivors accessing sexual health services and a Trustee for ‘The Sky project,’ a forced marriage and so called ‘honour’ based charity.
Karen Lingwood
As AVA’s previous training manager Karen helped to created a large percentage of our training courses. She worked in this role from 2017-2019 after many years in the public sector. During this time she gained extensive experience supporting survivors of domestic abuse before moving into a strategic role. She has worked closely with statutory and voluntary partners on the prevention strategy for many years with a particular focus on survivors, children and families. Karen is now a freelance trainer sharing this knowledge with various organisations whilst delivering training.
Shirley McNicholas
Shirley is the founder of Drayton Park Women’s Crisis House and developed the ‘Drayton Park Model’ in close collaboration with women who have used services. She has worked in mental health services for 35 years and has campaigned for women only provision, delivered training on a range of issues such as domestic and sexual abuse and more recently on trauma informed approaches. She has been Women’s Lead for Camden and Islington NHS Trust for over many years and is co chair of the Trauma Informed Network in the Trust. She is also a freelance consultant and trainer in trauma informed approaches and organisations such as AVA.
James Rowlands
James is a Doctoral Researcher at Sussex University, where he is researching the part that Domestic Homicide Reviews (DHRs) play in the Coordinated Community Response. He is also an Independent Consultant, and in that capacity chairs DHRs. James originally trained as a Social Worker and an Independent Domestic Violence Advisor (IDVA). James set up the first advocacy service for gay, bisexual and heterosexual men in Wales (the Dyn Project) and he has 14 years of experience in the domestic abuse sector having worked in a range of frontline and strategic roles. Most recently, James was the Strategic Commissioner for Domestic and Sexual Violence for Brighton & Hove and East Sussex. He also serves on the Board of Respect, the United Kingdom’s membership organisation for work with domestic violence perpetrators, men and young people.
Hannah Sansom
Hannah is AVA’s lead Trainer, she has worked in the Violence Against Women and Girls (VAWG) sector for the past 10 years. She is an experienced frontline practitioner, trainer and VAWG prevention & response programme manager. Much of her work has been within refugee contexts in Africa, Asia and Europe. She has also managed a domestic abuse support service in the UK. Hannah has an MSc in Refugee Studies and conducted research on the barriers to disclosure of sexual violence within the UK asylum process.
Chris Wroe
Chris has been an associate trainer for AVA for a number of years, delivering training both face to face and online. She is a qualified social worker and has maintained her registration through various roles, both in the voluntary sector, and working in health and social care regulation. Chris is a qualified coach and reflective supervisor, and develops and delivers bespoke training in her own right. Through her own experiences and her work with Rape Crisis over a number of years, Chris developed a strong awareness of the impacts of trauma, and this informs all her work and her approach in training, along with a commitment to understanding how experiences of oppression and marginalisation reinforce individual impacts. Chris brings this into her delivery with AVA, creating a supportive and reflective environment for participants.
