people
Our team
Sandy Weinbaum
Founder & Director
Sandy, together with her husband Dr Bunim Weinbaum, founded the Jewish Family Centre in 2000 as a culturally appropriate place for Jewish families to meet and thrive. It quickly became obvious that there were gaps in the provision available for the most vulnerable in the community, and the Centre stepped in to fill this gap. The mother of a large family with a great deal of life experience, Sandy is the Centre’s Volunteer Director. A qualified teacher, she has based her life around the principles of ‘Ahavas Yisroel’ (love for one’s fellow Jew) and over the years has worked to expand the Jewish Family Centre’s team of professionals to ensure the continued and developing provision of strong support for the community.
Tamara Jacobson
CEO
Tamara Jacobson is an experienced operations and organisational leader with over 20 years’ experience across the charity, community and commercial sectors. She has held senior leadership roles at Noa Girls and the United Synagogue, where she led operations, people, strategy, and large-scale community programmes. Passionate about building strong teams and creating meaningful impact, Tamara brings a strategic approach combined with a practical understanding of the Jewish community. She is passionate about strengthening communities, developing people and ensuring families receive the support they need to thrive.
Miriam Coleman
Family Support Consultant
Miriam has over 20 years’ experience supporting children and families in both statutory and voluntary settings. She is particularly skilled in working with the culturally specific needs of the Orthodox and wider Jewish community. Miriam has expertise in providing supervision and consultancy for Local Authority social work services. At the Jewish Family Centre, Miriam manages all of our Family Support and Therapeutic services.
Jo Raingold
Psychotherapist and social worker
Jo is a Psychotherapist working with children and families. For over 20 years, Jo has been employed in school, statutory and voluntary settings. She works therapeutically with children of all ages and enjoys working with parents to facilitate improvements in their relationships with their children. Jo is currently the Children’s Therapist at the Jewish Family Centre.
Hannah Salomon
Legal advocate
Hannah is a qualified mediator and legal advocate, known for her child-focused approach and the ability to use her skills in dispute resolution to arbitrate some of the most complicated cases. Outside of Family law, Hannah has more recently completed her training in Education and Care law and works to ensure fair provision for children and young people. Hannah sits on the Safeguarding Board of her Local Authority and has recently undertaken a research project for the North-West Framework on how to improve the Attainment Grades of ‘looked after’ children. Outside of work, Hannah is a mum and foster carer and enjoys outdoor pursuits as well as reading.
Natascha Lieberman
Social Worker and Head of Contact Services
Natascha is a highly experienced social worker, having been supporting children, young people and families for 20 years. She spent 13 years as a frontline local authority social worker across Children’s Disability, Child in Need, Child Protection and Looked After Children teams, developing extensive expertise in safeguarding, risk assessment and the court arena.
Alongside her leadership role, Natascha is a recognised Independent Social Worker and Expert Witness, undertaking comprehensive assessments for the Family Courts. Her evidence-based recommendations help inform robust, child-centred permanence plans, always placing the child’s best interests at the heart of every decision.
Known for her warmth, compassion and ability to build trusting relationships, Natascha is passionate about helping children maintain safe and meaningful family connections wherever possible. She combines professional rigour with genuine empathy, ensuring families feel heard, supported and respected through even the most challenging circumstances. Her work is underpinned by the belief that every child deserves the opportunity to thrive, and every family deserves to be treated with dignity, understanding and hope.
Nikki Glantz
Family Support Worker
Nikki is a Qualified Social Worker with over 20 years experience. She has worked with children with a diversity of needs in a variety of settings; including working with parents as carers; and Holocaust Survivors and their children and grandchildren. After a break from Social work to concentrate on her family, Nikki returned to take up the position of Family Support Worker at the Jewish Family Centre. She is concurrently training in Systemic Family Psychotherapy.
Megan Denby
Family Support Worker
Megan has over 15 years of experience supporting children, young people, and families across schools, children’s centres, and local authority services. A qualified teacher, she has held pastoral and leadership roles, including managing a local authority children’s centre and family support team. She believes that strong, trusting relationships are the foundation of positive change and, in her role as a Family Support Worker at the Jewish Family Centre, enjoys working alongside families to build on their strengths and achieve the outcomes that matter most to them.
Tamara Sireling Raymond
Administrator
Tamara’s bio coming soon…
Our trustees
Dr Bunim Weinbaum
Chair of Trustees
Dr Weinbaum recently retired after a 47-year career in general Dental Practice. During those years, he has always been actively involved in youth and community activities, with a special focus on Chabad outreach work. Together with Tova Mordechai, he produced the Lamdeni Hebrew reader and continues to teach adults and children Hebrew reading via Zoom, all over the world.
Annette Kurer
Trustee
Annette is a global leadership consultant and motivational speaker who qualified as a dentist, before managing multi-million pound businesses in the corporate world. Annette is passionate about empowering people to communicate effectively, manage relationships collaboratively and help people be who they want to be. Annette is also the Chair of ORT UK, a charity which impacts lives through education.
Stephen Lever
Trustee
Stephen is now semi-retired having started a number of fashion brands over the last 35 years. He believes passionately in the work being done by the Family Centre in relation to dealing with any crisis in the community. He looks forward to seeing the team growing in order to meet all demands going forward.
Alexi Kelaty
Trustee
Alexi is a solicitor who specialises in public law with a deep sense of empathy and enthusiasm. She has a passion for advocating for vulnerable families, supporting them throughout their legal proceedings as well as helping her clients to use see the opportunity to create positive change and growth. Her commitment energy and warmth she hopes will aid her to make a meaningful difference in the lives of those in need. Outside of work, Alexi is a proud mother of four, enjoys a lively family life, and is always up for a bit of fun and adventure!
Simon Appleman
Trustee
Simon Appleman has been a teacher for almost 30 years, over half of which have been in senior leadership. He is currently on the senior leadership team of a secondary school in Stanmore. He is a strong supporter of the multi-faceted work of the JFC and follows in the footsteps of his father, Stuart, who was a trustee and long-term advisor to the JFC.
Judi Bauernfreund
Trustee
Judi is a psychotherapist with experience working across a range of organisations, supporting people with care, compassion and a strong commitment to wellbeing. Throughout her career, she has developed extensive experience working with people from diverse backgrounds, helping them navigate challenges and build resilience.
She is passionate about supporting the Centre’s work in strengthening families, empowering individuals, and fostering a welcoming, inclusive community. She is committed to helping ensure the Centre continues to thrive and make a positive difference in the lives of those it serves.