Staff Spotlight - Meet our CEO - Saskia

Saskia Lightburn-Ritchie, CEO

Meet Saskia, our wonderful CEO!

Working with the team at My CWA for more than 10 years, Saskia has led many initiatives across the organisation.

2020 presented many more challenges to the charity, probably more than it has had in its 43-year history. But for Saskia and the team, the voices of everyone has remained a priority.

Saskia says 'if you reach out to any of the team you will always get an empathetic response. What survivors tell us, we act upon.'

Saskia and Deputy CEO, Beverley Wrighton, work hard to ensure that they work with governance on a national level. So much so they worked with the government to make policy changes at a national level.

Just one example of work that the team have carried out with professionals from across Cheshire, is their work in 'The Engage Project'.

'As expert partners of Safe Lives, we have worked hard to help professionals understand complex relationships such as child to parent violence, creating a wealth of resources to help professionals when working in this area.'

Breaking the cycle

In crisis work, early intervention is key; this is why My CWA works with all members of a family. Of particular note is the work carried out over the past twelve months with the Ministry of Justice as well as the Cheshire Police and Crime Commissioner. Following funding from the Cheshire Probation Service, the team have worked with helping female offenders.

Saskia explains;

“The implications for women interacting with the criminal justice system can be devastating, in particular the impact on the family. We work to ensure that this is mitigated by breaking the cycle of criminal behaviour. This funding has been and continues to be. critical in helping us address the complex needs of their offending. Tackling and reducing the cycle of offending among women has a significant benefit to victims, families and female offenders themselves."

The work carried out by the team also involves helping people remove themselves from toxic friendships and helping women live healthier lives.

‘Over the course of July 2020 - March 2021, we worked with over 100 women who were dealing with the impact of Covid on their abusive environment. 87% of these were suffering from a significant mental health issue. We employed EMDR therapeutic treatment through local partnerships with Warrington, Cheshire West and Cheshire East.’

Committed to training staff

My CWA provides continual and ongoing training to all staff including Mental Health first aid training courses to help prevent suicide amongst those they counsel.

‘Training our staff is of utmost importance when it comes to our ensuring the team are always equipped to deal with what a client may need. But this training does not happen without the support of our partner professionals, our fundraisers and donees, we are incredibly grateful to them all for this. That said, domestic abuse and its effect on those both, directly and indirectly, is not going away, the costs of our service continue to be present, for example, our helpline calls £12 per call to be able to offer a person the one to one support they need.’

With 4 main tiers to the services offered, each area needs the dedicated support of fundraising and grants. ‘From the telephone counselling line to the recovery programmes and provision of accommodation, this work is hard and gruelling at times, but the rewards never get old’

Find out how you can contribute and donate to the incredible work Saskia and her team do here