How did it all start?

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Project Manager -  I am the founder of the I Am Me project. The project started in 2013 to help raise awareness of Disability Hate Crime and to raise awareness of the various methods for reporting incidents and crimes. I have 17 years Local Authority experience, within Housing and Social Work and 10 years private sector experience within admin and HR. I completed a BA (2:1) in HR Management with CIPD accreditation in 2009 with further achievements including advanced ECDL and HNC in management.

I recently completed a certificate in mental health in children and young people.

My name is Mhairi O’Rourke and I am the Project Initiatives Officer at I Am Me Scotland. 

Most of my career has been spent working in adult support services (12 years with local authority, and 5 years private sector). Too often I have heard stories about how some people in our communities are treated by others. 

I first became aware of I Am Me Scotland in 2015 when I watched the film and it got me! I love the way that I Am Me work to empower people to make changes to attitudes and behaviours from Primary school age up! Seeing the primary school programme first-hand has been an amazing experience for me and the children never cease to amaze me! 

I am passionate about the work that we do, and my kids are very proud too! 

I am also currently studying my degree in Integrated Health and Social Care at UWS. 

Hello! My name is Molly Potter and I am the Project Development Officer for I Am Me. I graduated from Glasgow Caledonian University with a BA/HONS in Criminology with Psychology. I thoroughly enjoyed my degree and had a specific interest in studying social inequality. I found the work of I Am Me inspiring and knew it was the perfect job for me when I had the opportunity to join the team in 2019. My focus is on promoting the Keep Safe Initiative across Scotland and the right for vulnerable people to feel safe when they are out in the community. 

My name is Kieran Kelly, I am the Project Support Assistant for I Am Me Scotland.

I have been with the charity since 2016 and throughout my journey so far, I have done so many different things to get to where I am now. The #MakeADifference programme, My SVQ level 2 achievement, Project SEARCH, Keep Safe Initiative, Keep Safe Ambassador programme and much more I have been a part of which gave me a purpose to develop my skills and to support all my colleagues, committee/board members and our clients with my work and development in the present time. 

Eileen has enjoyed a rewarding career in Housing for more than 33 years and has held a wide variety of roles in different authorities. Her most recent post was as Head of Housing Services with Renfrewshire Council for 15 years. She was also a member of Renfrewshire's Child Protection Committee for many years.

In recent years she was Chair of the Association of Local Authority Chief Housing Officers in Scotland and a member of the national Joint Housing Policy and Delivery Group alongside government and national housing stakeholder bodies.

Anne is a qualified accountant and has had a long and varied career in the public sector. She has spent much of her career in roles related to audit and governance and was for a number of years the chief internal auditor for Renfrewshire Council. In recent years she worked as Head of Resources for the Social Work Service, which she found very rewarding and through it developed a personal interest in the work of the service. She was Chair of the national Resources standing committee for Social Work Scotland, and work locally and nationally on the integration of Health and Social Care Services.

Mark joined Strathclyde Police in 1986 and retired from Police Scotland in January 2016. He has been involved in a range of innovative and successful community and partnership projects. His last post before retiring was Support Superintendent in Renfrewshire and Inverclyde Division. The post carried a wide range of responsibilities that included Professional Standards, HR, Counter Terrorism, Criminal Justice, Events Planning and Partnerships. Mark has an MBA in Public Service Management from Stirling University.

Ruth McQuaid, LLB (hons) Dip LP is a solicitor and senior civil servant who has worked for 30 years as a prosecutor for the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service. She is currently the Deputy Procurator Fiscal for Local Courts, Scotland with oversight of all sheriff and JP courts across Scotland. Ruth is also COPFS's national Equality and Victims champion and their lead for community engagement. She is a former chair  of the Justice Board's Equality and Diversity sub-group which led  a 4 year criminal justice disability project  tackling access to justice for the disabled. She is currently a member of the  Tackling Prejudice and Building Connected Communities action group .

Billy Burke  (BSc PGDE MSc) has been a senior manager in education for 13 years, the past 7 as head teacher of Renfrew High School. As Past President of School Leaders Scotland Billy contributes to educational development at a national level and he also assists Strathclyde University on leadership development courses. Billy is committed to the promotion of wellbeing, equality and inclusion in schools and beyond, and is passionate about the value of lifelong learning for all.

David Duncan, Chief Superintendent, Head of Safer Communities

Davie Duncan joined the legacy Strathclyde Police in 1995 and has served in uniform and detective roles throughout his service. He leads on Prevention, Partnerships and Community Wellbeing for Police Scotland, aligning closely to territorial divisions and taking a public health approach towards engrained issues such as drug/substance misuse, violence reduction, mental health, suicide, and the approaches to vulnerability. Davie also has responsibility for the International Development Unit which manages inward study visits and deployment of officers abroad. 

Bringing a background of IT and Project Management and a wealth of experience in creative crafting, Laura is also P.A to the Board and Chair of the volunteer Committee, ruling the meetings with her gavel! Having suffered from depression on and off most of her adult life, she brings an understanding of some of the difficulties people can face in every day life, especially those that are not obvious to the outside world. 

 Hello! I’m Laura Matheson, I am a 4th Year Psychology student, and I have been a part of I Am Me since I was in S6 of high school, following my I Am Me Keep Safe Ambassador Training. I am very passionate about tackling disability discrimination, especially so given my experiences of growing up with an autistic, epileptic brother, and personally experiencing multiple eye operations, compromising my vision. I have further great interest in mental health and mental wellbeing, and greatly enjoy being part of such a lovely team :)