Our Care Team

Dr Jonathan Mawdesley-Thomas – BSc (hons), MBBS

Jonathan is our Medical Director. He was a local GP for many years and continues to work for the Out of Hours GP Service in Gloucestershire. His experience means we can provide care for high-dependency adults with complex medical needs. He liaises with primary and secondary care professionals – talking the same language – during assessment, treatment, monitoring and review to ensure timely and proactive care. Jonathan regularly visits services supporting and advising the staff team.

Julia Everard BSc (hons) – Registered Manager

Julia is our Registered Manager and a Saracen Care Director. Julia has responsibility for the company’s regulatory and legislative compliance requirements as well as business growth and development. She has over 20 years of experience in consultancy, managing teams and projects. Julia has an Extended Level Diploma in Strategic Management and Leadership (Level 7) from Gloucestershire College, for which she received the Outstanding Achievement award for her research project work entitled – “Training or Learning? – Effectiveness in the Care Sector”.

“Endeavour to understand the world from the perspective of the individual – put yourself in their shoes.”

Colin Beard – Care Director

Colin, our Care Director is a Care Manager with an extensive track record of leading and developing services that have consistently been awarded the highest standard by the health and social care regulators. Colin’s role is to develop and expand on the provision of high quality supported living services provided by Saracen Care. Colin has worked in the care sector since 2004, achieving his Registered Manager’s Award in 2006. Colin has a certificate in counselling and has also achieved the Level 3 Award – Preparing to Teach in the Lifelong Learning Sector, which qualifies him to deliver training so that staff are competent in delivering person centred care. He is also a qualified Senior Recovery Worker in alcohol and substance misuse.

“I believe that compassion is the key to providing a truly person centred service. It is imperative that service users are given every opportunity to progress and develop. No service provision should be the same, as one size definitely does not fit all”.

Toni Williams – Training and Development Manager

Toni qualified as a Health and Social Care Practitioner in 1996 and has over 15 years’ experience of working within the Mental Health Sector. Toni’s role at Saracen Care is to ensure that all staff have the opportunity to personally develop to their full potential and provide a service of excellence. Toni’s passion for quality care and dynamic approach to teaching helps ensure that Saracen Care has a confident, competent and motivated staff team.

Toni has attained a Level 3 Award in Education and Training from the National Star College.

“I believe a happy, well led; valued staff team will be effective, efficient and enthusiastic to deliver a service they are proud of”.

Steve Johnson – Care Manager

Steve has a background in supporting adults with learning difficulties, physical needs, mental health and complex clinical needs. He has over 13 years’ experience within the health and social care sector managing a variety of settings.

Steve prides himself with providing quality, person centred support and promoting a caring and compassionate environment. Steve’s main goals are to ensure that the people we support lead meaningful and independent lives and above all have fun.

“I feel passionate towards empowering the people we support to achieve their goals and lead lives that are full of happiness, fun and laughter”.

Rebecca Hopton – Care Manager

Rebecca is a care manager, providing support across all services, supporting the care team, to provide consistent high quality support, with a person centred approach, Rebecca’s particular focus is to encourage independence and to ensure service users reach their best potential.

Rebecca has over 15 years’ experience, supporting people with a range of different needs, including the elderly, learning disabilities, physical disabilities and mental health. She is a train the trainer in manual handling.

Rebecca is an experienced Nursing and Dementia carer and has completed training to be a Dementia Champion.

“I am passionate about promoting independence, equality and providing person centred care and support, to enable individuals to achieve good outcomes and a good quality of life”.

Debbie Tartaglia – Care Manager Manager (Adults and Children and Young People)

Debbie is a Care Manager and leads on our CYP placements. She has excellent experience from working in local authority Children and Young Peoples Services. Debbie has worked in various schools in Gloucestershire since 2006 and developed her role as a behaviour specialist working with children and young people in an alternative provision school. She developed into a SEN role and worked with children in care who were at risk of losing their foster placements working alongside other Gloucestershire Schools and Agencies.

Since starting with Saracen Care Debbie has been instrumental in developing our CYP service.

