Saskia Lightburn-Ritchie

Saskia Lightburn-Ritchie is Chief Executive of My CWA (known as Cheshire Without Abuse), a charity that has been supporting families affected by domestic abuse for almost 50 years.

With a distinguished career spanning almost 30 years in the third sector, Saskia has led MyCWA for 12 years; driving growth and transformation during her tenure.

Having experienced domestic abuse during her late teens and entered refuge accommodation along with her three children aged just 21, Saskia has made a life-long commitment to helping others across a broad range of roles spanning her entire career – from funding & development management with Bolton CVS, to project management & independent consultancy with In Our Own Words, to her current role as Chief Executive at My CWA.

Saskia's pioneering work in behaviour change has revolutionised the domestic abuse support landscape in the UK. Having introduced the Lifeline behaviour change programme in 2010 - at a time of staunch opposition against perpetrator services - Saskia spearheaded the whole family approach to domestic abuse in Cheshire; an approach now widely accepted as best practice.

A passionate and visionary leader, Saskia has driven innovation within My CWA with a focus on amplifying the voices of survivors; facilitating these voices to influence decision and policy-making and subsequently removing barriers to support.