Our Management Team

With nearly 30 years of experience in social care and social work, Anna has dedicated her career to supporting children, families, young people, and adults. Her journey has seen her evolve from a support practitioner and social worker to holding senior leadership roles over the past decade.

Anna’s extensive work history includes time spent in residential childcare, providing intensive community support for young people, assisting people transitioning out of prison or on license, and working as a children and families social worker. She has also led an early years family centre and worked in senior roles with charities dedicated to supporting those who are homeless or at risk of homelessness, focusing on individuals with complex support needs.

Anna is passionate about developing and leading services that empower individuals by building on their strengths, promoting independence, and ensuring they live safely and happily within their communities.

As a qualified Practice Educator in social work, Anna supervises and assesses several students each year, guiding them through their assessed practice learning placements as part of their social work qualification.

Outside of work, Anna enjoys life in West Lothian with her partner, children, and a menagerie of animals. She spends her free time renovating her fixer-upper home, attending gigs, and enjoying time with family and friends.

Qualifications: SVQ in Health and Social Care and Honours Degree in English and Politics.

Length of experience: 22 years’ experience

Positions held Last 3 posts: Support Worker with Key, then Team Leader, moving into an Assistant Development Manager role after that.

Professional / special interests: I love music and going to see bands live as well as walking and reading.

Specific area of focus/interest within Cosgrove: Managing Cosgrove’s Supported Living service; enabling the people we support to live fulfilling lives. I have an interest in building confidence and capacity within our support worker teams.

One fun fact: I was the first female member of my school’s Former Pupil Association – previously the school was an all-boys school which amalgamated with our all-girls school!

Qualifications: BA in Community Education and SVQ in Management.

Length of experience: 27 years’ experience

Positions held Last 3 posts: Sessional and support worker before going travelling and then in 2000 Manager of Child Services and from 2016 manager in adult services/supported employment whilst overseeing the running of the retail aspect.(no longer-Pauline now) Transition added in 2017.

Professional / special interests: Singing in Choirs and played piano to Grade 5 level. Love live gigs and baking.

Specific area of focus/interest within Cosgrove: Interested in staff development and autism work.

One fun fact: Recently did 60 miles cycle with minimal training and get up a lot of Sundays at 7am to cycle up the Mearns Road!

After more than thirty years of working with various companies; from learning my trade as an auditor with a Chartered Accountants practice in Glasgow, to eventually working as the CFO for the government of Ras al Khaimah (RAKEZ) in the United Arab Emirates, I have come full circle and returned to sunny Scotland.

I always had a passion for travel, spending time in Belgium and Hungary with a previous employer and so when the opportunity arose to move to Dubai in 2001 I grabbed it. Who could resist sun, sea and lots of sand!

During my time with SSAT (a UK education Trust operating in the Middle East), I identified with the need to balance both the requirements of running a successful organisation whilst still contributing to the local community. This commitment moved with me to RAKEZ where our Corporate & Social Responsibility efforts supported feeding programs, community recreation facilities and shoe box campaigns for migrant workers.

After reaching the pinnacle of my career, my motivation now is to use my skills to help support charitable organisations to grow and flourish and to have the satisfaction of working with and training the next generation. Being ‘hands on’ and involved on a day to day basis is important to me.

Living in the Middle East certainly focussed my attention on the needs of others and individual responsibility in helping people to reach their potential. Along with my wife we also rescued animals, something that I had never previously considered, and brought our cat Vesper back with us.

My return to the UK was driven by the desire to spend more time with my elderly parents and especially my father who had a heart attack. Also my wife’s mother is elderly and blind and so we wanted to be here to offer support. In addition re-connecting with my wider circle of family and friends and involving myself in the Strathaven community, especially during the Covid lock-down period delivering food and checking on neighbours has been very rewarding.

As I mentioned above, I love to travel (plane, boat, train!) and along the way I enjoy eating and drinking local cuisine.  To relax I read spy novels, play Scrabble (badly) and tennis – weather permitting!

I have been working in Human Resources for over 23 years.  Having graduated from Strathclyde University with a BA (Hons) in Human Resource Management I have thoroughly enjoyed, and still continue to enjoy working with people, developing and retaining talent and fostering a positive workplace culture.

I have worked in a variety of private sector organisations within Banking & Finance, Engineering, Property and the Start Up environment before moving to roles within the third sector.  My last position as HR Business Partner Scotland was for a charity dedicated to providing support and advice to anyone experiencing challenges with drugs, alcohol or mental health.  With each and every role I have learnt so much, there is never a dull moment in the world of HR!

I have a passion for values led cultures, working for an organisation that aligns with my values is crucial to me, and personally there is no better job satisfaction than being part of something that brings positive change and makes a difference in the local community.

Outside of work I am a busy mum to two wonderful girls, both of whom swim competitively so I am often found poolside somewhere around Glasgow.  I also try to find time for running and as a family we enjoy sailing (when the weather permits!)

I began my career in social care around 20 years ago, starting as a support worker within elderly care, diversifying into working with young adults, adults and children with learning disabilities throughout the next 10 years. I decided to start working in the social care sector so that I could meet new people, I felt that I had the patience and empathy to help others. I discovered that I really enjoyed helping others to work on becoming as independent as they could be.

After developing my skills in supporting people, I wanted to develop new skills and was keen to take on more responsibilities, I made the step into first line management. As a team leader/ team facilitator for around 8 years, I developed my skills in people management, developing services and leading teams to achieve outcomes for the people I was supporting. Always keen to learn, and develop, I worked with my line manager to take on additional responsibilities to ensure that when opportunities arose for promoted posts, I was in a good place to secure these positions.   I have benefitted from having mentors to support me in promoted posts, and this is the approach I want to take in leading the management team within Cosgrove Care.

After working for Enable Scotland, for 9 years, most recently as a Service Manager, the opportunity to join Cosgrove arose and I was excited to bring my knowledge, skills and experience to a charity that I had worked alongside but not directly for and admired in the next stage of my career.

I admire the values, culture and opportunities I can experience at Cosgrove and as Registered Manager for Supported Living services, I am looking forward to developing new services, focusing on quality of delivery, working with the SMT to achieve the aims of the organisations strategy and supporting and developing our people.

Having worked across different HSCP’s, I know the benefits of working collaboratively with our multi disciplinary colleagues for the people we support, and I am looking forward to doing this with Cosgrove.

I am a father of 3 boys, so much of my time outside work is focussed on them, we enjoy eating out as a family, and do so whenever we can. In my own free time, I am an avid reader and enjoy books of all genres, so always welcome any recommendations!