Meet Julie Rowlands, Our New Head of Mental Health Law
We’re excited to introduce our new Head of Mental Health Law, Julie Rowlands, who recently joined us at Choice Care.
Julie has extensive experience in supporting services with the Mental Health Act, Deprivation of Liberty Safeguards (DoLS) and rights-based care. Julie has joined the Specialist Support team and will be working alongside colleagues to offer legal expertise enabling us to continue to deliver exceptional care, so the people we support thrive with Choice.
Welcome to Choice Julie! Can you tell us a bit about your role?
“The purpose of my role is to focus on the rights of the people we support. This includes helping services in applying and understanding the Mental Health Act, DoLS, and restrictive practices correctly. I will be advising colleagues to, in turn, empower them to support people to make their own decisions and receive care in a way that works for them. It’s so important that we get the recording of this right, so that not only are we making sure that anyone working with someone we support understands them well, but also so that we can demonstrate this to our regulators.
A typical day may include offering guidance to colleagues to help navigate situations where a person may not have capacity or in any case where there is uncertainty around the legal aspects of providing care. I will also be helping to communicate with families and professionals where required.”
That sounds great! And can you tell us about your experience and previous roles?
“I graduated university with a degree in Psychology, and began my career working in the NHS, within the Mental Health Act Department of a Trust in Surrey. I was there for eight years, starting as an Admin Assistant and eventually becoming a Department Manager.
From there, I moved into the care sector, working in two different large organisations providing health and social care services to adults and children with a range of needs including mental health, learning disability and brain injury. I worked in my most recent post for 13 years, providing support to care homes and hospitals, on legal frameworks, restrictive practices, and person-centred care.”
What attracted you to this role with Choice?
“Firstly, the ethos and values of the organisation were clear and really aligned with my own. I could see there’s a genuine focus on putting people first and putting their all into providing exceptional care.
I also saw the amazing events across social media, including Choice Got Talent, and knew this was something I wanted to be a part of.”
Finally, what are you most looking forward to in your new role?
“I’m really looking forward to meeting the people supported by Choice Care, visiting the homes and building relationships with all the different teams. I want people to feel confident in my support and that I’m easy to approach and always happy to help.”
