Speakers

Yasmeen has over 24 years working in the voluntary sector with both children, young people, adults and families as a social care professional, service manager, national programme manager and strategic programme lead. She has held several health and social care leadership roles within Barnardo’s Children’s Services Operations and Children’s Services Development and Innovation Directorates.

Educated at the University of Bradford, Yasmeen has worked for Barnardo’s since qualifying as a social worker in 1999, undertaking child protection and court assessments as well as therapeutic work with Muslim children and young people. She has worked in early years, youth work, family support, prison service, early intervention services, community regeneration and mental health and wellbeing core priority programme; beginning the journey for Barnardo’s to be a trauma-informed and responsive organisation. She led the Barnardo’s See, Hear, Respond England Partnership, managing national and Black and Asian Minority Ethnic charities. Yasmeen developed and led the first LGBTQ+ children and young people service Positive Identities for Barnardo’s, leading the DfE Schools Programme to tackle homophobic, biphobic and transphobic bullying. She has been the health programme lead for Barnardo’s consortium for the VCSE Health and Wellbeing Alliance.

Yasmeen was previously one of the founding trustees for Healthwatch Kirklees and Calderdale from 2015 to 2019. She has taken up this role again from June 2023.

Yasmeen since August 2022 is the Strategic Programme Lead for Barnardo’s West Yorkshire Keyworker Service delivering keyworking provision to children and young people aged up to 25, who are autistic and or have a learning disability. The provision has developed specialist keyworking provision focused on key areas such as LGBTQ children and young people, eating disorders/disordered eating, care experienced children and young people, children and young people who are in inpatient settings and transitions from children's to adult's services. Yasmeen is also overseeing a number of health and VCSE pilot programmes including the Neurodevelopmental Family Navigator Pilot, Neurodiversity in Schools Pilot and the Bradford Psychology Service development in partnership with West Yorkshire Integrated Board.

Yasmeen is also the joint Senior Responsible Officer for the VCSE Neurodiversity Programme of work for West Yorkshire Integrated Care Board. Yasmeen’s commitment as Senior Responsible Officer for the Third Sector is a passion to work with children, young people, adults and families who can often feel unheard and devalued to receive health and social care services they need, when they need them as well as working collaboratively and developing innovative partnerships with diverse communities/organisations and supporting the third sector to be recognised, valued and heard.