Meet our judges
Across nine categories, from staff engagement to suicide prevention, the OK Awards are judged by a panel of our own specialists from within Oscar Kilo.
This year, we're also delighted to be joined by several external experts, bringing industry-leading knowledge and experience from across wellbeing, leadership, occupational health and policing.
On this page you'll find details of all our judges.
Staff engagement category
Céline Schillinger
Céline knows what it takes to get people genuinely involved in the place they work. She spent 30 years inside large organisations, including 17 years at Sanofi Pasteur, latterly as Global Quality Head of Innovation and Engagement. She now runs her own consultancy, We Need Social, from Lyon in France, advising organisations around the world on how they engage their people.
Engagement, she argues, is fundamentally a leadership issue rather than communications one. An organisation is not a machine, but a living system, where people thrive when they feel trusted, valued and able to contribute.
Effective leaders create the conditions for this by giving people at every level the space to act, building networks and communities, and creating a shared sense of purpose and ownership. This not only drives organisational change more effectively than top-down instructions or blanket communications, but also strengthens wellbeing by increasing connection, autonomy and meaning at work. Having applied this approach within highly regulated industries, she understands how to cultivate engagement and wellbeing even in organisations shaped by rules, hierarchy and rank.
She's written a book about it, Dare to Un-Lead, which was named Leadership and Strategy Book of the Year by Porchlight in 2022 and listed by Thinkers 50 among the best management books of 2023.
She's also been named a global employee engagement influencer ten times since 2016, most recently by Inspiring Workplaces in 2026, has twice been recognised at the Employee Engagement Awards, and is a Knight of the French National Order of Merit.
Céline first worked with us during the Covid-19 pandemic, when she helped us stage an international online conference which was attended by over 100 policing leaders from the UK, Australia, the US and Canada... and we're so glad to have her expertise to guide us with our awards this year.
Jenna Flanagan
Jenna Flanagan is Strategic Communications Lead for the National Police Wellbeing Service (Oscar Kilo), with more than 20 years’ experience in communications and engagement across policing, local government and higher education. For around the last decade, much of her work has focused specifically on police workforce wellbeing.
Jenna was part of the small team that established the National Police Wellbeing Service and now works across its national portfolio, advising senior leaders across policing and government on communications, engagement, wellbeing strategy and the development of practical, accessible wellbeing interventions. Her work focuses particularly on turning national strategy, evidence and resources into support that makes sense to officers and staff and can be effectively adopted within forces.
She is also a published contributor to Wellbeing in Policing, writing on staff engagement, and has extensive experience of stakeholder engagement, organisational change and communicating with policing workforces in complex and high-pressure environments.
Families and leavers category
Dr Sarah-Jane (SJ) Lennie
Dr Sarah-Jane (SJ) Lennie is an Associate Professor in Occupational Trauma and Institutional Wellbeing in Uniformed Public Services, based at the Centre of Excellence for Equity in Uniformed Public Services (CEEUPS) at Anglia Ruskin University.
SJ is a former police officer, having served with both Hampshire Constabulary and Greater Manchester Police. Policing runs in the family: she is the daughter of two retired police officers and is married to a (finally) retired police officer and ex police staff member.
SJ is a chartered social and organisational psychologist (British Psychological Society) and a Subject Matter Expert for the College of Policing on mental health and wellbeing in leadership. Over the past seven years she has delivered educational workshops on wellbeing and leadership in policing to officers of all ranks, up to and including senior command level (Assistant Chief Constable). Her research focuses on mental health and emotional wellbeing within organisations, with a particular emphasis on structural harm and prevention — primarily within policing and police families but extending to the wider emergency services. Her research has directly informed policy change at both national and local level within the police service.
Outside academia, SJ is currently training as a psychotherapist with the King's Trust and is at her happiest walking her two dogs with her husband.
Dr Ceri Jones
Dr Ceri R. Jones is a Chartered Psychologist and Psychotherapist specialising in career transition, organisational development and trauma-informed approaches to leadership and psychological wellbeing. She has over 20 years’ experience across the NHS, policing, and academia. Her work combines organisational psychology, psychoeducation and evidence-based practice to support individuals and organisations navigating identity change, role transition, occupational trauma and workplace wellbeing. She has designed and delivered national transition programmes for policing, including the award-winning RESLEAPS programme, led large-scale organisational change initiatives, and facilitated the co-design of health and wellbeing interventions.
As Co-Director of the Police Leavers Partnership, Director of Wellworks Ltd and an Industry Fellow at Aston University, Ceri leads national programmes, develops psychologically informed approaches to improving wellbeing and organisational practice, and has coached hundreds of professionals moving into new roles and sectors. She has secured over £10 million in research and programme funding as Principal Investigator and Co-Investigator, published widely on resilience, wellbeing and occupational transitions, and taught on MSc and doctoral programmes in psychology and psychotherapy.
Claire Long
Claire is the managing director of her own consultancy and has worked in and around policing for the past 20 years.
