John is a leadership coach and independent consultant working in the health and care sector. He previously worked in the NHS running hospitals, community services and commissioning organisations, and leading a number of national programmes. He has a particular interest in partnership working; ensuring that different organisations work together to provide excellent, integrated services for the people they serve. In addition to his role with Solent Mind, John is also a Vice Chair of national Mind, and chairs their Network Committee.

“I know the impact that mental ill-health can have, from my professional life, but also from personal experience. I greatly enjoy working with colleagues in Solent Mind to help make a positive difference to people with mental health issues. I really like the way that Solent Mind uses the skills and insights of people with experience of mental ill-health to deliver services and provide practical support, and how it works with other organisations to deliver a personalised, integrated service”

Robin was born in Southampton and lived in Hampshire until leaving university. He then worked as an accountant in local government for many years within West Yorkshire, with the last two roles as Chief Accountant in Calderdale then Kirklees Councils.

After moving to Birmingham he worked in the Charity Sector including as Finance Director at Birmingham Mind.

After moving back to Hampshire, he is now using his financial skills and experience in volunteer and trustee roles across a number of charities in Winchester, Hampshire and beyond, including our social enterprise project, Mayfield Nurseries. 

Richard has over 35 years’ experience in commercial property having qualified as a Chartered Surveyor in 1982. He was a founding Director of Palmer Fry Commercial Property Consultants, leading a management buy-out of a business from Royal Insurance. He was Finance Director and Lead Director of the business, involved with the acquisition of four businesses and the eventual merger of the business with the larger Goadsby & Harding Group in 2005 where he was Director of Investments.

He has run his own commercial property consultancy, Pullen Associates for over 10 years, which specialises in providing regional consultancy and agency services to pension funds, property companies, private individuals and occupying businesses. For about 10 years until 2020, he was a trustee of Mayfield Nurseries, during which time he was Chair of the Trustees.

Haseeb is a Senior Commercial Manager currently working for NATS. He grew up in the Greater Manchester area, before studying Aerospace Engineering at Sheffield University. Since leaving university Haseeb has worked for several companies in the Aerospace & Engineering industry with a primary focus on business development and competitive tendering processes. 

He takes a keen interest in mental health issues with personal experience of the impact it can have on lives. Haseeb is pleased to be given the opportunity to support Solent Mind as a trustee and is looking forward to working with colleagues to help raise awareness and make a positive impact on people living with mental health issues. Haseeb now lives in Whiteley with his wife and 2 young children.

Emily has an array of experience across industries including Pharmaceutical, Engineering and the NHS. She is a highly practised Programme Manager and Clinical Operations professional having provided leadership to global teams within technically complex environments over the last 18 years.

She is also a change management practitioner and personal development coach with an enthusiastic energy for championing positive change within organisations and individuals.

"Currently I am leading the delivery of population health management practices within the Dorset Integrated Care System, an emerging technique for local health and care partnerships to use data to design new models of proactive care and deliver improvements in health and wellbeing which make best use of collective resources. I am enthusiastic about improving population health and wellbeing through the promotion of good health, prevention of poor health and the personalisation of care and support that is available. I am passionate about ensuring that mental wellbeing is regarded with equal importance to physical wellbeing. This passion is driven from both personal experience and from experiences of friends, family and work colleagues."

Gareth has been a Police Officer for 28 years, starting his career with Hampshire Constabulary. He has worked in various roles as a detective and witnessed the impact mental health and wellbeing has within the emergency services and criminal justice system. 15 years ago, Gareth transferred to national organisations; the National Crime Squad, Serious Organised Crime Agency and the National Crime Agency (NCA). 

Gareth is currently a Branch Commander for CEOP (Child Exploitation and Online Protection). CEOP is the UK's lead organisation dedicated to tackling child sexual abuse and exploitation. Gareth has always been a strong advocate for the awareness of mental health and is honoured to support Solent Mind.

Sarah is a passionate HR professional with a broad wealth of knowledge and experience at operational and strategic level across diverse and complex organisations including SMEs, head offices, the private/public sector and not for profit. Prior to working in HR, she was a successful Manager within a large global financial services organisation.

Sarah recognises the huge impact mental health issues can have on individuals in day-to-day life, including the workplace. These issues are sometimes misunderstood and difficult to talk about, which can lead to problems at work.

As such, she is passionate in ensuring businesses recognise the importance of including employee wellbeing in an effective people strategy, encouraging businesses to build an awareness and understanding of mental health and offering appropriate support and interventions.

Christine has successfully delivered change to improve patient care across different parts of the health service over the past 25 years either as an employee or through her management consultancy business. This has included supporting charities and mental health trusts. Christine’s early career was in statistical analysis and research and she has maintained strong numerical skills. This extensive experience in health services and analytical skill set are two key areas of expertise that Christine brings to the group of Trustees.

Outside of work gardening is a favourite hobby. Christine says “I was treated for a short period of depression at the age of 17. I later had post-natal depression that was undiagnosed for two years and then it seemed to take forever to find medication that worked and had side effects I could live with. I have taken anti-depressants since then: managing the dose alongside my work and life commitments to avoid depressive episodes – as far as possible. It is important to me to be able to support other people who also have mental health conditions, issues and challenges. Being a Trustee is one way. Being kind, non-judgmental and listening are ways that everyone can offer”

Denise has worked in local government for over 30 years, mostly in supporting economic development. She has been involved in many major regeneration projects and exciting new developments. In her current role, as Group Head of Economy at Arun District Council, she is responsible for business, town centre & tourism support, development implementation of major regeneration projects, securing external funding and maintaining strategic partnerships.

She has led on the delivery of publicly funded employment programmes to help those facing the greatest barriers to work. She is aware of how important employment is to maintaining self-esteem and good mental health. Due to close family caring responsibilities, Denise also has an extensive understanding of the mental health system and the availability of appropriate care. It is this personal lived experience that has prompted Denise to join Solent Mind and to support them to provide ever better services to the community.

Lucy is a chartered surveyor and spent the first half of her career working on planning and development projects throughout the UK, initially for commercial and local authority clients and later for the Ministry of Defence. She then spent 16 years working in boarding schools, which were also charities, where she managed the finances and a wide range of estate and infrastructure projects as well as leading support services and commercial operations. Having led large teams, Lucy understands the importance of employee wellbeing, believing a supportive culture is vital to an organisation’s success. She is delighted to be able to use her skills and experience to support Solent Mind

Simon is Chief Operating Officer at Truu, a digital health start-up; and founded Cynapse, a boutique business consultancy advising in business strategy and innovation across SMEs and multinationals. He is also a Non-Executive Director at an NHS GP Federation in Surrey.

He grew up in the Solent region and returned to the area just over ten years ago. Since returning he has been involved with several charities and fundraising activities and coaching youth rugby at a local rugby club.

Simon has personal experience of how important mental health is and its impact on the lives of individuals and their loved ones. He is excited to help raise awareness of the importance of mental health across the region.

Born and educated in Hampshire, Simon is the head of communications at a national youth charity. He holds a degree in media writing and journalism from Southampton Solent University and is currently studying to become a qualified journalist with the NCTJ.

Simon has lived experience of mental health issues and is passionate about enabling others navigate through difficult times.

Simon is a volunteer for humanitarian aid charity ShelterBox and is also a trainee mountain leader. He is passionate about social equality, youth empowerment, fitness and the great outdoors.