AWARD WINNER 2023-24: Gloria receives an Award, as a Probation Officer in Northern Ireland for over 40 years, for her enduring professionalism; for her passionate support and encouragement of colleagues; and for the unfailing empathy, skill, and resilience she brings to all aspects of her work.
[Gloria’s Award is supported by Interventions Alliance.]

Gloria’s nomination

Gloria was nominated by: Amanda Stewart (Chief Executive, Probation Board for Northern Ireland).

Gloria is a highly respected probation officer and her career with the Probation Board for Northern Ireland (PBNI) has spanned over 40 years. Daily, Gloria goes “above and beyond” the call of duty. Throughout her career she has inspired many individuals, both staff and clients.

She is characterised by her sheer energy, passion, and commitment to enhancing the quality of life for her clients. She has been a significant contributor to shaping and influencing others, developing new skills and specialisms in a sector that is consistently adapting to change.

Gloria has worked across various functions including the prison setting, community supervision teams and more recently the Practice Performance and Research Unit (PPRU) where she is able to freely share her rich experience to support less experienced staff in the development of their practice.

Having worked for several years at the high security prison, HMP Maghaberry, Gloria, during her time there, influenced the introduction of offence focussed work with life sentenced prisoners, progressing on to complete her Advanced Award on research she had carried out with this cohort of prisoners.

Following her return to work in the community, she contributed to supporting those supervising life licensees, which is not only a challenging role but one that requires resilience, patience, and the underlying values that our clients have the capacity to grow and develop. Gloria was also pivotal in the roll out of the delivery of group work with those who committed sexual offences, working collaboratively with her colleagues in the prison psychology department.

An important part of her role which Gloria embraced was supporting prisoners serving sentences for paramilitary / terrorist offences, recognising the impact of transgenerational trauma, an area of practice that she has championed over the years. Given the nature of this work within the Northern Ireland context, Gloria recollects this was “a sensitive, complex, and challenging task, both personally and professionally’’. Gloria set the benchmark for PBNI practice in this area of work, and her contribution has also been endorsed by prison governors.

Gloria has worked collaboratively within and across agencies, fostering good working relationships with partner agencies. She was instrumental in navigating the complexities of embedding restorative practice locally. During this time, communities were rife with civil unrest and working collaboratively with Community Restorative Justice Ireland (CRJI) as a statutory partner was uncharted waters – risky for staff and the organisation.

Gloria’s resilience, tenacity, and willingness to take risks to support clients was commendable, reflecting her mindset of innovation and growth. As in all aspects of her work, Gloria embraced this in a caring, non-judgemental, and compassionate way.

Gloria’s thirst for innovation is unquenched. She maintains an up-to-date knowledge on current research, liaising with academics at a local and national level, inculcating learning into practice. Through the years she has formulated various theories as a result of keeping appraised of developments and through her own learning. Gloria uses reflection and observations to support practice development.

Her interpersonal skills and ability to lighten what can sometimes be difficult issues is unequalled. Gloria strikes a healthy balance along the care/control continuum, taking her responsibilities as a probation officer seriously, to objectively assess the likelihood of reoffending and harm and keep the community safe.

She is relentless in her commitment to engaging in person-cantered practice and through role modelling, practice teaching and strategic pursuit, and is unapologetic in her vigorous attempts to ensure colleagues, future social workers and the PBNI organisation, reflects this value base. She has a strong belief that building a relationship with a client promotes a solid foundation for future effective work and positive outcomes.

Throughout her career, her main aim has been to influence and advocate for practice and policy which puts the service user/client at the heart of all decision making. Gloria is a strong ambassador for PBNI externally and has accompanied clients to meet politicians, ensuring their views were heard to influence future service delivery. Gloria also works quietly behind the scenes navigating and networking to get the best outcome for clients.

Her tenacious compassion has enhanced the lives of service users and their families, contributing to community safety, influencing social worker’s careers and informing organisational policy.

