15 October 2020

Andy Crowther, manager of our Police and Court Liaison & Diversion service is retiring at the end of October after 15 years at CNWL. These services bridge the gap between community mental health services and the criminal justice system.   You can read more about them here: https://www.cnwl.nhs.uk/services/mental-health-services/offender-care

Patrick Gillespie, the Director of CNWL’s Offender Care service said, “In the short time I’ve been in Offender Care it’s apparent that Andy has so much knowledge and respect within the Directorate and across the whole Trust; he will definitely be missed. Andy developed wonderful services and built a very committed staff team. We wish him the very best, with our gratitude and thanks."

When Andy gave evidence to the Greater London Assembly (2018) he said, “Diversion is not just putting people in hospital beds; it is connecting people to, primarily, community mental health services, but also into other agencies and charities. There are there are many examples where, working with the Crown Prosecution Service and the police, charges will be either held back or dropped if someone can connect to another service and it looks like the risk is manageable.”

Andy will be replaced by Roz Kerr, currently working at HMP Downview where she leads the Offender Personality Disorder (OPD) Pathway.