Our Team
Laura Riley, Founder & CEO
Laura set up Mums In Need in 2014 and continues to confront coercive control today. She is deeply passionate about helping others who are in a situation that she is only too familiar with. She wants to support women who otherwise may have nowhere else to go.
Along with the daily running of the charity Laura has a hand in all that the charity does, from recruiting new members to attending networking events. Laura ensures the efficient running of the day-to-day operations of the charity. Her goal is to help as many women as possible across the country. She wants to help them feel empowered in confronting coercive control rather than being victims.
To find out more about Laura, see Our Founder's Story.
Kathryn, Operations Manager
Kathryn joined Mums In Need as an Administrator in September 2020. In January 2024 Kathryn changed role to Operations Manager.
As an Operations Manager, Kathryn’s role is varied and encompasses many aspects of keeping Mums In Need running efficiently and effectively behind the scenes. Having previously experienced a similar situation to the women that Mums In Need supports, she firmly believes that a woman’s past does not determine her future, and that all women have the right to access help and guidance to improve their situation and help them achieve their potential.
Kathryn is a keen runner, stationery addict and proud single mum, who is passionate about encouraging and supporting women to achieve full, rewarding, and confident lives.
“I’m passionate about women’s rights, independence and wellbeing, so it’s a privilege to work for a charity that provides so much essential support to women at a time in their lives when they need it most.
Olivia, Administrator
Olivia joined Mums In Need in January 2024 as an Administrator.
Olivia is a huge advocate for women’s rights and well-being. Having studied Human Geography and History at the University of Leeds, she has carried out various projects on women from all walks of life and their experiences - writing her dissertation on the effects of sexual double standards on women’s mental health and well-being. This, alongside being raised in a single parent household, has only strengthened her compassion and empathy for Mums In Need.
““I have a strong desire to make a difference. I’m proud to work for Mums In Need as it allows me to be actively involved in making the world a better place for women.”
Nicola, Caseworker Coordinator
Nicola joined the Mums In Need team as a caseworker in November 2021. In January 2024 Nicola changed role to Caseworker co-ordinator.
Nicola has lived experience with domestic abuse and coercive control and is passionate about supporting others. She trained as a community connector for Rise - a grassroots domestic abuse charity based in Brighton.
"Working for Mums In Need is an honour. My mission is to help those who have suffered coercive control to feel understood and enable women to thrive after leaving abusive relationships. Another area of interest for me is to be able to support children and young people to know what healthy relationships look like and give children a voice too."
Zara, Caseworker
Zara joined Mums In Need in August 2021 as a Caseworker.
Her career began by attending University studying Law & Psychology. Her aim was to become a Criminal Lawyer, but after 2 years, it became apparent that a legal career would sometimes require representing those in the wrong. This was something that Zara realised she didn't want to do, and she made a difficult decision to leave her course to start something new.
Zara has since enjoyed 10 years with her previous employer managing administrative and recruitment functions for the delivery of Apprenticeships nationally. In 2019, she left to start her own business, and it's success has allowed her the spare time to give back in a new role.
"After hearing about Mums In Need through a friend, it sounded like the perfect opportunity to actively make a difference in the lives of women who are going through extremely difficult and traumatic experiences. This role has highlighted the need for women, and children, to be better supported during post separation abuse in order to successfully manage their lives. And it is now something I am passionate about supporting."
Ursula, Caseworker
Ursula Joined Mums In Need in January 2024 as a Caseworker.
She earned her social work degree in 2012 and began supporting mothers and their babies in a women's prison. She was passionate about helping these families build strong bonds to enable them to have happy, fulfilling lives after release. She did this for many years before becoming a supervising social worker, overseeing children in their foster family home.
Ursula later worked in women's refuges where she supported women and their children who were fleeing domestic abuse. Ursula supported the families through some of their most turbulent times and was keen to see the best outcome for them, she assisted abuse survivors and their children in establishing a better life.
"I am mother myself and understand the difficulties faced by abuse survivors. Taking on a role as a Caseworker means that I can be there for mothers and their children to provide listening and guidance during those difficult times".
