Our Training Associates
Chris Morgan – West Kent Mind Training and Development Consultant
My background is in private sector management. I have a degree in Business Studies, and an MBA from London Business School. After experiencing an episode of severe depression in my mid-forties, I started working in mental health, initially as a volunteer with Dartford, Gravesham and Swanley Mind, then as Coordinator of the Sevenoaks Area Mental Health Awareness Group. From 2004 to 2009 I was Suicide Prevention Lead for South East England with NIMHE (National Institute for Mental Health in England, part of the NHS). Read more
I was an original member of the Mental Health First Aid (MHFA) National Training Team in 2007, when we took the Scottish MHFA course and adapted it for use in England. I was one of the two founding working Directors of the MHFA England Community Interest Company in 2009, when Poppy Jaman and I took MHFA out from the NHS and established it as an independent social enterprise. In England I have trained over 140 MHFA instructors, and I have delivered many MHFA courses to a wide range of audiences.
In January 2014 I went to Uganda with colleagues and delivered the first two MHFA courses in that country to members of the Ugandan Peoples Defence Force. I am passionate about improving mental health, and am now approved as a Standard, Armed Forces, Youth, and Lite Instructor.
I am an ASIST (Applied Suicide Intervention Skills Training) trainer, and have designed and delivered several other training courses in suicide prevention and mental health awareness, including the MHFA Lite course, which I adapted from the Sevenoaks Area MH Awareness Group course. I also teach bridge, privately and with Kent Adult Education, and give business advice. I have been closely involved with West Kent Mind since 2002, and I am currently active as a volunteer, Chair of SMART (Sevenoaks Mind Awareness Raising Team), and as Training and Development Consultant. I have a PTLLS qualification, and a current Criminal Records Check (via Kent Adult Education).
Nicole Capon – West Kent Mind Trainer and Youth MHFA Lead
I work in a variety of settings, delivering mental health and teacher training courses. I started working with hard-to-reach groups when I started teaching vocational and basic skills 15 years ago. This has enabled me to get to know and understand the difficulties individuals face on a daily basis with their physical and mental wellbeing. My teaching was with public and private sector organisations, including forensic units, young offenders’ institutions, and supported housing projects. I also managed a project for people with complex and profound learning difficulties. I then started to develop training programmes, and to train frontline staff and whole organisations on what mental health is, and how it affects us as individuals, the support we can give and the impact on business. This has enabled me to work with organisations such as Sodexo, 111 Service and Reed in Partnership. Read more
I was one of the original 10 members of the Youth Mental Health First Aid National Training Team, and I am currently the Kent Project Manager for the Knowledge and Understanding Framework (KUF) programme. This is a national programme that supports people in working with people with a diagnosis of a personality disorder, or with personality difficulties.
My experience also extends to training foster careers, and I have an understanding of their support needs, the challenges they face with their foster children, family dynamics and the support required from external agencies.
I have worked with West Kent Mind to develop a one day course – ‘Mental Health Training for Frontline Staff’. I have delivered this course 14 times in 2013/14, and feedback has been excellent.
I enjoy teaching and training, and support others in their training skills by running nationally accredited training and education qualifications for individuals via both distance learning and class-based courses. I have co-authored a teaching book and written articles for tutors.
Sarah Ambrose
As a Mental Health First Aid Instructor and Business Psychologist I’m passionate about the training we deliver to organisations, helping them in changing culture, educating staff, raising awareness and reducing stigma in the workplace.
Fionuala Bonnar
Fionuala has been delivering MHFA for over 7 years and has delivered to many different organisations and groups. She was involved in the introduction of MHFA to England as a founding member of the National Training Team, and has trained many MHFA instructors. She is now a non-executive director of MHFA England Community Interest Company. Read more
Fionuala started work in the NHS as a mental health nurse, and then managed older people’s services in East Kent. She moved into service improvement work in Kent, and then for the London Development Centre of NIMHE (National Institute for Mental Health in England) as Director of Service Improvement from 2005 to 2008. She was the North East London Sector Mental Health Lead with Commissioning Support for London from 2009 to 2011, and then switched to manage the Mental Health Payment by Results Programme in London. Fionuala’s current role is Year of Care Programme Manager for Public Health with Kent County Council.
Fionuala has a real passion for delivering MHFA across all sectors, both public and private, and views MHFA as an effective way to challenge stigma and discrimination. She strongly believes in the promotion of good mental health and wellbeing and continues to mix delivery of MHFA, and training new instructors, with her current role.
