The strength of the team is each individual member. The strength of each member is the team.

Sherine Mendes is a seasoned professional with a wealth of experience in business management. With a track record of running her own successful business for 7 years, Sherine brings a deep understanding of marketing, operations, and customer service to the table.

Her entrepreneurial journey has equipped her with invaluable insights into the intricacies of building and sustaining a thriving enterprise. During her tenure as a business owner, Sherine demonstrated exceptional leadership skills, successfully navigating the challenges of the market, and consistently delivering outstanding customer experiences.

Sherine's multifaceted expertise encompasses not only strategic marketing and efficient operational management but also an unwavering commitment to ensuring the highest levels of customer satisfaction. She is passionate about leveraging her knowledge to drive Solve towards growth and excellence.

Robert Walsh-Lawrence is an experienced Operations Support Coordinator with a strong background in photography, videography, and visual media production. With over 10 years in the industry, he has created content for major platforms such as BBC, Microsoft, Grenade, YouTube, and Stonegate Pubs.

His work has reached a global audience, with multiple projects amassing over 120 million views on YouTube. Having travelled extensively, Robert has worked on films, documentaries, music videos, and modelling photoshoots, bringing creativity and technical expertise to every project.

In his role as an Operations Support Coordinator, Robert applies his organisational and media production skills to enhance efficiency, streamline workflows, and support high-quality content creation.

Henna is our esteemed female Intervention Worker based within the AP Taskforce team.

Henna is a Mental Health Specialist with a Master’s degree in Mental Health Interdisciplinary. Her academic and professional journey is deeply rooted in exploring the connections between trauma, mental health issues, and their outcomes in both youths and adults. 

With over five years of dedicated service in the education sector, including a significant tenure as an Assistant Headteacher, Henna has honed her specialisation in behaviour understanding and modification. Her robust background in SEMH (Social, Emotional, and Mental Health) schools underscores her commitment to addressing the complex needs of her charges. 

Beyond her role in education, Henna is adept at teaching crime studies, managing mental health and safeguarding initiatives, and developing both training programmes and incident response protocols. 

As a passionate advocate for creating protective and inclusive environments, she has a proven track record in forging strong collaborations with external agencies, conducting thorough risk assessments, and spearheading safeguarding measures in Birmingham and Coventry. 

Henna’s unparalleled commitment to ensuring the highest standards of safety and well-being for all individuals under her care truly sets her apart as a pivotal member of both SOLVE and the AP Taskforce team. 

Dr Fitzmaurice is a Registered Forensic Psychologist, specialising in adolescent mental health and youth violence. She has extensive experience working with challenging young people and is passionate about making positive changes for disadvantaged young people.
Lizzie is an advocate for young people, and often works in a consultation and advisory role for organisations and governing bodies designing policies and practices for young people.

She currently works in the NHS as a Principal Psychologist in Secure CAMHS and as a director of DLF Psychology. Lizzie has extensive experience working with the NHS, prison service, voluntary sector, education, youth work and social care. Lizzie is renowned for her impactful consultation and training and dedicates her time outside of clinical work to supporting students and organisations better understand key issues and
skills related to young people, mental health and youth violence.

As a Principal Forensic Psychologist, Dr Fitzmaurice works as an expert witness in both criminal and family court settings.
Lizzie is qualified in a range of therapies, including EMDR and DBT and delivers a range of certified interventions and risk reduction programmes.

Dr Mohammed Rahman is a distinguished criminologist with over a decade of experience in Higher Education. 

His research interests include serious violence and organised crime, qualitative research methodologies, and social inequalities in the West Midlands, England. 

He has collaborated with offenders, victims, charities, NGOs, and criminal justice stakeholders. 

Dr Rahman is an Expert Network Member for the Global Initiative Against Transnational Organised Crime (GITOC) and a Fellow of the Higher Education Academy. 

His academic qualifications include a PhD, MEd, MA, PgCert, and BSc (Hons). Dr Rahman is also an internationally published author of books, book chapters, and peer-reviewed articles. 