Testimonials (from PBNI)

Gloria’s nomination included the following testimonials:

“As a young trainee social worker with a long-term goal of becoming a Probation Officer, one of my father’s colleagues arranged for me to talk with her friend, a serving Probation Officer, to gain an insight into the role. This happened to be Gloria McKenna and this inspiring conversation characterised by an absolute passion and commitment to enhancing the quality of life for Service Users, marked the beginning of my enduring professional and personal relationship with Gloria. A few years later I joined PBNI, and through what I prefer to describe as fate, Gloria was based in the team and was identified as one of my Mentors. I can state without fear of exaggeration, from that day forward, Gloria assisted in shaping and influencing my professional development. Gloria’s practice which is embedded in a value base of absolute compassion, has impacted and changed the lives of service users and their families throughout her 40-year career. She is an inspiration. I, like others, consider myself privileged to have enjoyed her influence throughout my career.”
Nicola, Area Manager

“Gloria has an unwavering commitment to PBNI and our service users and does so with professionalism, compassion and an unflinching loyalty. Her name and reputation is highly respected, not just within the PBNI setting but amongst our communities and the community and voluntary sector. She is always encouraging to less experienced staff to engage in academia. Gloria is a sound colleague. She does not “hit and miss the wall’, but she acts in the best interests of others. Her advice is solid and supportive. Equally, Gloria is good fun to be around. She enjoys the craic making the hardest of days bearable.”
Geraldine, PO

“Gloria’s passion for the job has not waivered since she first joined PBNI in 1982. I have looked up to her for my entire career … seeking advice and guidance in respect of some difficult decisions or particularly complex cases and “did the thing right.”
Natalie, PO

“Gloria is one of the first people I met in PBNI and in my opinion she just embodies the organisation. She is the most passionate individual who you will meet in PBNI in relation to our service users, our practice, and our role.”
Catherine, PO

“Gloria was the best probation officer … she helped me get sorted and helped me achieve my personal goals that I had set out to do. If she couldn’t help me, she pointed me in the right direction or gave me advice on how to do it. I was able to have contact with my children and she advocated on my behalf with social services. Gloria was brilliant, fantastic. Straight up, a very smart woman. She went to Looked After Children meetings with me to support me and speak on my behalf. She spoke to my doctor to try to get me sorted with my medication… she was brilliant!”
CS – service user

I have had the privilege of working in partnership with Gloria McKenna for 30 years. I am the manager of a Probation Approved Premises in Belfast. Clients supervised by Gloria receive an outstanding service. Gloria works through a solution based approached, assisting clients to deal with crises in their lives through listening and acknowledging their life experiences. Gloria assists the client to explore their own solutions and is very tuned into Trauma Informed Practice, when clients have used maladaptive coping mechanisms, to assist them to recognise the effect the trauma is having on their lives and encourage them to seek appropriate supports and services to deal with it. When she has a client in the unit she works in partnership with residential staff to ensure that we work in a collaborative way so that the client receives the best service possible towards the best outcome possible from Probation supervision and the residential placement.”
David Farrow, Hostel Manager

“For part of my career I was in charge of a prison residential area where all of Gloria’s clients were housed. She worked very hard on their behalf but what singled her out was her appreciation of, and respect for, the limitations necessary in a custodial setting. Her attitude ensured that she had a good working relationship with prison staff and managers at all levels. The result of this was that all were keen to help her which meant that she was consistently able to deliver the best possible outcomes for her clients.”
David Eagleson, retired NIPS Governor, HMP Maghaberry

“40+ years as a main grade Probation Officer, in Courts, Prisons and in the Community, affords Gloria McKenna the honour of being the longest serving PO currently working with PBNI. Renowned for her extensive Social Work knowledge, skills and practice, Gloria has excelled in her work with offenders and their families, pioneering work with sex offenders and life sentenced prisoners.”
Brian McCaughey, retired CEO

In conclusion

I fully support this nomination and endorse the comments in relation to Gloria’s passion to do the very best for every person that she has supervised. Gloria’s ordinary is everyone else’s extraordinary. For 42 years without exception, she has displayed a commitment not only to the supervision and support for her clients, but to the protection of and support for their families, victims, and wider society.

In recent years she has worked tirelessly to ensure that new and less experienced Probation officers have gained the wisdom of her experience and is fiercely proud of what Probation do and how we do it and for me she exemplifies public service at its very best. I am hugely grateful for the support and challenge that she gives to me as Chief Executive, for her passion for work, her empathy for her clients and an unwavering commitment to make a positive impact in changing lives for safer communities.