Staff

Chief Executive: Stuart Sillett

A leading authority in this country on mediation assessment, Stuart has been with NFS for over 20 years. He has contributed significantly in the innovation and successful development of ground breaking mediation models that make conflict management an essential ingredient of the Anti-Social Behaviour policies of local authorities, housing and other statutory agencies. With a substantial case work and management experience behind him, Stuart has played a primary role in turning NFS Mediation in to one of the country’s most innovative and successful community mediation services.

Stuart has 33 years restorative justice practitioner experience, gained through working with the Hampshire Probation Service and various statutory and voluntary bodies.

In particular, Stuart has worked extensively in the fields of housing management; mental health; substance misuse and public protection. He has served regularly on multi-agency public protection agreement panels and worked intensively with serious and potentially dangerous offenders.

Services Manager: Sue Barber

Instrumental in working with Stuart Sillett to drive NFS forward for the future, Sue’s role as Services Manager means she is continuing to work as an Assessment officer and Restorative Justice lead, but also works with Stuart on a management basis. Previously she worked in Housing with Bournemouth City Council’s Supporting People. She is a qualified mediator with a BSc in Psychology; Sue has worked with over 1000 households since joining NFS and is an active restorative justice practitioner.

Sue has also previously worked as a panel member for the Wessex Youth Offending Team working under the principles of restorative justice, as well as an Appropriate Adult for the National Children’s Home (NCH). She has also been part of an innovative published research project which was about the affects Anti-social behaviour orders have on young people and their families.

Office Manager: Helen Abrahams

Based in Basingstoke, Helen is our Office Manager and an assessment officer who covers north and south east Hampshire.  Very experienced within the mediation and assessment ASB field, Helen has delivered many hundreds of cases for NFSM. Helen is also part of the Restorative Justice team.

Helen’s history includes extensive work in the field of supporting young people and dealing with threats of homelessness, health and substances misuse issues.  Helen has an developing interest in NFSM new services and is steering our new HOMES Hoarding Service as well as assisting in launching a new NFSM intergenerational service.

Finance Manager: Sarah Budd

Responsible for all our financial and administrative systems, Sarah has significant experience in the financial and care sectors. Sage training and Association of accounting technicians (AAT) accredited and qualified in Business Administration, Sarah contributes enormously to the day to day running of our Southampton office. Sarah is also a trained RJ practitioner.

Assessment Officer: Katie Cook

Katie is an assessment officer having worked with over 750 households in her role at NFS Mediation. Katie is also a trained mediator.

CiPD DipM qualified; Katie brings work experience from a housing association and with the Police, as well as many years marketing products in the IT marketing place. Qualified for over 15 years she uses her knowledge and experiences to empower her in her role at NFS Mediation.

Assessment Officer: Jessica Mitchell

Jessica joined the team in January 2019 as an assessment officer. Jessica has recently completed a mediation skills course and RJ facilitation training.

Jessica brings with her, experience in customer service, retail and a wealth of local knowledge. Jessica also has a vast amount of experience in the field of Autism. Alongside Jessica’s work with NFS, she is also working towards a degree in Law.

Assessment Officer: Rachel Robinson

Rachel brings with her 23 years experience of working with people including 15 years in the private sector of the Criminal Justice System. Rachel has also had various roles within the NHS including working frontline in a Drugs and Alcohol Advisory Service and also in the Out of Hours GP Service.

Rachel is a qualified police station rep and legal executive; she also holds a diploma in private investigating.

Assessment Officer: Kate Aston

Lead Training & Mediator: Gaby Lucas

Gaby has worked with NFS since 2012 as a volunteer mediator specialising in neighbourhood and workplace disputes and is now one of the senior mediator team that mentor and support new mediators. Since 2015 Gaby has also been part of the training team who train new mediators and take specialist CPD accredited communication skills courses into local businesses including Southampton City Council. This team are now expanding the training arm of the service to recruit and train new mediators across the full geographical operational area of the service and marketing our CPD accredited courses.

Gaby’s background is 25 years working in Human Resources in Finance Banking and heavy industry, experiencing all aspects including, recruitment, disciplinary, redundancy, training and performance management.

Mediation Systems Co-ordinator: Sarah Dodd

Responsible for the administration of the mediation service, Sarah co-ordinates all the mediation referrals working with many outside organisation. She is instrumental in organising our many qualified mediators and ensuring that the workshops that are provided quarterly are designed to maximum benefit of the mediators to assist in developing their mediation skills. Sarah also coordinates our training programmed liaising with our attendees and trainers. With strong administrative background gained from a varied and challenging work back ground. Qualified as a mediator & RJ practitioner Sarah has carried out mediations and assessments for the service and has over 20 years’ service with NFS Mediation.