This work led to the development of Safe & Sound Derby, and her work there was pivotal to the success of Operation Retriever. Following this, there was a surge of requests for support with similar issues across the country and Sheila left her organisation to develop the NWG Network.
This was a network of 256 people in 2011, but today is more than 14000 dissemination points across 300 organisations across the UK, she has been part of the Children’s Commission and the Northern Ireland Inquiries to look at Child Sexual Exploitation. She gave evidence in the Scottish Inquiry, and various other national inquiries and reviews looking at the barriers and challenges of making our children safe in today’s society.
In 2016 the NWG Network were asked to host the National Child Sexual Response Unit as identified in the National Action Plan following her attendance at the No 10 Downing Street Summit in March 2015.
This work has enabled her to take learning from other countries such as Europe, Africa and the USA and recently part of a partnership of 7 universities looking at abuse in sport.
Sheila values the importance of family and friends and the time spent together, she also enjoys gardening, cooking for friends and walking.