Meet the Team at Thornton & Lee
At Thornton & Lee we are so proud of the talent pool of skilled and experienced Mental Capacity Assessors available for face to face and virtual assessments throughout England and Wales. All of our assessment team are qualified, registered and insured Independent Social Workers, and also our Guest Expert Mental Capacity Assessor Registered Mental Health Nurse Dr Jason Corner. Our teams collective experience includes a range of experience and post Social Work graduate qualifications including Best Interest Assessors, Practice Educators, Makaton competency, and experience of presenting complex evidence at the Court of Protection. So, let’s meet the team!
Rebecca – Managing Director
Rebecca’s experience spans across adult social care, with significant experience as both a front-line Social Worker and a Social Work Manager within many different Local Authority Social Work teams, having qualified as a Social Worker in 2010. Rebecca is trained and competent at chairing high risk Best Interest and Safeguarding Planning meetings and assessing highly complex presentations of mental capacity such as issues of executive capacity. One of Rebecca’s passions is capturing a client’s wishes and feelings in situations where communication impairments are present, or in cases whereby there are complex family dynamics or safeguarding issues at play. Rebecca prides herself on putting her clients as ease during the assessment process, and often receives feedback on how clients ‘enjoyed chatting’ during their mental capacity assessment. Rebecca is a true Social Work ‘geek’ and loves reading and reflecting upon legal updates, research papers, and emerging policy to ensure Thornton & Lee are always at the forefront of Independent Social Work. Rebecca lives with her two daughters, and their French Bulldog Biscuit.
Faye – Managing Director
Bi-lingual, Faye is fluent in Norwegian in addition to being an extensively experienced and highly professional Social Worker. Coming from a family line of Lawyers and Social Workers, Faye’s legal knowledge as an Independent Social Worker is difficult to rival! Faye’s previous experience includes working across adult social care as a frontline Social Work practitioner and as a Social Work Manager including within learning disability teams, in hospital Social Work teams, and in a domestic abuse agency facilitating group therapy and one to one sessions. Faye is an expert on all matter’s adult safeguarding, also priding herself on supporting lesser experienced Social Workers to develop their skills through a training and coaching model. Faye lives with her two children and enjoys running, and when she is not working hard for Thornton & Lee, she can usually be found with her her naughty Siamese kittens Koko and Kochi on her knee.
Jason – Guest Expert Mental Capacity Assessor
Dr Jason Corner is a Registered Mental Health Nurse qualifying with a 1st Class BSc in Mental Health Nursing in 2019. Jason also has a Postgraduate Certificate in Dementia Studies, an MSc in Clinical Research, and a Doctorate in Health Sciences. Jason is the Course Director for the MSc in Mental Health Nursing at a local university. Jason is a specialist in the mental health of older people, in particular those with a diagnosis of dementia. He teaches undergraduates and postgraduates a range of topics relating to mental health, with a particular focus on the assessment and diagnosis of dementia, mental state examination and the assessment and use of the Mental Capacity and Mental Health Acts. Jason is an active researcher, with a special interest in care home research. Jason recently ran from London to Brighton, being a keen ultra-matharon runner, and in his free time can be found paddle boarding the Norfolk Broads with his teenage daughter.
Alice – Independent Social Worker
Independent Social Worker Alice has been practising as a registered Social Worker since the completion of her MA in Social Work in 2016. Alice is a specialist in Mental Health Social Work and her experience includes working as a Senior Social Work Practitioner in a Mental Health team, a Continuing Healthcare Social Worker and in a Local Authority Emergency Out of Hours Social Work team. Alice is a qualified Practice Educator for Social Work students and has a higher award qualification in Relationship Based Practice in Social Work. Alice truly is a shining star, very professional, organised, and with personable and friendly communication skills guaranteed to put the individual being assessed at ease. Alice unwinds with regular Clubacise classes, and going on adventures with her daughter, son, and husband.
Hayley – Independent Social Worker
Hayley’s diverse range of Social Work experience spans children’s and adult social care, having qualified and been working as a registered Social Worker since 2016. Hayley is a qualified Best Interest Assessor, with experience of assessing Deprivation of Liberty. Hayley is skilled in alternate communication methods, and is passionate about capturing an individual’s views, especially those who are nonverbal. Hayley enjoys supporting inexperienced Social Workers to develop their professional skills and how to utilise theory in practice, and also has experience as a Lead Advanced Social Work Educator in a Local Authority Social Work Academy. Hayley’s super skill is being able to put at ease even the most anxious or socially impaired clients with her warm and open approach. Hayley has a mischievous toddler Florence who keeps her on her toes when not working hard for Thornton and Lee, and a very naughty but lovable sausage dog Toby.
Jo – Independent Social Worker
Jo has been working as a registered Social Worker since 2014. Jo’s experience includes working with individuals with a Learning Disability and Mental Health, as a specialist Social Worker, and leading a Deprivation of Liberty and Mental Capacity Act team as a manager. Jo’s skills include complex and challenging mental capacity assessments for the Court of Protection. Jo’s contribution to a high-profile case heard at the Court of Protection saw her win an award for implementing the Mental Capacity Act and Safeguarding. Jo is passionate about ensuring the best outcomes for all, priding herself on capturing an individual’s voice. Jo has a creative approach to mental capacity assessments and is skilled in utilising pictures, objects of reference, and Makaton. Jo is bursting with personable Yorkshire charm and is a proud wife and football Mum.
Keith – Company Secretary
Keith’s background is as a senior Bank Manager, where his specialities included intensive problem solving and resurrection of failing branches using a range of corporate strategies to implement new processes and resolve HR difficulties. Keith has also acted as a trustee for many years for large car sales business. In addition to bookkeeping, Keith works closely with Rebecca and Faye on how to make their creative ideas for Thornton & Lee into a reality. Keith lives with his wife, and dog Lulu now that his children have grown up. Keith loves travelling to new counties, birdwatching, and nature.
Becki – Business Support
Our warm, friendly and efficient business support Becki may well be your first contact with Thornton & Lee. Becki takes responsibility for collating information onto our systems ahead of the assessment appointment, to ensure the assessor has a wonderful overview of not just the individual’s needs, but also what is important to them such as hobbies, interests, and social history which is extremely useful to aid putting the individual being assessed at ease. Becki lives in Yorkshire with her family, and in addition to working for Thornton & Lee Becki is also currently studying to be a Social Worker, having spent much of her career thus far working with adults and children within the health and social care sector. In her spare time Becki can usually be found at her local CrossFit gym, or relaxing at home with her bunny Benjamin.
Leanda – Business Support
Leanda has always worked in Customer service varying from retail, local government and nhs to reception at her tennis club. She loves people and a good chat, with a positive outlook puts everyone at ease. Leanda has recently moved to the coast near Dover and is loving relaxing beach walks and lunches with her husband and Cockerpoo Bill. In between speaking to Thornton & Lee’s lovely clients, she enjoys reading (belonging to the village book club), running and has signed up for the Brighton Marathon next year.