Core Team
Marcella Leonard – Project Development
BSc (HONS) C.Q.S.W., MSc AASW, PG Dip ATSO, ASW, ASI, PT, RegCOSRT, FellowNOTA
Marcella is the Director of Leonard Consultancy and qualified as a social worker in 1989. Marcella has specialised in assessment and treatment in the fields of sexuality, sexual deviancy and sexual trauma. She has two areas of specific interest, one, in developing the understanding of those working within criminal justice and risk management in utilising the knowledge of normal sexual development to understand sexual deviancy. The other area is in as her role as a psychosexual therapist to assist victims of sexual trauma to regain a healthy sexual life without re-experiencing trauma. As Director of Leonard Consultancy, Marcella works in New Zealand, Abu Dhabi, Australia, Gibraltar and Canada as well as throughout UK and Ireland in delivering specialist training, consultancy and programme development. She completed 3 years as Co-ordinator of Public Protection Arrangements in N. Ireland (PPANI). Marcella has assisted NOMS and College of Policing in their roll out of the ARMS risk assessment training for public protection Police in England and Wales.
She currently provides risk assessments for children, adolescents and adults and ability to protect assessments for range of organisations including Social Care Trusts, Education, Religious, Sports and Solicitors and employing agencies throughout UK and Ireland. She is an external public and child protection consultant with the Royal Gibraltar Police, Prison, Probation and Care Agencies as they further develop their multiagency public protection arrangements. She also provides clinical supervision for senior social work and psychology personnel throughout Ireland in their work with victims and offenders of sexual abuse. Marcella also undertakes reviews of social work practice in child and adult social care cases. Marcella is currently the Chair of NI NOTA Conference and Training Committee. Marcella has written several book chapters and co-authored articles in relevant professional journals and regularly provides expert opinion to media outlets as well as expert advisor to several documentaries for television productions. Marcella is co-author of AIM3 Model of Assessment for Adolescents who have sexually harmed with Prof. Simon Hackett and is co-author of the Capacity and Ability to Supervise and Protect – Risk (CASP-R) assessment tool for non-abusing partners / parents with Gareth Mc Gibbon.
Marcella has been awarded NSPCC and AoCPP UK Child Protection Trainer of the Year 2019
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