Mary Milton

Mary started her career as a social worker in Liverpool and was also a member of Rape Crisis, where she learnt a lot about running a small organisation, but it made her allergic to collective decision-making. (Did we ever come to a decision ?)

As a member of Rape Crisis, Mary informed the development of services for sexually abused children, by training social workers and Merseyside Police (she reports that running a four-day residential with the police was an eye-opener !)

She moved to St Helens to Chair Child Protection conferences and became a Service Manager. She joined SHAP’s Board of Trustees in 1990 – instructed by her manager to ensure the organisation didn’t fritter away the council’s investment in the project.

After five years in Halton as Assistant Director for Children, she entered the world of inspections, inspecting authorities outside the North West. She found it fascinating to see how things were done – some authorities were brilliant, some were appalling. Since then, she has worked as an agency senior manager around the country; rather than climb further up the greasy pole, she wanted contact with young people and staff, and to make a difference.