Mark, Finance Lead
Mark joined the MIN team in March 2022 as a Finance Lead. Before this he was volunteering with MIN from May 2021 as a Finance Volunteer.
Mark is in charge of all aspects of finance and bookkeeping for Mums In Need.
“I believe that the work the charity is doing is invaluable for the women and children affected."
Sara, Media & Marketing Lead
Sara joined the Mums In Need team in March 2022 as the Media & Marketing Lead. Before this she volunteered as a Media and Marketing Volunteer.
She has always had the drive to help others and has previously worked in the Social Care setting, as well as running her own small business. Since having her two young children she wanted to support fellow mums who need support.
"I am proud to be able to be able to work for Mums In Need. I oversee all aspects of Media and Marketing to generate more awareness and funds for MIN! This will ultimately allow more women receive the help that they need, which makes a very rewarding job role "
Board of Trustees
Heather, Chair for the Board of Trustees
Heather Chapman joined the Mums In Need trustee board in 2023. Heather has a
long history of working with a variety of charities and supporting them through her networks. Previous work in the health sector has led Heather to understand the importance of wellbeing, and personal experience of raising children with an absent partner, means she has insight to some of the issues facing Mums In Need service users.
She is enthused to work with a charity that supports women who are bringing up children under stressful conditions. Heather has long been involved in business within South Yorkshire and hopes to use her business acumen and corporate contacts to develop the profile and reach of Mums In Need.
"It is an absolute privilege to support MIN. I feel I can bring my skills and knowledge to good use, whilst improving my own leadership and management skills. I love the quote ‘Help the mother help the child’
Janet, Vice Chair
Janet joined the Mums In Need trustee board in July 2023.
Janet is passionate and experienced VAWG (Violence against Women and Girls) practitioner having worked in Domestic Abuse survivor services for 18 years.
Working firstly as a front line practitioner (in refuge and community based services) Janet progressed to leadership roles. For the past 12 years she has worked as a service manager, leading large multi-faceted survivor services including refuge, community based (medium risk) and children and young persons support.
Janet met Laura and learned of the amazing work carried out by Mum's In Need when she moved to Sheffield in late 2022.
'I relate strongly to the vision, mission and values of MIN and the work the team do. It is an honour to join the board of trustees and to support MIN to continue to support and empower mothers to move forward from the impact of post-separation abuse and regain control of their lives'
Graham, Trustee
Graham joined Mums In Need as a fundraising volunteer at the beginning of 2020, helping with corporate fundraising and bid writing, and recently took the step of joining the board to offer more strategic support.
With a background in Corporate Fundraising, Corporate Social Responsibility and Corporate Volunteering across the Private, Voluntary and Public sectors, Graham is able to offer an insight into what corporate partners are looking for and how to pitch the charity to potential funders and partners.
"It's great to be able to support a small local charity, where I feel I can make a real difference whilst developing my own strategic and leadership skills"
Antony, Trustee
Antony joined Mums In Need as a trustee in 2016 after volunteering with the organisation in its formative period. Antony is therefore one of MIN's first trustees!
He feels passionately about Mums In Need’s mission and the need for an organisation for women in situations of emotional and psychological abuse.
Antony is a journalist by profession, has experience dealing with people at all levels of business and asking the kind of questions that aim to ensure organisations are run well, with governance a key area of his work.
“I am very happy to bring whatever skills I can to help Mums In Need minimise the effects of coercive control on women and its effects on future generations.”
Nicola, Trustee
Nicola joined MIN as a trustee in July 2023.
She is an experienced commercial solicitor with over 30 years of practice who now works as a freelance in house lawyer. She has previous experience in the voluntary sector as a trustee and volunteer at a Sheffield citizens advice bureau and as a school governor at a Sheffield junior school.
"I am very much looking forward to helping and supporting MIN deliver on its excellent objectives of supporting mums who have left abusive partners and who continue to be subjected to post separation abuse by empowering them with the skills and confidence to move forward with their lives"
Kathy, Trustee
Kathy initially joined Mums In Need at the end of 2019 as a fundraising volunteer. She has lots of experience of volunteering for local charities and is currently also a volunteer for St Luke’s hospice. She works part-time for Abbeyfield and is in the process of completing a foundation year in Counselling and Psychotherapy.