In her current role for the NPWS, she is responsible for leading on the suicide pre and postvention programme including delivery of the mental health crisis line, the police families workstream and the police leavers workstream. Claire also provides support to the Occupational Health community.
Prior to NPWS, Claire worked at West Midlands police project managing the security planning for the Birmingham 2022 Commonwealth Games.
Healthy living category
Andy Rhodes OBE QPM
Andy Rhodes OBE QPM served 30 years as a police officer and is the former Chief Constable of Lancashire Police, up until retirement in 2021 he was National Police Chiefs Council lead for wellbeing and organisational development.
In 2015 he established the first National Police Wellbeing Service - Oscar Kilo which he continues to support part time as Service Director.
He was awarded the Queens Police Medal in 2017 and an OBE in the 2022 birthday honours for services to emergency service workers mental health.
Occupational health category
Professor John Harrison
Professor Harrison is the National Police Chief Medical Officer based in the College of Policing.
Between 2014 and 2021 he was Chief Medical Officer for Devon and Cornwall Police and Strategic Health and Wellbeing Lead for the Alliance with Dorset Police. He was Clinical Director of Organisational Health and Wellbeing at Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust (2003 – 2014) and Senior Lecturer in Occupational Medicine / Consultant Occupational Physician at the University of Newcastle-Upon-Tyne (1990 – 2003).
He has held positions as Director NHS Plus/advisor to the Health and Work team of the Department of Health and Head of the National School for Occupational Health of England and Wales. He is an Associate Professor at Brunel University in clinical organisational development. Previously he was Academic Dean of the Faculty of Occupational Medicine, a board member of ICOH and a past Chairman of EASOM.
Liz Eades
After general nursing training and experience in A&E, Elisabeth specialised in occupational health (OH), completing her specialist qualifications, and subsequently working in a number of roles in industries ranging from retail, call centres, NHS, and a utility company.
In 2007 she was recruited by Surrey Police to be Head of OH Services, subsequently merging OH services in Surrey and Sussex. In 2019, she joined NPWS as an OH Subject Matter Expert and now leads the OH Practice and Standards workstream. Notable achievements in the role include developing National OH Standards and setting up an OH Practitioner Network.
Mandy Murphy
Mandy brings 28 years in Occupational Health to her work as a Senior Coach Practitioner (EMCC accredited), spanning nursing, service leadership, and national OH governance. She was Head of Service/General Manager for Occupational Health at Guy's and St Thomas' NHS Foundation Trust for 12 years, Deputy Head of the National School of Occupational Health, and Quality Lead for SEQOHS Assessors at the Faculty of Occupational Medicine. She currently serves as Deputy Chair of the Council for Work and Health.
Mandy now runs her own coaching practice and is an associate coach with Know You More, specialising in workplace transitions, supporting individuals and teams through returns to work, new leadership roles, and organisational change. She also delivers health coaching skills training with the National School of Occupational Health.
OK9 category
Garry Botterill
Garry served in the Royal Navy before becoming a Police Officer for nearly 30 years. He co-developed a police mental health app called Backup Buddy which is now used in many forces in the UK and abroad. He won a Churchill Fellowship and travelled extensively to research PTSD assistance dogs and founded Service Dogs UK. He is a trustee and volunteer operations director for the charity and a serves as a trustee for Assistance Dogs UK. He contributes to the Access and Advocacy Panel of Assistance Dogs International and hosts the shelter/rescue dog group within ADI. In 2022 he joined the National Police Wellbeing Service where he initiated and leads nationally with the award-winning Oscar Kilo OK9 wellbeing and trauma support dogs. Since then the OK9 wellbeing dogs have been on national TV and in the press and they have provided comfort and support generally within policing and also after many traumatic incidents including the Southport child murders and subsequent disorder. There are now over 350 OK9 wellbeing dogs in England and Wales helping to start conversations that keep people well.
Peer support category
Lee Taylor
Lee Taylor, a former military professional, currently serves as a Police Constable within Lancashire Constabulary. Since 2019, he has been associated with the National Police Wellbeing Service, Oscar Kilo, where he currently holds the position of Peer Support Lead.
Lee’s career in law enforcement commenced in 2007 with Hampshire Constabulary. He subsequently transferred to Lancashire in 2015, continuing his service as a Roads Policing Officer and Family Liaison Officer. In 2016, Lee established a peer support network within Lancashire, which, due to its success, led to his appointment as a delivery officer with Oscar Kilo in early 2019. In April 2023, he was promoted to his current role as Peer Support Lead. Lee’s commitment to supporting his colleagues is evident, and he views peer support as a fundamental element of most support initiatives. Furthermore, Lee has been a qualified therapist for nearly three years. Lee also volunteers for DKMS and actively promotes the work of blood stem cell donations.
