Our Team
Get to know our team
The Team consists of dedicated nursing and counselling staff who are supported by substance misuse support workers, whose role is to assist the team with the smooth running of the programme and to be a direct support to our residents and their families.
Sally Livingstone
Founder & Pastor
- sally@livingstonehouseuk.org
- 0121 753 4448
Sally is the Founder and Pastor of Livingstone House. For many years she worked with addicts, alcoholics and their families.
Sally is heavily involved in the management and operational development of Livingstone House, and is a qualified substance misuse professional.
Sally is an expert in the treatment of addiction and specialises in the treatment of co-dependency and assists Service Users and families to be able to learn new healthy patterns of behaviour.
In addition to this her expertise extends to being able to reach out to people who are new to Livingstone House, people who are scared, lonely and confused, and who are unable to make sense of the emotional turmoil they are experiencing. She has a gift at being able to instantly know where a new person is at. She excels in working with new residents, explaining addiction, addictive behaviour and addictive thinking by putting it in language that people can understand. She has an innate ability to be able to help people through the early and essential stages of being able to get through obsessive and compulsive behaviours and move forward in recovery. She is particularly skilled in assisting people in breaking through their denial around their substance misuse and thereby freeing them to be able to live lives which are productive, joyous and free.
Although Sally has retired from hands on work at the Centre, she is still very active in her roll as a Pastor who spends most of her time in Israel, whereby she has started a house of refuge for women.
Sally is also a regular writer and broadcaster.
Lee James
Team Leader
- leejames@livingstonehouseuk.org
- 0121 753 4448
Lee James is the team leader at Livingstone House.
Tom Jones
Service Manager
- tomjones@livingstonehouseuk.org
- 0121 753 4448
I have worked in residential addiction treatment services for well over a decade. I have worked in a variety of capacity, addictions counselling, CQC management, and leadership roles.
I am responsible for compliance, against health and safety, and regulatory standards. I support the developmental needs of the staff team and with implementation and development of policy. I have a passion for working with ‘people’ – individuals and groups of people, to make meaningful changes be it in their personal lives, or within a team, adopting the philosophy – “We rise as we lift other up”.
Paul Madan
Admissions Lead and Support Worker
- paulmadan@livingstonehouseuk.org
- 0121 753 4448
My role at Livingstone House is the Admissions Lead and residential support worker. If you, a friend, or family member has a drug and/or alcohol problem then I’m your first point of contact to assist you/them into residential rehabilitation.
As a residential support worker my role is aimed at supporting service users who are entering into residential treatment for substance misuse and to coordinate associated issues such as achieving abstinence, working through relapse prevention, dealing with negative emotion, and working through significant life events. The aim is to help support service users through admission assessments and navigate through DWP/HB processes to ensure end to end care coordination and care plans meet the needs of the service user.
I liaise with other treatment providers and recovery related organisations relevant to the service users’ needs such as drug and alcohol treatment providers, GP, social services, mental health services, housing providers, probation, welfare, benefit agencies and employment/volunteering agencies.
My role is also to support the organisation with networking and establishing relationships with relevant key stakeholders and community services.
Finally, I too am a previous service user here at Livingstone House, having previously battled both drug and alcohol addiction for over 20 years, but I’m very proud to say that thanks to Livingstone House and all those are part of it, I’m over 5 years clean and sober and enjoying the best of days of my life in active recovery and no longer in active addiction.
Paul Ansah
Support Worker
- paulansah@livingstonehouseuk.org
- 0121 753 4448
I have worked as a residential drug and alcohol support worker for the past six years; my aim is to help people work through their underlying factors that fuel their addictive behaviour. My role is to offer recovery support to people using the service, utilising an empathetic and person-centred approach.
My role is to offer recovery support to people using the service, utilising an empathetic and person-centred approach.