Kathy has since joined the Board of Trustees at MIN in July 2023.
"I am passionate about supporting mums that find themselves in distressing and challenging situations through no fault of their own."
Rebecca, Trustee
Rebecca joined Mums In Need in January 2024 as a General Trustee. She gained her social work degree in 2022 and has worked in various local authorities in the Yorkshire and Humber region as a children’s social worker. Prior to this, Rebecca completed her legal studies and initially wanted to pursue a career in family law. As new doors opened, a career in safeguarding became more appealing to Rebecca and she therefore decided to use her legal knowledge to aid her within a frontline safeguarding role. Rebecca is passionate about safeguarding and supporting women and children. Rebecca enjoys volunteering her time to local charities such as Mums In Need. Rebecca is also a Safeguarding Governor at a local school, an Independent Visitor to children in care and a volunteer baker for children in care. Rebecca is aware of the impact of domestic abuse on women and children and is keen to share her knowledge of the social care system to support MIN to deliver tailored to support to those that are also receiving support from their local authority.
"Having studied law and also being a qualified children's social worker, I have a lot of safeguarding experience and knowledge that I’d like to help an amazing charity such as MIN with. Everyone deserves to be safe and happy, I am keen to support in any way to make this happen "
Rebecca.mRebecca.m@mumsinneed.com
Ben, Trustee
Ben joined the board of trustees at MIN in November 2021 after meeting Laura Riley at a networking event run by a local marketing agency. From just one meeting he was inspired by MIN's mission, decided to find out more about MIN and how he could make use of his personal skills to help drive strategic growth to the charity.
With over a decade of business development and public relations experience, Ben will be utilising his skills to enhance and develop strong relationships with potential corporate supporters to the charity as well as work with the rest of the team to ensure continual improvement in every area is achieved.
"I really am excited and driven to support such a fantastic local charity that is supporting women who have experienced coercive relationships. This is definitely a cause that is close to my heart and I believe that my skills and expertise can only help the charity grow and support more Mins."
Annie, Trustee
Annie has been involved with Mums In Need since 2016, most recently stepping into a general trustee role from Summer 2023. Initially, Annie served as a floating development resource volunteer with Mums In Need, utilising her 30+ years in the impact space, to offer support on an ad hoc basis wherever it was most needed. In the early days, Annie was pivotal in helping to set up the volunteer management programme, the social media strategy and implementation, a significant and successful fundraising application and offering generic advice on organisational development for a small charity.
Annie is a qualified youth and community development worker. She is skilful at developing cross sector, multi stakeholder on point partnerships. She's equally at home working at a strategic, national level or the grassroots, community level. She has extensive expertise across many different issues and has worked in a variety of settings. As well as being a strategic thinker, able to design and execute complex programmes with multiple moving parts, Annie has a solid set of practical skills having previously worked as a virtual assistant.
She is driven to support smaller charities (including the small charities sector's infrastructure), ensuring that they have a voice at the table, as well as centring lived experience wherever appropriate. Annie leads from behind and leverages her lived experience as a mum surviving many years of coercive control.
"I'm deeply committed to Mums In Need and its mission. I've been inspired for many years by its Founder and CEO, Laura Riley. As a Trustee, I hope that I can make a useful contribution to MIN which will make a tangible positive difference to the lives of the mums who use MIN's services, so that they don't feel so alone and are better equipped to deal with the impossible situations that they are facing".
MIN Ambassadors (Consultant Workers)
Demelza, MIN Ambassador
Demelza has been involved with MIN since 2018 when she first contacted MIN for support. She has since moved on from the service and chose to become part of the Lived Experience Leadership Project, where she helped to create vital training for victims of domestic abuse, and those who work with victims of domestic abuse.
The LELP project has now finished, but Demelza continues her journey with MIN as an Ambassador for the charity, supporting the Media team, and Fundraising team with a multitude of tasks.
"I am grateful to be able to give back to an organisation that helped me when I was at my lowest".
Tilika, MIN Ambassador
Tilika has been connected with Mums In Need since 2017 following her experience with coercive control and post separation abuse for over 10 years.