Nick Brown
I am a freelance Trainer and Consultant specialising in Suicide Prevention & Mental Health. I have been delivering ASIST (Applied Suicide Intervention Skills) Workshops since 2006 and Mental Health First Aid for the last 4 years. I have been a Trainer, Counsellor and Facilitator for over 20 years working in Private and Public Sectors. I have recently taken on a role to train and coach new trainers of ASIST. Read more
My qualifications are an Honours Degree in Business Studies from Brighton University; a 2 year Diploma in Psychodynamic Counselling; and a Teacher Training Certificate in Further Education. My background includes working for multinational companies BT and Philips Electronics as a Human Resources Professional. I worked for 10 years at Workability, a Community Mental Health project in Brighton, where I supported people in their recovery from mental ill health to access work, training & education.
In the past year I have delivered Mental Health First courses (including MHFA Lite) to organisations such as Unilever, Ernst & Young, and NHS England, and to a variety of voluntary/community groups.
Jane Cattermole
Jane is a qualified Integrative Counselling Psychotherapist with a background in Human Resources and Corporate Recruitment. She has 15 years’ experience of managing a charity which provides specialist employment services and currently runs her own Training & Consultancy. Having trained as an MHFA Instructor in 2008, Jane was one of the original 25 Instructors in England and has been committed to seeing MHFA delivered as standard in all industries.Read more
She is part of the MHFA National Training Team, an MHFA Workplace Associate Trainer and delivers all Youth and Adult programmes. She is also an ILM accredited Stress Management Society Trainer and provides bespoke training around mental health, stress, performance and communication. Outside of training, Jane provides specialist employment retention services to various organisations.
Jane is committed to reducing stigma and improving employment (and other) opportunities for people who face barriers because of mental illness.
She loves the outdoors and is often to be found stomping or cycling through rain and mud!
Yasmin Ishaq
I currently work as a service manager for the Kent and Medway Early Intervention in Psychosis Service. I am social work qualified, in 1989 with MSc in Social Work. I have a social science degree, specialising in deviancy (1982-1985). Pre-qualification experience includes working in children’s services and youth justice services. Post-qualifying I worked as a probation officer for 6 years including running a practice development unit. Read more
I started in mental health in 1996 in London Borough of Redbridge as a generic social worker and then qualified as an Approved Social worker. I worked in a newly formed crisis team before moving to Kent in 1999. In Kent I worked in an Assertive Outreach Team before moving into a senior practitioner position in 2002. In 2003 I became manager of Shepway Mental Health Team, and then manager of the Early Intervention in Psychosis Service in 2005.
I am currently training to be a psychoanalytic psychotherapist and am interested in developing the Open Dialogue approach to working with psychosis. I have been involved in a project looking at developing Youth Mental Health Services in a qualitatively different way to how it is delivered now. The service would look to work with young people from 12 to 25, covering the maturation process from childhood to adulthood. I am currently working with Penny Southern from KCC and commissioners to look at the model and how this can develop in Kent. I have presented on this in the county and South East region, and worked closely with Rethink in this area.
Lee Loveless
Lee has worked in mental health services and public health for over 15 years. During this time he has managed community projects and been the locality lead (in Portsmouth) for public mental health, suicide prevention, dementia and public health workforce development. Alongside these roles Lee has been the lead trainer in a Local Authority (and, formerly, a Primary Care Trust) for mental health and suicide prevention as well as health behaviour change, and since 2013 Making Every Contact Count (MECC). Read more
Lee qualified as a MHFA trainer in early 2008 and as a Youth MHFA trainer in 2010. During this time he has delivered to a wide range of professionals and lay people including statutory service staff across health and local authority, universities, colleges, schools, community groups & volunteers, commercial enterprises and the clergy. In 2010, Lee became a National Training Team member for MHFA England, training instructors to deliver Standard MHFA, Youth MHFA and, since 2013, the MHFA Armed Forces courses.
Lee is an external verifier for the Royal Society for Public Health (RSPH) and has contributed to the development of the RSPH Youth Health Champion programme.
