Meet the Team

The people behind supporting young Londoners, families and
communities to live free from violence and exploitation.

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Katie Mitchell

Acting CEO

Katie is an experienced leader within the children’s charity sector with over 12 years’ experience managing and delivering services across the UK. Katie came to the third sector having worked as a teacher.

Katie’s achievements include heading up advocacy, early years, and services for young people with disabilities. More recently her work has concentrated on the successful running and management of charities – overseeing teams of talented individuals focussed on governance, business development, finance, communications, and HR. Katie has experience in setting the strategic direction of charities, contributing to policy and practice improvements and collaborating with internal and external stakeholders.

Katie is passionate about inclusive practice and is a proud BSL and Makaton signer.

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Rosemary Watt-Wyness

Interim COO

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Carly Adams Elias

Director of Practice (Job Share)

Carly Adams Elias is an experienced social worker and manager within the children’s charity sector; with 15 years’ experience specialising in supporting children, families and communities affected by sexual abuse, violence, exploitation and trafficking.

Carly has previously held national roles with both the NSPCC and The Children’s Society delivering, managing and developing services across England, Wales and Northern Ireland. This includes leading the national Child Sexual Abuse and Exploitation (CSAE) Prevention Programme, delivered in partnership with the National Police Chiefs Council and Victim Support; responsible for creating regional and national CSAE strategies, resources and toolkits to support improving practice in this area.

Through her work Carly has extensive experience of delivering training, influencing campaigns and strategic responses and contributing to policy and practice improvement.

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Desmond Edward

Director of Practice (Job Share)

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Christopher D’Aguiar

Head of Safeguarding

Christopher's experience is rooted predominantly in the criminal justice system. After university, he began his career with Her Majesty’s Courts and Tribunals Service (HMCTS) before moving on to the Probation Service, working in specialist units focused on young adult male offender management. His work in Probation centred on public protection and safeguarding, where he was actively involved in various safeguarding and risk management boards and panels across Hampshire and Berkshire, including several years chairing MAPPA (Multi-Agency Public Protection Arrangements).

Following over a decade with the Probation Service, Christopher served as the safeguarding lead and clinic admissions manager at a residential mental health clinic for young people, prior to joining Safer London in June 2024.

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Kathleen Bruneel

Head of Quality Practice

Kathleen joined Safer London in 2021, having worked in various youth offending services across London. She has extensive experience directly supporting children and young people affected by violence and exploitation as well as managing practice teams and for the past 22 years, she has worked in both the statutory and charity sector, in the UK and Canada.

At the start of her management career, Kathleen contributed to a successful inspection of youth justice services and has subsequently driven quality assurance and strong case management in various roles, always striving to achieve the best possible outcomes for children, young people and their families.

Kathleen is passionate about safeguarding young Londoners and supporting their families, working collaboratively with internal and external stakeholders.

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John Moore

Head of Business Development

John manages all income generation activity at Safer London, working in collaboration with staff across the organisation and through positive relationships with external partners, funders and commissioners.

John is an advocate for the unique power of charities to build fairer communities, and believes how charities raise their money defines whether they achieve this or not.

He has 12 years’ experience in income generation roles in the charity sector covering business development and fundraising. This has included supporting all domestic services at the British Red Cross as well as securing contracted income in substance misuse and children’s services at several smaller charities.

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Racheal Raji

Head of Corporate Services

Racheal has over 18 years’ experience of providing innovative, high quality financial management including managing a portfolio of big public sector contracts and small grants

Racheal joined Safer London in 2018 as Head of Finance where she was responsible for leading the organisation’s finance function including overseeing revenue streams, financial planning & analysis, payroll, reporting and auditing.

Since 2020 she has been in the position of Head of Corporate Services and is responsible for overseeing the Finance (including Payroll and Pension) and HR (including recruitment) functions within Safer London. Racheal provides Finance and HR leadership offering a flexible pragmatic approach. She is trusted to provide detailed analysis and decision-making support across the organisation.