Our team
Ian McDonough
Ian McDonough has delivered a wide range of training and capacity-building events in many different contexts. He managed Scottish Community Mediation Centre from 1999 to 2016, and holds qualifications in both Community Education and Learning + Development.
He is the author of six guides on various aspects of mediation practice, published jointly by Sacro and the Scottish Executive, as well as a range of other publications, pamphlets and articles on mediation, restorative practice and conflict resolution.
He is a previous Chair of the Scottish Mediation Network and of Mediation UK, and has served as a Fitness to Practice Panel Member of two national Regulatory Bodies, the Scottish Social Services Council and the General Teaching Council for Scotland. He currently acts as a Lay Representative for NHS Education and as a volunteer Board member of My Kind Of Book, an organisation creating and providing resources for children and young people with sensory impairments.
Liam Gale
Liam Gale is the Centre’s overseeing manager from Sacro. Liam graduated with a degree in Criminology from Abertay University in Dundee before pursuing a career in criminal justice.
Initially working for Victim Support Scotland and the Crown Office Procurator Fiscal Service as a Project Manager for five years, before joining Sacro as a Team Manager in 2017.
Since then, Liam has progressed into Sacro’s current National Restorative Justice and Community Safety Manager, this includes strategic oversight of the organisation’s position on Restorative Justice and Mediation in the country. Furthermore, Liam operationally manages a number of Restorative and Mediation services across the country, with those services embedded within the justice, housing, education and community sectors. In addition, Liam has a deep understanding of the training requirements operationally of individuals based within organisations working within the Restorative and Mediation sector, having operated within this setting over many years.
As the overseeing manager it is Liam’s role to ensure that the centre can provide high quality and recognised training to those that are looking to be upskilled throughout Scotland and the rest of the United Kingdom.
Robert Lambden
Robert Lambden is the Coordinator for Scottish Community Mediation Centre.
After careers in management within distribution and then financial sectors, he joined Sacro in 2004, initially supervising support staff for some of Sacro’s Edinburgh criminal justice services, together with supporting what was then the Community Mediation Consultancy and Training Service, now SCMC.
Since 2017 he has delivered a variety of training both in-house and externally. He co-delivers SCMC’s mediation, restorative skills and conflict resolution courses alongside Ian. He is the chair of the SCMN Assessors group and oversees the Centre’s set up and organisation on a daily basis. As Coordinator he negotiates with commissioning organisations and develops new markets.
Lisa Drinnan
Lisa Drinnan has been an Assessor for the Scottish Community Mediation Centre since 2011, assisting in coaching and assessing candidates, both in person and more recently online.
Lisa has a post-graduate qualification in Community Education and has worked in the voluntary sector in a range of roles, both as a staff member and a volunteer, since 1993. She was employed by Sacro from November 1998 as Service Team Leader of the new East Lothian Community Mediation, responsible for recruiting and supporting staff and volunteers and the day to day running of the service, delivering all aspects of the mediation process.
Lisa left East Lothian Community Mediation in 2011 and along with a GP friend set out to turn a derelict 5-acre site in their local area into a community garden charity. With local support and a team of dedicated volunteers and corporate volunteer workgroups led by The Conservation Volunteers, a successful garden and woodland visitor attraction was created, including the first official ‘Stick Man Trail’ in Scotland. Lisa stood down from her voluntary Co-Convenor role after the pandemic and the garden is now run by staff employed by the local development trust.
