Staff profiles
Meg Blumsom
Diploma Management Studies, Degree level courses social sciences and psychology, BSc (Hons) Geology
Phone 0114 225 5725
Email hccj@shu.ac.uk
Most of my working life has been spent working for probation services in this country and abroad, but I have also worked in community based projects, leading action based developments. I set up the first ever volunteer bureau in England and Wales.
I have been a manager since 1989 and have significant senior management experience since 1996. This includes project development work leading and developing major policy initiatives for the Home Office and the Ministry of Justice.
Alongside my professional work I have been involved with voluntary projects which have included setting up accommodation schemes for young homeless people and developing community based volunteer schemes. I have also delivered training to a youth work project in Tajikistan as part of an ongoing personal voluntary commitment.
I took early retirement in June 2009, and am now working on project based contracts, including working on an EU project in Turkey as part of the accession planning developments. This has involved developing inter-agency work for victims, and also developing a management manual to train and support branch managers.
Key areas of expertise
- Performance development and improvement - analysis of operational performance, diagnosis of problems and development of action plans to address areas of improvement.
- Strategic management - extensive experience of preparing long term and medium term strategies
- Implementation management - extensive experience of implementing national strategies, plus experience of international consultation to advise on implementation issues
- Programme management - planning and implementation of projects ranging from long term
- Change management - extensive experience of leading major change projects.
- Cognitive behavioural work with offenders - high level international and national expertise in the design, development and implementation of cognitive behavioural programmes for offenders,
- Policy development - extensive experience of policy development both within the United Kingdom (national and local levels) and international work.
- Partnership and interagency work across a range of public sector and voluntary organizations.
- Community development work - this includes setting up the first ever volunteer bureau in the United Kingdom plus a range of other innovative voluntary sector work.
Training
I have a led a wide range of training courses, ranging from professional courses for probation staff, to management training for a range of professionals, and training for voluntary organizations. This includes running a training for branch managers in Turkey and for a youth project in Tajikistan.
Conference speaking and planning
I have been a speaker at national and international conferences and seminars on many occasions. I have organised national conferences for up to 500 attendees, sourcing venues and speakers.
Publications
Most of my publications have been public documents such as policies and manuals developed as part of my public sector work. This has included articles for relevant professional journals, and in house publications.
