Meet The Team
Our Believe Team
Donna Davenport – Believe Project Lead/Support Advocate
My name is Donna, and I was delighted to have joined Motherwell Cheshire as the Believe Project Lead/Support Advocate. The Believe Programme is very unique. We aim to be the “Voice” of Mum’s whose child/ren are subject to a Child Protection Plan. Within my role, I am able to offer emotional and practical support including accompanying Mum’s to all Social Care Meetings.
Each Mum will have their own bespoke support plan that is personal to them. The plan is devised from our very own Well-being Flower, this is the core of the Believe Support. It helps women to evaluate themselves and to identify the areas they need to make changes, this empowers the women to take control by adapting strategies which suits their needs.
In my previous role I have supported young people for over 20 years within the Education Sector. I have devised and delivered Resilience, Anger Management, Mental Health strategy programmes for young people. I set up and delivered a parent support group, which enabled parents to support their children who were experiencing mental health and emotional difficulties.
I have gained a qualification in Counselling and Psychology which has enabled me to set up my own part-time private practice.
Josie Aallum – Believe Support Advocate
My name is Jo, and I was delighted to have joined the Believe Team in January 2024 as a Support Advocate, offering practical and emotional support to women whose children (or child) are the subject of a Child Protection Plan. My role is to work with Mum’s offering practical and emotional support and to be their voice in difficult circumstances such as when attending Social Care Meetings. Believing in the Mums and helping them to believe in themselves and their abilities is what The Believe Programme is all about.
As a Believe Advocate, my aim is to empower and encourage each Mum to make positive changes in lifestyle and take ownership and control of their lives, through a bespoke, personal plan. Their individual plans help women identify areas to work on, to make positive changes, using strategies planned and agreed together which suit their own individual needs.
My background is in Residential Special Needs Education and Primary Education, and working as a volunteer raising the profile of LGBTQ and their needs in today’s society and ensuring equality for all.
The women who progress through the programme are inspirational and give hope to others. Empowering women to achieve their dreams and aspirations is embedded in the Believe ethos and I am proud to grow and contribute to the continued success of this project.M
Kate Blakemore – Founder and Chief Executive
Ever since founding Motherwell Cheshire I wanted to offer a project that supports mums at risk of child removal. Previous to founding the Motherwell Cheshire charity I worked for many years in the homeless sector and recognised the lack of support available to mums at risk of child removal in particular supporting them with their mental health.
Over the years I have developed the “My Believe Journey” which the mums that we support use to develop their own bespoke support plan to help them achieve their goals often linked to the plan that social care have put into place.
I am passionate about creating the right environment for every mum that we support to feel empowered to make the life changing decisions.
I am also on a personal mission to help break the stigma around child removal. Every mum we have supported through the Believe project has experienced some element of Child hood trauma which has gone unsupported for many years, if supported at all. Child removal is not a life choice that any mum makes and with the right support many mums can continue to parent their children.
Meet our Patron
Sally Carmen
Sally Carmen is one of Britain’s leading female actors having stared in many well known TV productions.
Sally is an established actress, who attended the LAMDA drama school in London.
For the Believe project the roll that stands out was ‘Abi Franklin’ in Coronation Street. Sally’s character represents the amazing women that we support. These mum’s are very often misunderstood, living with mental health conditions after experiencing traumatic events, with a lack of appropriate support.