Johanna Bernard
Co-Director of Families in Harmony, family support practitioner, professional trainer, and Trauma Informed Practitioner with over 12 years lived experience as a Kinship Carer.
Johanna is Co-Director of Families in Harmony, a leading voice campaigning for racial justice in the children’s social care sector, within kinship care. She is a family support practitioner, professional trainer, and Trauma Informed Practitioner with over 12 years lived experience of caring for her grandchildren, as a Kinship carer, following the death of her son through Knife Crime.
Johanna has worked for national organisations such as Kinship, Mind and Home Start, and has several years teaching in the community and further Education. Johanna has been a social activist for over twenty years, involved in local, regional and national campaigns and events to redress the racial imbalance and inequalities within education, health and social care.
Johanna brings the wealth of her experience, knowledge and skill together to champion the cause of addressing the up-skilling and empowerment of Kinship carers within her role as Co-founder and Director of Programmes and Family Support. Johanna is a member of the National PACE Association.
“I want to elevate the issue of trauma and its implicit legacies on the lives and lived experience of the Black community and the kinship care community.”
In the Media
-
Johanna Bernard wrote ‘Acknowledging the role of kinship care on Windrush Day’ for Children Young People Now.