Families Outside Staff

Prof Nancy Loucks OBE

Chief Executive

Nancy is the Chief Executive of Families Outside and works tirelessly to ensure the voices of children and families affected by imprisonment are heard.

Prior to Families Outside she worked as an Independent Criminologist, specialising in research on prison policy and comparative criminology. She received her M. Phil and Ph. D. from the Institute of Criminology at the University of Cambridge and in 2012 was appointed as Visiting Professor at the University of Strathclyde’s Centre for Law, Crime & Justice.

She was awarded an OBE in the 2015/16 New Year’s Honours List for services to Education and Human Rights.

As Chief Exec, Visiting Prof at the University of Strathclyde, and mother of two, Nancy has no spare time. If she did, however, she would enjoy good food and good films, occasional travel, and a great deal of time in her pyjamas.

Elaine Stalker

Head of Resource & Development

A longstanding member of an expanding staff team, Elaine has worked with Families Outside for a number of years, and in a number of different guises.  She is currently Head of Resource & Development with Families Outside, with responsibility for a number of key internal organisational areas.

Prior to moving to the criminal justice field, taking up her post in 2005, Elaine was involved in education and was Project Co-ordinator for an Edinburgh-based organisation.  She developed, and was responsible for running, a Training Centre providing learning opportunities for black and minority ethnic women, with specific emphasis on work with children and families and anti-discriminatory practice, an area she continues to have a keen interest in.

Kerry Knox

Head of Family Support

Kerry has worked with Families Outside since 2008 when the organisation started to provide direct support for families, progressing up the ranks to Head of Family Support.

Taking on the role as one of the first Family Support Workers in 2008 allowed her to develop and shape the service that we can now offer all over Scotland. Over the years the role itself has developed and now involves working at a strategic level with partner agencies, voluntary and statutory organisations including the Scottish Prison Service, to ensure the support for families of prisoners is on everyone’s agenda.

Before taking on the role of Head of Family Support, Kerry also worked as our Training Manager, where her knowledge and experience brought value, something she now brings in equal measure to her role as Head of Family Support.

Toni Groundwater

Head of External Engagement

Charlotte Riley

Support & Communications Manager

Heather Manclark

Regional Manager (East)

Jennifer Ferguson

National Prison Visiting Lead

Jennifer joined Families Outside in 2018 as the Regional Family Support Coordinator for Stirling/HMP Cornton Vale and in May 2020 was appointed as the National Prison Visiting Lead.

Jennifer’s role is to lead the implementation of an over-arching strategy for the sustainable delivery of Prison Visitors’ Centres in Scotland.

Having worked directly with families within a Criminal Justice setting for over 13 years and volunteering with her local Children’s Panel for 10 years, Jennifer is passionate about advocating on behalf of families and providing a service which meets their needs.

Jonathan Goodfellow

Finance & Office Manager

Jonathan is the Finance & Office Manager of Families Outside.  He joined the organisation in 2005 as an Administrator, having left the banking sector.  With a degree in accountancy from the University of Glasgow, Jonathan has seen his role with Families Outside evolve as the organisation itself has grown, going through a number of role reviews before becoming Finance & Administration Manager in 2014.

As well as ensuring budgets are adhered to and that the organisation’s finances are brought back into the black each year, Jonathan has a wide range of other skills where he is more than capable of resolving issues around IT, internal policies, and the family support database to name a few.  If he were to define his role, it would be as a finder of funds and a fixer of problems.

Jonathan also has a keen interest in film and has written a number of screenplays, with one short film having been made and nominated for a Kodak Short film BAFTA in 2004.  He enjoys the outdoors, cycling, reading, and is an avid follower of one Merseyside football team.

He is also the proud and devoted father of two amazing girls, Amelia and Esmée.

Karen Armstrong

Practice Learning Coordinator

In 2014 Karen joined Families Outside as Helpline Support Coordinator.  Prior to this Karen was a statutory social worker working in Children & Families and Adult Services. Karen has always had an interest in social work education and in 2019 took up the post of Practice Learning Coordinator at Families Outside.

Kirsten Law

Regional Manager (North)

Louise Adams

Regional Manager (West)

Rebecca Joyce

Training & Development Manager

Sam Jelf

Support & Participation Manager

Sam is the Support & Participation Manager.

Sam has several years of experience as a training facilitator, focusing mainly on communication and behaviours in the workplace.

Sam is also the Vice Chair on the board of directors with ‘The Junction’, a health and wellbeing service for young people in Leith.

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