 Daniel is a dedicated professional who challenges the traditional landscape of therapy with a unique and integrative approach. 

As a registered integrative therapist with the British Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy (BACP), he brings a rich tapestry of experience, education, and personal perspective to us. 

Holding an undergraduate degree in Social Welfare and a master's in Psychotherapy & Counselling, Daniels foundation is both academically solid and practically applied. 

He prides himself on his 20-year journey in youth work, where he has had the privilege of fostering growth and resilience in young people from diverse backgrounds. 

 As a black male therapist, he stands at the crossroads of cultural understanding and professional expertise. 

Daniels presence not only goes against the norms but also expands the narrative of what a therapist looks like and the unique insights they can offer. 

Daniels goal is to provide a space where all individuals—regardless of background or identity—feel seen, heard, and understood. 

Clair Graham is the Head of Service for Contextual Safeguarding at Birmingham Children’s Trust, leading the EMPOWER U, Exploitation, and Missing Hub. With 19 years of experience in social work, she specialises in protecting vulnerable children, young people, and families. Clair holds a Social Work degree from Birmingham City University, earned in 2009.

She has implemented a strategic plan addressing risks to children outside the family home and manages a multi-agency team focused on safeguarding young people up to the age of 25. Clair collaborates with parents, carers, faith groups, and businesses to tackle exploitation and youth violence and chairs the Channel Board, working to prevent radicalisation.

An experienced Practice Educator and licensed Child Protection facilitator, Clair is also a foster carer and chairs a fostering panel. Her contributions have earned her several honours, including Leader of the Year (2022), the Birmingham City University Alumni Award (2023), and the High Sheriff of West Midlands Award (2023) for outstanding community service.

Dr Martin Glynn is an experienced and internationally renowned criminologist, educator, theatre director, and dramatist with over 35 years’ experience of working in criminal justice, public health, and educational settings. 

As a writer Martin has written for BBC 1’s Casualty, had radio drama’s produced for BBC Radio 4, written and directed numerous theatre productions, published many poetry books, alongside developing a growing reputation as an author of children’s books.  His new book ‘Speaking Data and Telling Stories: Data Verbalization for Researchers’ is published by Routledge (2019).

Sean has spent many years practising within the sectors of youth work, working heavily in multi-agency settings with criminal justice, social care and health as both frontline practitioner and service manager roles. 

Notably: Running a hyper-local centre based model for a community deeply impacted by violence and trauma.

Developing three hospital based violence interruption services to meet the needs of young people presenting as victims of sexual violence, bladed and firearm injuries.

A former regular attendee of the Guns, Gangs and Serious Organised Crime Strategic Board.

Sean's specialisms lie in Contextual Safeguarding and risk management relating to safeguarding against organised and extra-familial harms.

Dr. Dionne Taylor is an educator, researcher, and community advocate with over 15 years of experience in teaching and youth engagement. Her work focuses on supporting, inspiring, and guiding individuals—particularly young women—to overcome barriers and realise their full potential.

Her PhD research explored young women’s lived experiences and the ways structural and societal inequalities impact their education, employment, and interpersonal relationships. This critical lens shapes both her academic work and her community practice, creating a strong link between research and real-world impact.

Dionne has led and supported development projects for both local and international campaigns, working with young women to foster leadership, confidence, and social change.

She is a Fulbright US–UK Global Challenges Teaching Awardee with a focus on racial justice in international contexts and holds a PGCE (Post-Compulsory Education and Training). With a passion for community engagement, Dionne is committed to creating spaces that are inclusive, empowering, and driven by social equity.
 

Fidel Thompson is a Mentor, Keynote speaker, Workshop facilitator and the CEO of the Charity 'Breakin Barriers'. 

Fidel has years of experience of delivering real life workshops and outreach work due his past decisions that resulted him being paralysed and wheelchair bound from multiple gunshot wounds. 

Fidel has over 10 years of experience working with young people who are challenged by the the obstacles of their environment and life.