Current qualifications
NVQ LEVEL 3 HEALTH AND SOCIAL
COUNSELLING CONCEPTS LEVEL 2
WORKING WITH CONFLICT AND CONFRONTATION IN GROUPS AND TEAMS-GESTALT
NVQ LEVEL 4 HEALTH AND SOCIAL CARE
James Bell
Aftercare Support Worker
- jamesbell@livingstonehouseuk.org
- 0121 753 4448
James is a residential drug and alcohol aftercare support worker for Livingstone House and is currently studying for his Social Care and Health Diploma.
He started at Livingstone House in 2014 as a support worker volunteer with a total of 10 years in personal recovery from alcohol and drug addiction working a 12 step recovery program.
I worked as a volunteer for the Birmingham NHS mental health foundation trust along with other care roles and then in 2013-2014 decided to start in a drug and alcohol charity in Birmingham prior to my voluntary role in Livingstone House.
I was given the opportunity to take up a full time position as a drug and alcohol support worker after this at Livingstone House which went extremely well and then after a period of time was offered a position as a support worker for the Livingstone house dry houses which is where I am currently placed supporting others that have had similar issues to deal with and to which I am sincerely extremely grateful to be given the opportunity to give back to Livingstone House.
Paul Brookes
Support Worker
- paulbrookes@livingstonehouseuk.org
- 0121 753 4448
I am a support worker at Livingstone house, my role is to support clients through the detoxification process, formulate care plans with individuals, to help them through their treatment journey.
I also introduce the individuals to the 12-step recovery model, helping them work through the 12 step programme of recovery. My role is also to offer recovery support to individuals and help them maintain abstinence from all mind-altering substances. I also liase with family’s offering guidance, signposting and support
Joe Mimnagh
Psychotherapist
- joemimnagh@livingstonehouseuk.org
- 0121 753 4448
Hi, I am Joe. I am an UKCP accredited integrative psychotherapist who has worked in the field of addiction since 2014.
I entered this profession after years of battling with addiction myself. What inspired me, was my experience of having gone through the residential treatment process myself. I learnt a lot from the one-to-one support and group therapy I was offered and decided, that this was the career path for me.
I have found that having the benefit of understanding a 12-step programme, I can integrate that into my work as a psychotherapist to best suit the clients’ needs.
Caroline Best
Senior Support Worker
- caroline.best@livingstonehouseuk.org
- 0121 753 4448
My role includes supporting individuals in 1-1 key work sessions, facilitating group therapy sessions, supporting individuals through their detoxification and recovery support planning.
I support in Identifying individual’s need and risks by collaboratively formulating care plans and risk management plans tailored to each individual. I support by also introducing individuals to 12 step fellowship’s and the 12 step programme through assignments and external mutual aid meetings. I enjoy liasoning with families, facilitating family mediation sessions and working with individuals on repairing ruptured family relationships.
Since working at Livingstone House I have achieved a Level 3 Diploma in Adult Health and Social Care and am currently working on and towards a Level 4 Diploma in Adult Health and Social Care.
Happiness is the key to success – true happiness for me comes from freedom from active addiction.
Kevin Lavery
Support Worker
- kevinlavery@livingstonehouseuk.org
- 0121 753 4448
Kevin works for Livingstone House as a Drug Support Worker and is currently studying for his Level 3 Diploma in Adult Social Care at South and City College in Birmingham.
Michael cobb
Support Worker
- michaelcobb@livingstonehouseuk.org
- 0121 753 4448
I am a residential drug and alcohol support worker for Livingstone House and is currently studying for his Level 3 health and social care Diploma
Gavin Foody
Head Chef
- gavinfoody@livingstonehouseuk.org
- 0121 7534488
I enjoy experimenting with food recipes, I do my absolute best to serve up nutritious and delicious menus.
I enjoy being in the rehabilitation environment and talking about the link between poor diet, poor mental health and motivation.
I am friendly and approachable so don’t be scared to come and say hi, discuss your nutritional needs, and give me feedback on your food.
