Welcome Margaret
Making Clackmannanshire a great place for children and young people to grow up
– that’s the aim of Margaret McIntyre, the Council’s new Children’s Services Manager.
Margaret joins us from Glasgow City Council, where most recently she led a social work
team for a number of years in the east end of the city.
She is leading a team in Social Services who are continuing the work to transform the
way we work with children and families in Clackmannanshire. The service is committed
to working together with partner agencies to improve outcomes for children and
young people, with a real emphasis on effective and early intervention.
“I’m a really passionate public servant”, Margaret said. “I’m delighted to be here,
and I want to work with my colleagues within the Council and from other
agencies so that we can think creatively and do things differently to help our
children lead the very best lives they can.
“We are on a journey of transformation, and we’ve already made some
real progress. However, I know that it’s essential that we continue to
work together to keep improving and to deliver on the vision and
priorities contained in the recently approved Children’s Services
Plan.”
Margaret has been impressed by the welcome she has received
from staff at the Council, and their determination to ensure that
children grow up feeling safe and happy. In particular, she is
grateful for the great work Business Support staff carry out to
support children’s services colleagues in the important and
challenging work they are carrying out.
Away from work, Margaret enjoys a good meal, particularly if
cooked for her by her husband David.
Resilience in
the Face of
Adversity
The sold out Clackmannanshire Alliance community
planning conference “Resilience in the Face of
Adversity: A Clackmannanshire Commitment” took
place on 6 November at Alloa Town Hall.
We were pleased to welcome a highly respected keynote
speaker in Edwina Grant, Chair of Scottish Attachment in Action
to provide an accessible overview of developmental attachment
& trauma and the effect on children. We were also pleased
to welcome James Docherty, an expert witness of adversity,
trauma and recovery.
The conference hosted a number of interesting workshops
which covered topics like parental imprisonment; gender based
10
Grapevine
violence, hate crime, recovery and integrated mental health
services.
Services also took the opportunity to showcase local work
around the main hall before the conference and during the
coffee break. Community Justice Policy Co-ordinator Richard
Thomson was delighted with the feedback from the event,
which he hopes will provide a number of practical ways for
partnership organisations to work together in the future to help
achieve the aims of the Local Outcomes Improvement Plan.