Meet the Team
We are founded and led by a group of individuals with lived experience of abuse whilst members of The Scout Association. You can find information about those of us who have waived our anonymity on this page.
The team are incredibly passionate about supporting survivors of abuse and protecting children from abuse, as part of the campaign we will be looking to provide sessions from professionals around issues such as dealing with trauma and safeguarding information sessions for parents.
Sheanna Patelmaster
Sheanna is 28 and lives in London where she works as a Strategy Manager at The LEGO Group. In her spare time she volunteers as a trustee for the NSPCC.
In March 2022, Sheanna spoke publicly about her experience of child sexual abuse by her Explorer Scout leader and The Scout Association’s handling of her reporting it to the police. This was largely due to The Scout Association’s refusal to take action to safeguard other children that he had been in contact with. She used the article to ensure that local parents realised that they should check whether their children had been effected.
Since then, she has been working to get The Scout Association to improve their safeguarding systems, and learnt that many people who have experienced abuse in the Scouts struggle to get their voices heard.
She decided to create Yours In Scouting with Lucy and Mitchell as a way for people to share their experiences anonymously, so that through weight of numbers we can pressure The Scout Association to take action to better protect young people now.
Lucy Pincott
Lucy is 29 and lives in South Yorkshire with her husband and young son. She’s a Science teacher and works in a school within a mental health unit for teenagers.
She experienced abuse in the Scouts in 2006 and had many difficulties when reporting to, and dealing with, the Scouting Association in 2018.
Lucy is passionate about supporting all young people to achieve their potential despite setbacks they may have experienced and has worked in several different capacities with young people since she was 17.
She recently qualified as a teacher, is a qualified teaching assistant and has worked as a learning mentor supporting children with many different barriers to their educational and social lives.
Lucy managed to get The Scout Association to undertake an external review of her case. This was met with strong resistance and only undertaken when the Scouts felt they had no other option.
A specialist organisation undertook the review and produced a list of recommendations in 2019 to improve how the Scouts treat people who have experienced abuse and how they manage leaders entering the Scouting Association after a period of time away.
The Scouts lack of external accountability means we are unsure how many, if any, of these have been successfully implemented.
Mitchell Clarke
Mitchell is Chair of Governors at a Primary School in London. His role is to hold the Headteacher to account for the performance of the school, that includes ensuring that every child feels safe. He is responsible for ensuring the school has an effective safeguarding policy in place, where everyone is aware of their responsibilities and how to report concerns.
He was involved in scouting from a young age, as a Beaver, Cub, Scout, Young Leader and Assistant Beaver Scout Leader. Mitchell then went on to manage two groups’ Executive Committees. In these latter roles, Mitchell oversaw the administration of the groups and ensured the executives acted within the legislation applicable to charity trustees.
Mitchell is a close friend of a person who experienced abuse within the movement, he has been working to ensure The Scout Association takes action to prevent the abuse of young people in the future.
Mitchell is 30 and lives in London where he works for a charity overseeing events and public engagement.
Good Law Project
Good Law Project is a not for profit campaign organisation that uses the law to hold power to account, protect the environment, and ensure no one is left behind. GLP has a history of supporting abuse victims to speak out and defend themselves, having recently won a case supporting Nina Cresswell, a #MeToo survivor, who was sued for defamation for naming the person who sexually assaulted her. The court held, making new law, that naming an attacker publicly, in order to protect others, was a public interest defence to defamation proceedings. Good Law Project wants survivors of abuse at the hands of The Scouts to feel able to come forward and be confident that the law will protect and not silence them.