Staff

Val Owen
Val Owen is a social worker who has worked with children, young people and families and especially foster families since 1989. She has worked at Y Bont since 1991 and is the Chief Executive. Val manages the charity and does some of the fostering and training work. She is a Companion and Trainer for the Seasons for Growth education programme. Val is one of the chairs of the Welsh IRM process. Val also works as a Child Practice Reviewer for the North Wales Safeguarding Board.

Gwenan Gruffydd
Gwenan is a social worker who has worked with children and families since 1984. She has worked for Y Bont on different occasions since 1995 and has worked here full time since 2014. Gwenan is the Senior Practitioner for the fostering and training side of Y Bont. Gwenan has a special interest in supporting Connected Carers and carers with Special Guardianship Orders, through her work developing support groups for carers.

Maureen Japp
Maureen has been working with Y Bont as an associate Family Group Conferencing (FGC) co-ordinator since 1995 and she became a permanent member of staff in 2006. Maureen is the Senior Practitioner for our Conflict Resolution and Wellbeing work. She is a qualified Family Group Meeting Co-ordinator, with a post graduate qualification in Family Group conferencing. She is a tutor and accredited trainer for the Family Rights Group FGC training and a member of the Family Rights Group National FGC Quality Assurance panel. Maureen is also a qualified mediator and counsellor. She is a Seasons for Growth Companion and Trainer for the children and adult programme. Maureen runs Seasons for Growth groups for parents and adults.

Magi Rhys
Magi started working for Y Bont in 2019 after an extensive career in the film and TV industry. Magi is the Business and Office Manager

Angharad Williams
Angharad Williams began working for Y Bont in 2000 promoting young people’s voices within services in Gwynedd and worked on participation standards and rights for young people. Angharad is a Family Group Conferencing coordinator and also undertakes Mediation, Inter Parental Conflict, Seasons for Growth and Counselling. Angharad has developed the work of supporting parents who are facing court proceedings or whose children are in care or on the child protection register by helping people understand the process or by helping people attend meetings.

Mel Phillips
Melanie Phillips has been a Co-Ordinator at Y Bont for the past 6 years, working with children, young people and adults on the mediation project and family group conferences. She occasionally does some training courses for foster carers and has recently become a Companion for Seasons for Growth. She has worked in a variety of different fields including homelessness, domestic violence, youth work, direct payments, and community development. Mel is currently Y Bont’s contact person for our work with parents who are in prison. Mel also provides partners support within the Cam Nesaf Project.

Claire Owen
Claire has worked in the support sector for many years, initially as a youth worker before moving on to work with homeless young people in a hostel and more recently as an independent housing worker for a local charity providing people of all ages support to prevent homelessness. Claire started working for Y Bont in August 2017 as a family group conference coordinator. Since this time Claire has qualified as a Counsellor. Claire is also a companion, a mentor and a trainer for the Seasons for Growth Programme.

Anona Davies
Anona is a Qualified Social worker with experience of fostering and working with children with a disability. Anona joined the team in January 2022 and works as a fostering social worker and trainer. Anona also supports Connected Carers.

Swyn Angharad
Swyn has experience of working for third sector domestic abuse services before undertaking her counselling qualification. Swyn started as a student with Y Bont before becoming employed in 2021. As well as counselling, Swyn is a Family Group Conference coordinator and mediator.

Llinos Birch
Llinos has worked for third sector domestic abuse services for many years, she was also a part time youth worker in the Conwy rural area. She has extensive experience of the Seasons for Growth Programme. Llinos started working at Y Bont in March 2019 as a Seasons for Growth Mentor and Companion, she is now also a Trainer for the programme. Llinos also supports carers who have been awarded Special Guardianship Orders.

Bethan Evans
Following years of experience in the field of education where Bethan was a teacher and department coordinator, she was also Additional Learning Needs coordinator (ALNCo) and as a result of her interest and wanting to expand on her knowledge she gained a master’s degree in ALN in 2016. She was also a Wellbeing and Protection officer within the school. This led to a career change, and she qualified as a counsellor along with an opportunity to accept a placement with Y Bont and is by now a member of the counselling team since 2022. Hopefully she will qualify as a Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT) practitioner in June 2023. Recently she completed her training in Family Group Conferencing through the Cwlwm project.

Paul Warnock
Following a career in the police force and subsequently in the world of Outdoor Activities, Paul joined Y Bont in 2022 as a Counsellor.

Theresa Hodgson
Theresa has worked closely with children and families for the last 20 years, and more recently as an Education Welfare officer before joining Y Bont in 2023. Theresa has a degree in Psychology and is interested in the effects of trauma on children and young people and the therapeutic interventions that can support them. Theresa is a Family Group Conference coordinator and Mediator.