Presenter:
Professor Lord Richard Layard, Emeritus Professor of Economics, Centre for Economic Performance, London School of Economics

Panel members:
Professor Andrew Cooper, Director Research and Development, Tavistock and Portman NHS Foundation Trust
Angela Greatley, Chief Executive, The Sainsbury Centre for Mental Health
Professor Sir Michael Rawlins, Chairman, National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE)
Gillian Finch, Co-Ordinator, CIS’ters

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Biographies

Andrew Cooper is Director of Research & Development at the Tavistock & Portman NHS Foundation Trust. He is Professor of Social Work at the Tavistock Clinic and the University of East London, and works as a psychoanalytic psychotherapist in the Adolescent Department of the Tavistock, and in private practice. He is interested in public policy processes and the real world complexity of how evidence does or does not translate into policy.

Gillian Finch is the founder of CIS’ters, which was set up in September 1995, resulting from her own experience of sexual abuse during childhood. She is a qualified auditor and has worked for: the Ministry of Defence and the Audit Commission in that capacity prior to retiring early on medical grounds 4 years ago. She has since worked part time for the National Probation Service (as a group facilitator on their new domestic abuse programme IDAP) before leaving in August 2005 to commence paid employment with CIS’ters – as Manager.

She is a past-Chair of The Survivors Trust (CIS’ters was one of the founding agencies). This agency has been recognised by both the Department of Health and the Home Office – as a national voice for agencies within the specialist voluntary sector that are providing support to victims/survivors of rape and/or sexual abuse. She is also CoChair of the Adult Survivors Expert Group, a core part of the Victims of Violence and Abuse Prevention Programme (VVAPP), which is jointly hosted by the Home Office and Department of Health. Gillian, representing CIS’ters, is a member of the newly formed Sexual Violence and Abuse Stakeholder Reference Group which is a Home Office and Department of Health joint initiative led by two ministers. She regularly presents at local, regional and national conferences – in both capacities – and is committed to: raising awareness of the issue, the empowerment of survivors; and need for appropriate trauma services to assist survivors in their recovery.