Dr Tony Parnell
Tony has worked for Lancashire Constabulary since December 2017 in his role as Force Psychologist and Clinical Lead for Psychological Services with the Occupational Health and Wellbeing department at Lancashire Constabulary’s Headquarters. He carries a one to one and group clinical case load as well as being responsible for the strategic development and management of the psychological services.
There are five full time equivalent and one trainee student in house therapists and 25 part time external therapists, which offer individual and group therapy services for all Lancashire Constabulary’s officers and staff within the Constabulary. Tony works closely with external agencies to expand and improve the offering, such as the Police Benevolent Fund treatment centres at Langho.
Tony is a chartered psychologist and HCPC registered practitioner psychologist specialising in trauma and PTSD. In his previous role he worked for five years as a lecturer at the University of Manchester on the Doctorate in counselling psychology. Responsibilities included being lead tutor on year two of the three year course specialising in CBT practice and theory. He was also the practice, placement and development director for all trainees on the course.
For the past three years Tony has also been working directly for the National Police Wellbeing Service, alongside his work for Lancashire Constabulary. He holds the post of Clinical Safe Practice Lead and manages the clinical governance of the live services offered nationally by Oscar Kilo.
Trauma support category
Zoe Davenport
Zoe has worked as a trauma therapist since 2011. Primarily working with victims of domestic abuse before running a service for high-risk teenage girls within the south Asian community, she went on to lead the counselling team for the Metropolitan Police Service. During this time she became the SPOC for specialist groups such as armed policing and hostage crisis negotiators.
After implementing a national psychological screening programme for the Hostage Crisis Negotiation group, she moved to the National Police Wellbeing Service to continue to improve mental health services for officers and staff.
Zoe is currently undertaking a PhD to better understand the impact of various police roles on mental health.
Dr Tony Parnell
Dr Tony Parnell was a judge for the trauma support category (see bio above).
Operation Hampshire category
Chris Farrimond
Chris Farrimond is a former National Crime Agency Director, having completed around 40 years of operational leadership law enforcement and military roles. He led officers in testing environments in the UK and overseas, and was a Specialist Strategic Firearms Commander and Undercover Authorising Officer.
The welfare and wellbeing of the individuals for whom he held responsibility was drilled into Chris right at the beginning of his career at Sandhurst and remained the cornerstone of every management role and operation until his retirement.
Dave Brewster
Dave is a former (retired) Metropolitan Police Chief Inspector now working with Oscar Kilo, the National Police Wellbeing Service as the National Operation Hampshire Co-ordinator.
Dave joined the Met in 1992 and has served operationally in north and east London. As a Chief Inspector he has held roles in operations, firearms command and finally as the dedicated Op Hampshire lead for the Met focussing on improving the response to police assaults. This is a subject that Dave is passionate about and genuinely believes that as the people who protect the public, our colleagues deserve the very best levels of wellbeing support and victim care.
His Op Hampshire work includes the development of a national police assaults dataset and has helped shape the NPWS data analytics capability for the wider wellbeing picture.
Suicide prevention category
David Snelders
David Snelders is a trauma and mental health practitioner specialising in trauma, crisis intervention and suicide prevention, with extensive experience supporting emergency-service personnel experiencing psychological distress, suicidal ideation and crisis.
David serves as Clinical Lead for a Police Crisis and Suicide Line, contributing clinical leadership to a service supporting police personnel experiencing acute psychological distress and suicidal crisis. He also has many years' experience working within ambulance services, supporting personnel affected by trauma, mental health difficulties and suicidal thoughts, alongside providing therapeutic intervention and crisis support.
A significant part of David's professional practice involves working directly with individuals experiencing suicidal ideation and supporting people following suicide attempts. This frontline clinical experience informs his understanding of suicide prevention, particularly the importance of early recognition, direct and compassionate conversations, collaborative assessment, safety planning and timely access to appropriate support.
David holds an Advanced Diploma in Cognitive Behavioural Therapy and is an Advanced CPT Practitioner and Certified DBT Practitioner. He also holds an Advanced Certificate in CAMS (Collaborative Assessment and Management of Suicidality), an evidence-based therapeutic framework specifically focused on the assessment and treatment of suicidality.
Alongside his clinical practice, David develops and delivers specialist mental health, trauma, crisis-intervention and suicide-prevention training for emergency-service personnel and organisations. His work combines current clinical evidence and national guidance with extensive practical experience of supporting people working in high-risk and high-pressure environments.
David brings to the Oscar Kilo Awards judging panel both specialist knowledge of suicide prevention and the practitioner perspective gained from working directly with people experiencing suicidal crisis.
David is the guest judge for our Suicide Prevention category.
Claire Long
Claire is the managing director of her own consultancy and has worked in and around policing for the past 20 years.
In her current role for the NPWS, she is responsible for leading on the suicide pre and postvention programme including delivery of the mental health crisis line, the police families workstream and the police leavers workstream. Claire also provides support to the Occupational Health community.
Prior to NPWS, Claire worked at West Midlands police project managing the security planning for the Birmingham 2022 Commonwealth Games.