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Who We Are
The Bluestar Project is a Community Interest Company led by two Directors and supported by a national team of practitioners, advisors and operational leads. Our work is grounded in frontline experience, research and the voices of survivors.
Gemma is a researcher and survivor activist who has spent over a decade working to improve the response to domestic abuse and sexual violence. Her research is grounded in frontline practice. She was previously Chief Executive of the Green House, where she built an award-winning specialist service for children and young people affected by sexual abuse. Her commitment to survivor-led services runs through everything we do at Bluestar. Pre-trial therapy is a particular passion for Gemma, because she knows from her own experience that healing from trauma goes far beyond criminal justice processes, and that survivors deserve access to both support and justice.
Dr Gemma Halliwell Co-Director
Sonia brings a depth of experience across the violence against women and girls sector, having held national strategic and operational roles in both the voluntary sector and a national policing programme. She worked as an Independent Sexual Violence Advisor (ISVA) for ten years and understands the complexities of frontline practice from the inside. Sonia contributes to national quality assurance and governance through independent panel and associate roles and serves as a trustee of a local hospice.
Sonia Watts
Associate Trainer
Steph joined the Bluestar programme in 2023, having been involved in the accreditation and pre-trial therapy training pilot and the Best Practice Advisory Group. Her career has focused on supporting children, families and adults affected by crime, and she brings extensive experience in practical support, emotional support and advocacy.
Steph Atkinson
Associate Trainer
Emma is a system change leader, researcher and international advisor on the Barnahus model. She co-founded The Lighthouse, the first Child House in the United Kingdom, bringing police, health, social care, justice and voluntary sector services together under one roof for children who have experienced sexual abuse. She works internationally to support countries across Europe and beyond to build Barnahus where children tell their story once, in safety, and receive the support they need. At Bluestar, Emma leads on systems change, commissioning and the development of our national best practice standards.
Emma Harewood
Co-Director
Shelley has a background in systems change, having led a place-based programme to prevent child sexual abuse in Plymouth. She is a co-founder of the Trauma Informed Plymouth Network and continues to support the city on its journey to become more trauma informed through her voluntary work and her role as Justice Branch facilitator. Shelley worked in commissioning for fifteen years, using her commitment to community development and social justice to inform service design and development.
Shelley Shaw
Associate Trainer
Cath brings experience from a long career of working therapeutically with children, young people and adults affected by the trauma of child sexual abuse and / or domestic
abuse. Cath has worked in the charity sector and in 2010 she founded Imara CIO, based in
Nottingham, a charity that supports children, young people and families throughout the Criminal Justice system and brings together the skills of children’s sexual violence advisers (CHISVA team) and those of Arts Psychotherapists to offer individuals and families a holistic approach, supporting them to move forward.
Cath Wakeman
Associate Trainer
Candice is a South African author and lived experience consultant whose work centres the voices of survivors in shaping services, policy and practice. She is the author of Indescribable, a critically acclaimed account of her own experience of childhood sexual abuse. Candice has extensive experience co-delivering parent support programmes alongside clinicians, and she speaks internationally to challenge stigma and inspire change. At Bluestar, she leads our lived experience work, ensuring that the voices of children, young people and families and adult survivors remain at the heart of
everything we do.
Candice Harris
National Lived Experience Lead
Kat is a Mental Health Social
Worker with a background in policy advocacy, campaigning and grassroots
activism. She currently works in the NHS supporting adults with mental health difficulties through one-to-one and group interventions, and she also works as a facilitator on an awareness-raising programme for perpetrators of domestic abuse. Kat is undertaking further training in family therapy.
Kat Barton
Associate Trainer
Steph brings eighteen years of experience in operations and project management across the education, health and voluntary sectors. She has worked with SafeLives on domestic abuse programmes across England, Wales and Scotland, and has managed complex cross-functional projects at senior level throughout her career. At Bluestar, she leads on programme delivery, ensuring our work runs with the precision and care our partners and practitioners deserve.
Steph Lammers-Rice
Programme Manager
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