Jim McElderry (Chair)

Jim is a Team Manager working for Northumbria Probation Trust in the Sunderland area. He began his career  in the 1980s as a Youth and Community worker in Gateshead, and then worked for a number of years as a residential care officer in children’s homes. In 1991 he began his career with Northumbria Probation Service in its specialised homeless unit “Wayside”. It was while working here that  he witnessed  the negative impact homelessness had  on individuals  mental health and emotional well being, in addition to it being well documented as a contributory factor in increasing  the potential for criminal activity.

Young people between the ages of 16-25 are at greater risk of homelessness, particularly those leaving care and those who may be more vulnerable as a consequence of mental ill health, sexual orientation and trans issues. Jim agreed to take on the role as chair because projects like Outpost are essential to prevent young LGBT people becoming involved in criminal activity or becoming victims of crime by being exploited by sophisticated abusive individuals.

Audrey Johnson (Treasurer)

Audrey has been on the Management Committee since June 2010 and was recruited specifically for the treasurer post as she has experience managng budgets for Newcastle Youth Offending Team. She has extensive knowledge of LGBT issues, having previously been the Unison LGBT regional convener. Audrey is team manager within Newcastle Youth Offending Team, and a qualified social worker.

Audrey has personal experience of the difficulties young people can face when coming out to their families, having sought help though a charity which offered housing for young lesbians. She is now happy that she can give something back to the LGBT community through her work with Outpost.

Sean Wilson

Sean has been involved with Outpost since September 2009, and acted as interim Chair until our current Chair took over.  He has worked in homelessness and supported housing for over 10 years, developing and managing a range of services aimed at supporting and empowering vulnerable people. Sean's current job involves ensuring vulnerable people have access to housing and support services, as well as monitoring and evaluating services to help measure their societal impact.

Sean got involved with Outpost to use his professional experience to help support an organisation that he personally believes can make a difference.  He feels that Outpost improves the lives of vulnerable young LGBT people, giving them chances they may not otherwise have had.  Sean hopes that his professional experience and his qualifications in housing, supported housing, and management and leadership, will be of benefit to Outpost in helping the organisation to grow and move forward.

Shirley Anderson

Shirley is a Probation officer, having worked for her current employer since 1992. She works with a variety of people who commit offences, but who are also victims at times and have diverse offending related needs.

Shirley has a long standing interest in housing, especially for young people. In her work she has a varied role including delivering mental health first aid training and is the local LGBT staff association coordinator. Shirley firmly believes that Outpost Housing Project provides an invaluable service to the community and she wants to help make a positive difference to housing provision and socio‑economic outcomes for LGBT young people. Shirley feels that Outpost does that.

Alison Williams

Alison is a Lecturer at Newcastle University. Her involvement in LGBT issues stretches back over several years including being actively involved in LGBT advocacy as a student.  After a gap of several years of non-involvement in LGBT issues, due mainly to the pressures of developing her career, Alison decided that she wanted to make use of her skills in a positive way and decided to volunteer as a member of the Outpost Management Committee.  

She chose Outpost for two reasons.   Firstly, from a personal perspective, she recognises that she is lucky  to have a family who were supportive when she came out and are accepting of her sexuality. She is, however, aware that other LGBT young people are not so fortunate and that they need the help of organisations such as Outpost to help them through a difficult period in their lives. Secondly, from a professional perspective, she  felt that some of her academic skills, especially those related to undertaking research, and writing and publishing could be of use to Outpost.

Brian Langley

Info to follow shortly

Michelle Booth

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