Helen Cook Email and Phone Number

Helen is a Senior Commissioner for the Childrens Directorate in KCC with more than 15 years experience of working in the Public Sector. She has a reputation for bringing together strategic ambition, meaningful outcomes and deliverable service design, accompanied by comprehensive contract management skills, having delivered on contracts surrounding Intensive Family Support, Not in Education Employment or Training, Youth Justice, Young Carers, Youth provision and Childrens Centres and more recently picking up the contract management responsibility for the council’s programme of Childrens Young Peoples Mental Health Services and also working to develop the new Family Hub model in Kent. Being a trusted voice across the Childrens Directorate, Helen is also a passionate about improving the outcomes for all children and young people in Kent focusing on the development of best practice to ensure a quality-based approach to service delivery. Key to this is her focus on embedding the voice of children and young people within service design, development and implementation, keeping participation, co-design and co-production at the forefront of Helen's work.Prior to this role Helen worked within the corporate policy team on a variety of projects including the delivery of a DFE funded Poverty pilot, working with key stakeholders, including community leaders, community groups, children and young people to develop innovative ways of reducing and eliminating poverty for children and young people in Kent. Helen started her career in the motor industry developing policy and procedures to enhance best practice across dealerships and service centres with the aim of putting a positive customer experience at the centre before making the move into the public sector to combine her passion for effective contract monitoring, delivering against outcomes and the development and sharing of best practice. Away from work, Helen lives with her husband and three children in Kent