Dick Moore
Former English teacher, rugby coach and, for almost twenty three years, headteacher – Dick Moore lost one of his four sons to suicide in September 2011. Barney’s death triggered a desire to learn more and Dick embarked on a Youth Mental Health First Aid Course in Bath. He found the experience so interesting, that he enrolled on the instructors’ course, qualifying in August 2012. He soon became an Associate Trainer for the Charlie Waller Memorial Trust (www.cwmt.org) and hoped to undertake occasional talks in schools as a representative of the Trust. However, since November 2012, he has visited well over seventy schools (in the UK and overseas), numerous universities, businesses and other organisations to talk to pupils, students, teachers and parents … anyone who will listen in fact! He has also delivered numerous Youth Mental Health First Aid Courses, many in schools which is where Dick feels particularly at home. Read more
He regards the Youth Mental Health First Aid course as wonderfully informative but it is the potential for stimulating discussion about a school’s specific circumstances and potential that he finds especially exciting. Some delegates are surprised that Dick can become so engaged in potentially emotional issues given the suicide of his son, but each course teaches him something new, reveals new insights and is good therapy!
Using a mixture of passion, humour and personal experience, Dick aims to inform and enthuse but above all he wishes to prod and provoke, so that pressure builds on decision makers to do more than pay lip-service to the issue by issuing sporadic platitudes. The poor mental health of young people is a hidden epidemic that is a national disgrace. We can and must do something about it!
Dick has appeared on BBC Radio 4 and Radio 5 and on several local radio stations, together with BBC TV’s Breakfast. He is fascinated by military history and is a passionate supporter of Fulham FC!
Maria Pattinson
My work as a facilitator and trainer in leadership development focuses on the intersection of communication, personal development and wellbeing. I have over twenty-five years of experience in both public and private sectors, with a diversity of clients including Lloyds Underwriters, Kone , King’s Fund and the Muslim Council of Britain. I am qualified to deliver the MHFA Standard, Lite, and Youth programmes, with recent clients including: the World Federations of Khoja Shia Ithna-Asheri Muslims, Brighton Youth Collective, Slough Public Health, Inroads Essex (private care providers), Croydon Council, Chances For Change Big Lottery project, Priory School Lewes. Read more
Drawing upon my background in theatre, my approach to training and facilitation emphasises dialogue, understanding and emotional literacy. Although I am not a mental health professional, I have lived experience of mental health issues and a considerable portfolio of delivering training in business and public sector organisations. The feedback I get is that I make courses interactive and facilitative of the learning needs of the group.
I have a Master’s Degree in Ethical Leadership from King’s College London (graduated with distinction), and specialist knowledge of social ethics in training and community development. An example of this is the development of the Wellbeing Project that I have set up in Tanzania with a Shia Muslim organization. The sixteen people who attended the MHFA Standard course in March 2014 have gone on to form a group that has short term and long term goals to provide support in the community and make sure that mental health awareness and first aid availability is linked to welfare, marriage guidance, bereavement services and crisis interventions. The group is planning a big mental health awareness-raising project for Ramadan this year and they are already making significant positive changes in a society that has considerable stigma attached to mental health issues. I was also part of the MHFA England team that went to Uganda in January 2014 to train the army there in an initiative that is designed to reduce mental health problems in soldiers serving as peace-keeping forces in Somalia.
Scott Pawsey
I am a Learning and Development Professional with over 15 years of experience working with a wide range of industries, sectors and communities including professional services, Local Government, Not for Profit, and the Armed Forces and Ex-service community. I also work for the Royal British Legion as their Learning and Development Manager, as well as being a member of MHFA National Training Team. Read more
Being a service user myself with over 15 years lived experience I have an insight and empathy with some of the challenges people experiencing poor mental health may face. This led me to becoming committed to helping others understand the truth about mental health and remove some of the common myths that surround such a sensitive and sometimes taboo subject that can prevent others from offering, seeking or receiving help. I have seen the positive effects of people learning Mental Health First Aid and the benefits it has then brought to individuals, families, employees and employers. I feel very privileged to have been able to play a part in that and continue to be a passionate committed mental health advocate.
Qualifications:
National Training Team Member – Mental Health First Aid England
Adult and Armed Forces Mental Health First Aid Instructor
ASIST – Suicide Intervention First Aid trained.
(TRiM) Trauma Risk Management Practitioner
Licensed NLP Practitioner and coach (INLPTA)
Accredited Belbin facilitator
Qualified and licensed MBTI Practitioner Step 1 and 2
Diploma Workplace Psychology.
Nicole Pickett
Nicole Pickett is an experienced Trainer/Facilitator/Mentor and Coach, specialising in Mental Health, Equality and Inclusion and Change Management.
