Mark Kilsby

It is with great sadness that we heard that Mark Kilsby passed away this morning. We send our love and hugs to his partner, Julie Allan, who was with him when he died peacefully in a hospice in Cardiff. Mark had been ill for a few weeks and had spent some time in hospital.

Mark was a BASE Associate and a keen friend of the association since it was founded. He was recognised as the pre-eminent TSI trainer in the UK and was a champion of Supported Employment for many decades. He was a regular attender and presenter at our annual conferences and will be greatly missed by the hundreds of people who were influenced by his passion, principles and commitment.

Since 1990 Mark spent 17 years conducting practical academic level research with Cardiff University's Welsh Centre for Learning Disabilities, focusing on Supported Employment as a Senior Research Fellow. His research included the first ever UK survey of Supported Employment and then the establishment of one of the first Supported Employment agencies in the UK. Mark was the main contributor in developing learning materials and curricula for a number of Supported Employment courses (both online and classroom based) at Certificate, Diploma, Post Graduate and Masters level, which he also taught and assessed at all levels. He spent the last 13 years working alongside Supported Employment providers as an evaluator, trainer and consultant.

Mark delivered TSI training since he first began researching it in 1990. He delivered courses with his colleague Steve Beyer initially, then later with Alan Morgan, before delivering the course with Julie. We believe that they have probably delivered more TSI workshops than anyone else in the world.

Our thoughts are with Jules and Mark's many close friends at this terribly sad time.