“I believe that a young person’s past does not have to define their future, young people in care need support in managing trauma to enable them to develop positive life experiences. By encouraging and developing their skills with education, social inclusion, financial and emotional support, these young people can be the best they can be”.

Claire Babbage – Quality Manager

Claire has worked in health and social care for nineteen years with a variety of different service user groups, including adults with learning disabilities and mental health needs. In her former role Claire was a longstanding Registered Manager of a residential service for adults with Profound and Multiple Learning Disabilities which achieved an overall outstanding with CQC. Claire achieved her Registered Managers Award in 2006 and has a Level 3 Award in Education and Training. Claire was previously a PBM trainer for eight years and subsequently believes in using evidence-based solutions for the prevention and management of complex challenging behaviours in people with learning disabilities.

“I am passionate about quality and ensuring that the individuals that we support receive the best possible service. I believe that we have a long-term commitment to providing personalised support which is meaningful to individuals, enabling them the opportunities to achieve the quality of life that they deserve”.

Emily Williams BSc, MSc Psychiatry – Business and Quality Manager

Emily is our Business & Quality Manager. She started her career in a direct support role and has previously been a Registered Manager of a service supporting people who display behaviours deemed as challenging. More latterly Emily has worked within a local authority and clinical commissioning group leading a variety of strategic programmes and ensuring high quality provision across the disability sector. Emily has led work recognised nationally as best practice and has a particular passion for people with a disability or mental health issue who are viewed as complex, believing that every behaviour has a purpose. She has a BSc in Management and Leadership of Health and Social Care Services, as well as a MSc in Psychiatry.

“I believe that everyone has a valuable contribution to make and our role is to support them to realise their potential- whether staff member or people we support. Each person has the right to feel safe and valued, with access to high quality, personalised support”.

Konstantin Petrov – Operations Manager

Konstantin has over 15 years’ experience in working in the Health and Social sector, overseeing supported living (mental health and LD), residential and complex clinical services across variety of care providers in the South West of the UK. Konstantin has Level 5 Award in Heath Care Management and also hold a BSc and Post Graduate Diploma in Criminology achieved at Gloucestershire University.

“I am very passionate about delivering person centred and outstanding care and always lead our teams by setting an example – be the change that you wish to see in the world”.

Sarah Rainey BSc (hons) – Recruitment and HR Manager

Sarah is responsible for quality and contract monitoring within our services, ensuring compliance with the requirements of the Care Quality Commission (CQC) and our Contracting partners. She has 25 years’ experience within the NHS where she was a Podiatry Manager working in a multi-disciplinary team. Sarah has a BSc(hons) in Health and Social Care and CMI Award in Management and Leadership.

“I feel passionate about helping/supporting our client group to live fulfilling and rewarding lives in their own homes”.

Julie Hall – Community Manager

Julie has worked in the care sector for over 20 years providing support and enablement for adults with learning difficulties, challenging behaviour and complex needs. She has an HNC in Managing Health and Care services and completed GCC’s new managers induction in 2016. Julie has worked for Saracen Care for 7 years, regularly working  “on shift” which provides valuable insight to how care is delivered day to day, as well as mentoring and guiding staff; and responding to issues and incidents as necessary.

“I feel very strongly about laying the foundations for a community built on equality, diversity and paving the way to the realisation of self-worth for all vulnerable adults”.

Emma Prowse – Care Manager, Swindon

Emma has a background in supporting adults with learning disabilities, physical needs and mental health. She has over 15 years’ experience managing various settings including residential homes, supported living and domiciliary care.

Emma has a Diploma Level 5 in Health and Social Care, Adults and Young Persons, and has gained an Award from the Institute of Leadership and Management Award in First Line Management. She has previously been a Registered Manager.

“I believe that everyone has the right to live the life that they choose and that, as a care provider, we should be supporting goals in the best way we can with the least restrictions to that individual. Everyday presents new opportunities and experiences. By empowering not just the service users, but also the staff teams, I believe the best possible outcomes can be reached”.