Nicole originally trained in the Performing Arts and was lucky enough to extensively travel throughout this time. On returning to the UK she joined the Metropolitan Police and spent the best part of her career in Training and People Development. It was during this time that she developed a keen interest in Mental Health and on leaving the Police in 2008 became a Mental Health First Aid Trainer. Read more
Since leaving the Police, Nicole has worked proactively as a freelance trainer and consultant. Her MHFA clients have included:
Lewisham NHS, Brent NHS, The College of Policing (was The National Policing Improvement Agency), British Transport Police, Croydon Council, Barking and Dagenham Council, Croydon College, Surrey County Council, Carshalton College, The University of East Anglia, Islington Mind, Croydon Mind, Croydon Voluntary Action, Sutton Voluntary Action, Merton Voluntary Action, Hexagon Housing, Quo Vadis Housing, Croydon Group of Churches, Kingston’s Peoples Project, Croydon Job Centre Plus, Peckham Job Centre Plus, Shepherds Bush Job Centre Plus, Newham College, Islington College.
Qualifications include:
Degree International Relations and Communications, Masters Contemporary War and Peace Studies, Certificate In Education, qualified Equalities Trainer. Nicole has also recently spent a month working in Vietnam with orphans with mental health problems.
Clare Pointon
I am an experienced psychotherapist, trainer and writer / journalist based in Surrey. Six years ago, I wrote and delivered a mental health awareness programme aimed at non-psychologically trained employees within the Higher Education sector, a training that was rolled out across four campuses at a creative arts university and beyond. Discovering a love of training and having had very positive feedback from this, I went on to train as a MHFA instructor. Read more
I am now passionate about delivering MHFA courses and believe that I can bring a combination of my psychological knowledge from more than 17 years as an integrative psychotherapist working with a range of difficulties, including trauma and severe and enduring mental health issues together with my broadcast skills from more than 15 years as a BBC radio journalist and correspondent.
My priority is to create a safe space for colleagues to learn by sharing and interacting with each other on the course. So my style is personal and creative, one in which I bring aspects of my own experience to the material in the hope of modelling this sharing. In my professional life, I have wide experience across a range of sectors – educational – Higher Education and secondary school, health – NHS primary and secondary care, media – BBC World Service, The Guardian and Agence France Presse, as well as the corporate world and the voluntary sector.
Bronwyn Rich
My current role is Early Intervention Coordinator with Lewisham Council. Prior to this I worked as a Social Worker Assistant with Lewisham’s Family Support and Intervention Team, and then as Parent and Community Involvement Officer with the Children’s Centres. Read more
I am an experienced trainer currently delivering on health, mental health and well-being, child safeguarding and early intervention. I have management experience and over 20 years work with children, young people and families including child protection, looked after children and leaving care.
I have worked with both child and adult /parental mental health and my specialism is childhood abuse and trauma. As a manager I have dealt with mental health issues with staff, parents and volunteers and, of course, delivered MHFA to them.
I deliver to all client groups currently to agencies across the children’s workforce. Clients include NHS, LA, CVS school nurses, foster carers and many more.
Qualifications:
PTTLS/CTTLS professional training qualification
NVQ level 4 Management
Youth MHFA Instructor
Open University Diploma Health and Social Care
Working for Health (Open University K203)
Working with children, young people and families,(OU)
BA /BSC Hon Health and Social Care (Ongoing)
David Robinson
David Robinson is an experienced trainer, and has been instructing Youth MHFA courses since 2011. He also offers MHFA and MHFA Lite courses as well as NOCN accreditation, and has delivered them to a range of organisations. Read more
David works at the Private Therapy Clinic where he facilitates mindfulness sessions, carries out psychological screenings and is training to do some low intensity CBT work with clients. He has previously worked as a training facilitator for Portsmouth Hospitals NHS Trust, and has also worked with MHFA England researching the mental and emotional health difficulties of children under 12, and how best to help and support them.
David holds a PTTLS qualification and is also a Practitioner of Neuro Linguistic Programming. He has appeared on Sky New This Morning discussing travel anxiety.
David is passionate about promoting mental and emotional wellbeing and challenging stigma wherever possible.
Clive Stevenson
Clive has been facilitating MHFA courses since 2007 and was one of the first instructors to complete additional training as a Youth MHFA instructor and to deliver the 3-hour introductory MHFA Lite course. Read more
He works as a consultant to MHFA England on the development and evaluation of MHFA products and delivers a range of programmes relating to mental health & wellbeing including the OU/Nottingham University Personality Disorder Knowledge & Understanding Framework.
With over 30 years’ experience as a mental health clinician, including as Director of Nursing for a large mental health NHS Trust, Clive is also active as an executive coach and professional mentor and is an independent consultant in process, workforce and system redesign with a Motorola University 6 Sigma Green Belt to his credit and significant experience of running Lean programmes, appreciative inquiry and solution focused team interventions.
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