Karen is married with one son who introduced her to the world of karate. As a ‘karate mom’ Karen trained for a little while but recognised her skills were better placed volunteering as a first aider and in fundraising for the association where her son trained.

Karen is a registered nurse who has worked in the NHS for the whole of her nursing career of 32 years and counting! She is a Head of Children’s Services where her role involves managing the delivery of safe care to children and young people in an acute hospital. She drives service development in children’s services and never forgets to promote a fun environment for children. Karen has a passion for empowering children to be able to influence and drive change in health care.  

Karen puts safeguarding of children and vulnerable adults at the heart of everything she does and has extensive experience of identifying concerns and managing them within safeguarding processes.

She is keen to support the EKF to facilitate exemplary safeguarding practice to be embedded in associations and clubs across England.