Biography

With a background in education, Vera Waters’ diverse and fascinating career really began when she became the first teacher in a Home Office teaching establishment to insist that she be allowed time to address the problems of delinquent teenagers placed in her care. This brought about tremendous changes in the national system.

Having moved north, she was appointed as the first Voluntary Service Co-ordinator within the Health Service. This post was the beginning of an important chapter of her life working in the second largest Psychiatric Hospital in Europe, and it was during this time that she was appointed as a Government ‘Watchdog’.

She became the first non-medic with her own patient list, at the same time becoming one of the country’s 12 leading Health Service Trainers. Pioneering new and futuristic work with institutionalised patients involved preparing people within the community to accept the difficulties experienced by the mentally ill.

During this time she became Chairman of the National Association of Voluntary Help Organisers having direct contact with the Minister for Health. She believed that many patients in psychiatric hospitals were suffering from post traumatic stress disorder as a result of military service in wartime. She established the only British Legion Club for veterans within a psychiatric hospital.

Vera was the first counsellor to be appointed by a police force, providing counselling for officers suffering from stress. She also later became the consultant expert providing advice on major crime and its effects. She was affectionately nicknamed ‘Mrs Cracker’ by officers from the Greater Manchester Police Force, with whom she worked closely.

Among her remarkable achievements, Vera was the only civilian to receive a Research Grants award from the Department of Science and Technology (Home Office) in 1987.