New leadership roles announced
Building on the appointment of Managing Director, Arlene Kyle in early 2019, Arlene has taken over the helm at Common Thread and is now supported by an ever-growing team of highly motivated professionals.
Arlene has made two important appointments, a new Head of Education, Melanie Turner brings her years of teaching, faculty leader and teaching consultant to Common Thread and her involvement with the SNSA project. Melanie’s vision will be to make mainstream education more accessible to the young people of Common Thread.
Melanie’s vision is to ensure that, “Common Thread becomes the ‘First step, not the last chance’ for every young person and indeed, everyone who engages with young people. I want to start by strengthening the relationships between the different departments in our service, working with everyone to develop a curriculum that involves every young person at Common Thread. I hope that we can develop practice that is the best example of ‘Family Learning’ so that we can support parents and encourage young people to recognise that learning takes many forms and continues throughout our lives.”
Arlene’s second appointment is a new Head of Care, Jim Carle who has held several high profile positions within the Care Sector, including Child Healthcare Commissioner and Chair of the National Child Health Commissioner’s Group. Jim has worked hard for improvements in culture, system and practice in childcare and services.
Jim Carle said, “We will continue to enable every young person in our care to reach their potential, ensuring they are healthy, happy and safe. Living in a warm and caring environment where they feel loved, valued and respected. We will promote their rights and encourage ambition, whilst supporting their aspirations, whilst respecting their diversity.
To achieve this, we will take care of our staff prioritising their wellbeing, ensuring they have the skills and resilience to ensure they can meet the needs of those in our care. The Common Thread team listen and respond to children’s rights, views, wishes and feelings because we know our young people hold the key to their future.”
With the spread of homes throughout Scotland, Common Thread have recently opened new offices in the Central Belt, based at the Hamilton Technology Park to provide a more central hub for the team while the head office remains in Lockerbie, Dumfriesshire.
Arlene Kyle says of her new appointment, “In joining Common Thread, I hope to solidify Common Threads core Values and Behaviours as our framework for practice and learning, and to further build upon this so we are considered inspiring leaders in our field in both practice and research.”
Julie Joseph OBE, Founder and CEO of Common Thread said, “Since I started Common Thread in 2004 we have become recognised as a leading care provider, creating a model of excellence to support young people in our care and improve outcomes. Arlene and her team will now build on that success ensuring we continue to develop new and creative ways of meeting the challenges of our sector whist ensuring that Common Thread never loses sight of the children we care for. They each bring a tremendous amount of experience to their posts as well as an alignment with our values and this is certainly an exciting time for all of us at Common Thread as we expand to meet an increasing demand.”