MIN helped her through her journey of post separation abuse, which led her to become strong enough to help other women by being part of the Lived Experience Leadership Project.
The LELP project has finished but Tilika continues her journey with MIN as an Ambassador for the charity, supporting the Media team, and Fundraising team with various responsibilities.
"It's been a pleasure to be able to empower other women through my own experiences"
Volunteers
Sasha, Social Media Volunteer
Sasha originally joined Mums In Need as an admin volunteer in June 2022. She has since moved onto the social media team, to support with the maintenance of all of our platforms.
"I am extremely passionate about Mums In Need’s cause and constantly in awe of the talented and hardworking individuals who make up this organisation. I heard about Mums In Need through a friend and was immediately drawn to the fact that they focus on aspects of abuse recovery that are often overlooked by others. As a volunteer, I firmly believe that time is our greatest and most precious commodity, and as such there is nothing more important that we could give to remarkable charities like Mums In Need."
Johleen, Social Media Volunteer
Johleen joined the social media marketing volunteer team at Mums In Need in January 2024.
She has years of experience in caring for the elderly and people with mental disabilities, and is also a trained hypnotherapist and neuro-liguistic programming practitioner. More recently
she trained in search engine optimisation and blockchain technology, supporting app developers through online customer portals.
Johleen supports the Media and Marketing team by scheduling posts onto our media platforms as well as other social media duties.
“I’m excited and grateful to be working with the Mums In Need. It’s fantastic to be able to help and support such a brilliant organisation that does such important work making a huge difference to women’s lives.”
Vicky, Social Media Volunteer
Vicky boasts a wealth of experience, proudly having worked across the justice, education and charitable sector and is a leading Yorkshire Woman Entrepreneur and Award Winner. Vicky is passionate about giving back evidence from being the founder of her own charitable organisation and raising funds for a number of local beneficiaries.
Vicky supports the Media and Marketing team by scheduling posts onto our social media platforms as well as other social media duties.
" I am really excited to be working with an organisation that shares my values and vision, being able to use my own experiences, network and skills to support and help raise awareness for such a great cause"
Alan, IT & Fundraising Volunteer
Alan has volunteered with Mums In Need since 2016, and is one of MIN's first volunteers.
Through his 39 years as a Systems Technician in the IT and computer hardware industry he has gained extensive and specialised IT skills which he now shares with MIN. His role has recently changed to not only providing technical support, but also fundraising opportunities in the IT industry.
"I was looking for some way to use my skills in a positive way. It was some years back when I got new neighbours I found out about MIN, as my new neighbours were Laura and her family. They needed computers, I had them and then began a long association with the charity. So here I am and very happy to be here."
Susan, MIN Tin Volunteer
Susan was introduced to Mums In Need in April 2022 after meeting Laura at the same office building. Later, she volunteered with MIN Tin in April 2024 to assist the charity in enhancing their revenue through MIN charity tins. Susan, with extensive experience in Accounts/Finance, aims to integrate her skills and expertise into her role at MIN.
""I am so excited to be part of such a fantastic organisation that supports women in times of need".
Counsellors
Heidi, Counsellor
Heidi is an experienced counsellor, having been qualified since 2012, she has a particular interest in the power dynamics of inter-relational abuse due to her own personal experiences. Heidi helps her clients deal more effectively with difficulties by assisting them to tap into their inner-resources and find their own direction.
Heidi works in compassionate and non-pathologising way, aiming to offer hope during difficult times, followed by healing.
"I have been connected to Mums In Need for a few years now and I offer telephone counselling to women who use Mums In Need's services."
Advocates
Sara Pascoe, Comedian
Sara met our CEO at Stylist Magazine's Remarkable Women Awards 2019. Since finding out about what we do, Sara has been a huge supporter of Mums In Need. Sara hosted a wonderful evening in support of Mums In Need on the 21st December 2019 at the Bloomsbury Theatre, including a handful of other top female comics.
Susan Cookson, Actress
Susan started volunteering with Mums In Need in 2018, shortly before she was whisked off to Emmerdale village to play villainous Lee's mother, Wendy Posner! Susan played an essential part in getting our office back up and running a few years ago when we moved offices, and continues to provide her support when she can.
