Chris has recently left Surrey County Council having spent the last 15 years leading on the development of its restorative practice and services to children and families.
Chris first joined Surrey as  Divisional Manager-county services with Surrey Youth Justice Service, with lead responsibility for restorative justice, community reparation, referral orders, victims, mentoring and volunteers. Chris  then became the Restorative Practice lead as part of the Senior Management Team of the youth Support Service with lead responsibilities for restorative practice development, leading a restorative practice learning and development  strategy in the support of restorative leadership, restorative organisation and service delivery with criminal justice, care services, accommodation  and education provider partners, towards a more ‘restorative surrey’.

Previously Chris worked for Crime Concern as a National Programme Manager as the RJ lead, working with policy makers (YJB/Home Office) and practitioners and community groups in the statutory, voluntary and community sectors, as a trainer, researcher and project/capacity builder.

Chris’s most recent focus has been in the development of Surrey’s YRI (Youth Restorative Intervention) and Community Conferencing but he has also worked to develop restorative practice in wider community and organisational settings including schools. Chris has also worked closely alongside Surrey’s Social Pedagogy in support of Children in Care, and particularly, to support and develop an understanding of the synergies between socials pedagogy and restorative practice.

Chris was a member of the Restorative Justice Consortium, now the RJC (Restorative Justice Council) since its inception 19 years ago,  and was a member of the Standards and Accreditation (SAB) sub group of the RJC board. Chris was also a member of the MoJ /RJ Action Plan Implementation Board.

Chris has previously been a Project Manager, setting up a Mediation and Reparation service based in Southampton and South-West Hampshire as part of the Wessex YOT pilot.  Before this, he worked for Barnados as both a Youth Justice Team Manager and a senior practitioner in youth justice.  During this period (prior to the Crime and Disorder Act, 1998) he was involved in setting up a Restorative Conferencing and Family Conferencing service for young offenders and victims of crime. Prior to this Chris spent many years working for local authorities as a children and families social worker specialising in child protection work. Chris has a CQSW and MA in Social Policy and Social Work.