Our Forums

CIC’s services in Scotland are led by Brian Murphy, CIC Executive Director for Scotland. Brian is supported by a team of regional managers who each take a lead role in a forum related to CIC’s specialisms in Scotland - support for people with learning disabilities, mental health concerns, autism, physical disabilities and age related needs.

These forums work to implement best practice in CIC’s services in Scotland and review the latest research and initiatives related to their area of support.

Brian Murphy – CIC Executive Director, Scotland.

Brian Murphy was appointed as Executive Director Scotland in November 2010, having previous been an Assistant Director for CIC Group since September 2008. Brian is responsible for the deployment of CIC's strategy in all Scottish services.

Brian has experience of developing and managing a broad range of community care services to a number of vulnerable groups including, Learning Disabilities, Physical Disabilities, Mental Health and Addictions services. He is a Registered Mental Handicap Nurse with a BSc (Hons) and a post Graduate Diploma in Management. 

Sally Abbot - Regional Manager and Lead of Learning Disability and Learning Disability Forums.

Sally Abbot is CIC's Regional Manager for the Aberdeenshire area, managing 19 services that support people with a wide range of needs.

She joined CIC in July 2011, having spent 15 years working as a Service Manager for an autism provider. With her extensive experience in developing autism services, she takes a lead role in the development of our autism services within Scotland and across CIC as a whole.

Sally is currently working with a project team to devise CIC's latest Autism Strategy. She is also a lead member of our Scottish Autism Forum, which implements CIC's autism strategy, reviews the latest research in autism and develops working guidelines for our autism services.

Julie Cowen – Regional Manager and Lead of Senior Care and Physical Disabilities Forums. 

Julie Cowen is CIC's Regional Manager for the Scottish borders. She manages six senior care homes in Dumfries and Galloway and Stranraer, and a number of Independent Living services across the Scottish Borders.

Julie has worked with CIC since 1998 and has held a number of roles within our charity including working as a home manager, locality manager and lead regional manager.

Julie has supported the development of CIC's End of Life and Dignity in Care Strategies. She is also a member of the Dumfries and Galloway Older People's Forum, working alongside local authority and NHS professionals, and other providers to help develop the strategy for older people's services within Dumfries and Galloway

Teresa Fraser – Project Manager and Mental Health Forum Lead.

Teresa Fraser works as a Project Manager for CIC in Scotland, taking overall responsibility for the implementation of the 'Talking Points' audit within our services. Teresa works with our managers to achieve better outcomes for the people we support using this audit tool.

Teresa also takes responsibility for the development of CIC's Mental Health services within Scotland, leading our Mental Health Forum. The forum meets bi-monthly and reviews the latest initiatives, policy developments and research in the mental health field within Scotland, to help CIC develop progressive services.

Amongst her key achievements with the Forum has been CIC's signing up to the See Me Pledge and the introduction of Mental Health First Aid training for every member of CIC staff working within Scotland.

Gillian McConnell – Regional Manager and Autism Lead.

Gillian McConnell oversees CIC's Independent Living services in central Scotland, including services based in Glasgow, West Lothian, Edinburgh and Perth. In her role, she manages supported living, registered services, mental health services and outreach services.

Gillian has worked within the care sector for almost two decades, holding a number of roles including working as a support worker, special needs teacher, service manager and regional manager.

Gillian has great experience in supporting people with autism and has taken a key role in developing CIC's Autism Strategy and is a member of CIC's Scottish Autism Forum. She has helped CIC develop external partnerships with clinical psychologists and psychiatrists, Strathclyde University's Department of Autism and the Glasgow Autism Resource Centre.