Safeguarding with young people who are questioning, leaving, or changing faith

Sarah Robbins is chair of Birmingham Humanists, and the Chief Executive of the Springfield Project in Birmingham.

Jordan Alexander is CEO and Founder of Prism Training and Chairperson for The National Working Group for Spiritual & Ritual Abuse – SARA

Rachael Reign is an award-winning safeguarding specialist and Founder & CEO of Surviving Universal UK (SUUK), the UK’s only Black-led specialist organisation dedicated to addressing spiritual and cultic abuse. Drawing on more than six years’ experience within children’s services, alongside her lived and professional expertise, Rachael works nationally across survivor support, safeguarding, training, advocacy and policy. Her work has a particular focus on racial inequity, culturally competent safeguarding and the barriers faced by Black and minoritised communities experiencing abuse within religious, spiritual and high-control environments.

Rachael has advised and trained professionals across statutory, voluntary and specialist services, and is an advisor to the National Working Group Against Spiritual and Ritual Abuse (NWG SARA). Her work centres on ensuring safeguarding systems recognise not only abuse itself, but the institutional and cultural barriers that determine whose experiences are believed, understood and acted upon.

Dr Lucy Potter is an ESRC Postdoctoral Fellow in the Department of Sociological Studies at the University of York. She is a qualitative sociologist whose research specialises in forced migration and non-religion, with particular interests in asylum, human rights, identity, religion, and (de)coloniality. Her current research explores how non-religious identities intersect with experiences of displacement and refugee protection, with particular attention given to Home Office decision-making practices. 

Alongside her academic research, Lucy undertakes collaborative and impact-focused work with charities, advocacy organisations, practitioners, and policy stakeholders to raise awareness of, and improve understanding of, the experiences of non-religious refugees and individuals seeking asylum on the basis of apostasy.

Selina Wallis is a public involvement and co-production lead in applied health research, working as Public Involvement Manager for NIHR Applied Research Collaboration North West Coast at the University of Liverpool. She began as a science teacher before completing a Master of Public Health, and has over 17 years' experience spanning universities, NHS organisations and public bodies. Her interests sit at the intersection of public health, ethics and involvement, focused on designing research with, not just about, the communities it serves. This includes meaningful public involvement, co-production, research inclusion, and communicating evidence clearly and accurately.

She has a growing body of work on neurodiversity, adolescence, safeguarding and complex risk, exploring how systems respond to young people whose needs cross mental health, education, family support, digital environments and public safety, and how research can support more relational, trauma-informed approaches. Selina trained as a doula in 2005 and has supported over 50 women through labour and birth, shaping her interest in compassionate care and embodied knowledge.

Donna Craine is Support and Advocacy Services Manager at Humanists UK. She oversees all the work of Faith to Faithless, including the helpline, peer support, social groups, training for professionals, and the support service for people seeking asylum because of the persecution and danger they face due to their non-religious beliefs. Prior to working for Humanists UK, Donna managed a helpline supporting victims of religious, supported victims of political conflict and has brought a wealth of trauma-informed experience to the service.

Dr Shereen H. Shaw is an academic and researcher at Liverpool John Moores University, where she teaches on the Religious Education Initial Teacher Training programme. She also lectures in Philosophy as part of the University of Liverpool’s Great Thinkers Series. Her interdisciplinary research spans philosophy, literature, gender, Middle Eastern religious and cultural studies, and translation.

She holds a PhD in Philosophy from the University of Liverpool and is the author of Britishness, Identity and Belonging in Education: Social Justice in Troubling Times (Springer Nature). Her work explores the intersections of philosophy, education, culture, and identity, with a particular focus on interdisciplinary enquiry and critical thinking.

Kathleen Hallisey, solicitor at Scott-Moncrieff & Associates, specialising in abuse claims brought by survivors of abuse in religious and other institutional settings.

Nazreen Bibi is a former Mental Health Nurse with experience supporting vulnerable individuals across health, social care, and community settings. She now works independently as an advocate and paralegal, specialising in safeguarding, autism, trauma‑informed practice, and the legal rights of people navigating complex systems.

As an ex‑Muslim atheist, Nazreen brings professional and lived insight into the psychological, social, and practical challenges faced by those questioning, leaving, or recovering from high‑control religious environments. Her work focuses on the gaps in statutory and voluntary sector provision for people experiencing coercive religious control, spiritual abuse, or identity‑based harm. Through her advocacy and legal support work, she assists families and individuals in SEND, public law, and human rights contexts, combining legal knowledge with frontline experience. Nazreen is committed to strengthening safeguarding, improving accountability, and amplifying the voices of those most often overlooked.

Matt Mahmood-Ogston is CEO and Founder of Naz and Matt Foundation

Dr Luke Billingham is a youth worker at Hackney Quest, a long-running charity based in North East London, and an academic researcher at the Open University. At Hackney Quest, he has two focuses: (1) providing support to young people who are experiencing complex difficulties, especially in relation to the education system, and (2) working alongside young people on projects to improve the Hackney Wick neighbourhood (where Luke grew up).

At the Open University, his work focuses on violence reduction policymaking. Between 2021 and 2024, he was a Research Associate on a major multi-University study examining violence reduction in England and Scotland.  He has co-authored three books: Against Youth Violence (2022), Preventing Violence (2025) and The Public Health Approach to Violence Reduction (2026). In addition, Luke has published a number of peer-reviewed journal articles and book chapters on issues such as violence, school exclusions, and social infrastructure for young people

Canon Dr Andrew Smith is Director of Interfaith Relations for the Bishop of Birmingham and Honorary Fellow, Edward Cadbury Centre at University of Birmingham

Colin Michel is a researcher, and facilitator committed to improving understanding of good practice with young people. He began in community development and youth work, and rights-based, relational values have shaped everything he has done since. He has worked as a consultant across education, social care, and multi-agency safeguarding arrangements in England. As co-founder of Resonant Collaboration, he loves to convene resonant spaces where practitioners, young people, and researchers learn together and co-create knowledge and practice.

His PhD at the University of Sussex explores how youth and community workers respond to LGBTQ+ young people experiencing harm, grounded in his commitment to starting from people's everyday experience and relationships.

Yehudis Fletcher, PhD researcher at Durham University and author of Chutzpah, speaking from research and lived experience of leaving a high-control religious community.