Sam Priestley

Sam is a qualified youth and community worker. She started her career in community development, 27 years ago, and has worked extensively in the fields of domestic abuse, women’s equality, social inclusion, homelessness, mental health and addiction services.  Sam worked for ten years in Ireland and has also worked in Eastern Europe and Central America. She joined Creative Support as a Service Director eight years ago.

Sam has spent her whole career working for not-for-profit organisations and is passionate about the sector. She takes pride in her role at Creative Support promoting good governance, strategic planning and a positive culture of risk management. She is responsible, primarily, for the quality department and reports directly to The Board on service quality and practice issues. She oversees the quality team, internal finance audit team, out of hours and duty manager service, marketing department, reception and administration at our head office in Stockport.

Sam has operational responsibility for the South Manchester Mental Health Services, Homeless Services in Halton, Learning Disability Services in Sheffield, North Lincolnshire and in North East Lincolnshire. She also supports our newly re-launched national co-production service-user hub, The Creative Together Centre, in central Manchester.

In her personal life Sam is an active mother of a young son who she says teaches her something new every day. She particularly enjoys outdoor activities such as camping and hiking. Sam is also passionate about community involvement and enjoys charity fundraising through car boot sales and fairs. She is involved in an annual community picnic promoting local diversity and community spirit.