Working until 2010 as a consultant paediatrician, Janet has extensive practical experience in child health and in senior management within the NHS.  Passionate about developing holistic and effective interventions for children and families, Janet has successfully created effective multi-disciplinary teams that have focused on the child and delivered innovative solutions in children’s services.  Janet’s continuing fascination with life includes her interest in Eastern Culture and practice of t’ai chi, while maintaining an on-going involvement in child development through the delight she shares in playing with her beautiful grandson.

Until 2010, Janet worked as a consultant community paediatrician in Cumbria, and has extensive experience in the area of Child Health (including child development, behaviour and long term childhood conditions) and in management experience at Board and Senior Management level in the NHS.

In her work Janet used a holistic approach, which included counselling skills for child development problems and the interventions required both at home and at school.  She has been successful in developing multi-disciplinary teams and has spearheaded innovative solutions in children’s services.  An example of this is where Janet created a child development team in Aylesbury Vale, and brought about an integrated service wholly for children in the Community Trust which coordinated all professional disciplines (including child psychiatry) within a single management structure.  Janet also initiated an early intervention scheme for the prevention of serious mental health problems in children using school nurses trained in counselling skills.

In 2003 Janet moved North and worked in Kendal where she continued her work with children with behavioural and developmental problems and where she introduced the Human Givens approach to the Community Paediatric team.  Janet is presently involved in developing and delivering communication skills training for undergraduate medical students.

It has always been Janet’s goal throughout her medical career in her work with children and their families, to strive to identify the most effective interventions to enable the children to reach their full potential and have the ability to cope with life as adults.  She feels that she will bring to Naming Elephants all the experience she has gained from working towards this goal, is very enthusiastic about what can be achieved in this new organisation and looks forward to learning from and contributing to it.