Mental Health and Wellbeing in Scotland Conference 

Mike is the CEO of Penumbra one of Scotland’s leading mental health NGOs, he is currently a member of the Future Pathways Scotland Redress Board, a non-executive director of Homelessness Network Scotland and previously a member of the National Suicide Prevention Leadership Group.

He is also Co-Chair of GCC in the City of Aberdeen, the only whole City ‘test of change’ currently here in Scotland into how we deliver social care interventions while moving away from time and task to an outcomes focused model of delivery.

Mike served on the National Programme Board for Housing First, with a task to roll out a national “Housing First” programme. He also chaired the Aberdeen, Aberdeenshire Housing First board for the 3 years of the national pilot. He also served as a non-executive director of the Hillcrest Group, one of Scotland’s largest RSLs for over 9 years and chaired their HMS board for four of those years.

Mike has spent over 30 years developing and delivering Health and Social Care services across Scotland for our most vulnerable adults and children affected by homelessness, addictions, and mental health challenges, he is experienced in the delivery of services which focus on harm reduction, recovery, justice, and intensive support.

Mike has spoken at national and international conferences on the impact of long term and enduring poor mental health, harm reduction, recovery, and the eradication of Hep C in our intravenous drug using community.

Mike was a member of the Eradicate Hep C board, a research programme into the eradication of Hepatitis C in the intravenous drug using community in the City of Dundee. This ground-breaking research between Dundee University, NHS Tayside and CAIR Scotland produced cure rates and health/social outcomes for those engaged in the programme not replicated at other international research sites.

Mike served on the Angus, Dundee and Perth/Kinross ADPs, City of Dundee Child Protection Committee, Fostering Panel and Dundee Health & Social Care Strategic Planning Group. He has also represented the third sector as an executive lead in various L/As over many years, contributing to several service audits, rapid improvement programmes, service redesigns, and inspection groups.

Mike also chaired the third sector representative body in Dundee, Dundee Voluntary Action for over 9 years. He also chaired the City of Dundee TSI for two of its first four years.

Jane worked in various medical specialities, including General Practice, before training as Psychiatrist in Edinburgh.  Her higher trainings were in Adult Psychotherapy and Child and Adolescent Psychiatry.  She has practised in outpatient, day patient and inpatient settings, in different regions of the country, before taking up the post of Clinical Lead for the North of Scotland MCN for Eating Disorders. She was co-founder and chair of EEATS (Eating Disorders Education and Training, Scotland), and chaired the SIGN Guideline on Eating Disorders (SIGN, 2022).

After her first ‘retirement’ she worked on a Neuropsychiatry Ward and then in Perinatal Mental Health.  She is fascinated by developmental issues throughout the lifespan.  Her latest  book is ‘Improving University Mental Health’ (CUP, 2023).  Having explored diverse areas of our speciality she remains convinced of the centrality of the General Psychiatrist and is concerned that services to people with the most severe – but treatable – mental illnesses have been eroded and neglected across the UK.  Originally a Welsh Brummie, she has lived in Scotland for decades and respects the highly devolved demands and achievements of a nation with its own Parliament, Legal system, and distinct Health and Education.

She is passionate about teaching and succession planning.  However, her agenda in the role of Chair in Scotland is ‘Workforce, workforce, workforce’.

Richmond heads the public mental health function in Public Health Scotland. He has over 27 years of experience in mental health clinical roles in NHS Scotland and public health leadership role in Public Health Scotland. He is currently leading work on suicide prevention, wider determinants of mental health and prevention, mental health surveillance and data and statistics dissemination, and leading a local improvement support team who provide analytical support to health and social care partnerships, GP clusters and community planning partnerships. Richmond strongly believes in strengthening the building blocks of health and is fully aligned with the mission to prevent disease, prolong life, and promote health and wellbeing, while collaborating within the whole system to address health inequalities in Scotland.

Liam Furby is Senior Influencing and Partnerships Manager at Place2Be in Scotland. Place2Be is a safe and creative space in schools for children to talk about their emotions and any difficulties they are facing, so mental health problems don’t grow with them. Place2Be also create opportunities for all the adults around children and young people in Scotland to learn, reflect and gain confidence in supporting children’s mental health. Liam’s role supports Place2Be to build relationships with decision-makers so their services can reach more children, families, teachers, and schools. Liam spent six years working in a variety of communications roles for a political party, before leading the development of a policy platform for care leaver charity Staf. His most recent role was Campaigns and Engagement Manager at NUS Scotland, which included leading on mental health policy and sitting on the government’s Student Mental Health and Wellbeing Working Group.

Dan Johnson is a Forensic Psychologist and the Clinical Director at Kibble Education and Care Centre . He worked as a residential care worker prior to training in forensic psychology in the Scottish prison service where he was awarded a Butler Trust Certificate Award for violence prevention. He has been Honorary Lecturer at Glasgow Caledonian University and Visiting Researcher at the Centre for Youth and Criminal Justice (CYCJ). He is a Fellow of the Churchill Memorial Trust, researching international models of trauma care. He was chair of the ACAMH Scottish branch and also leads the national Interventions for Vulnerable Youth service and SAFE mental health services. He has published widely focusing on young people’s views on improved service delivery.

Sharon has worked in Health, Safety and Wellbeing for over 20 years, focusing mainly on driver behaviour and road risk in this time. With a background in psychology and a passion for helping people, Sharon recently completed some counselling skills courses as personal development. Over recent years Sharon has supported the Occupational Health and Wellbeing team at SSE, leading the implementation and embedding of our Mental Health Strategy, including the recruitment, training, and management of almost 400 Mental Health First Aiders across the group. SSE recognised the importance of looking after their colleague’s mental health at work and created a new post, since early 2023 Sharon has been Mental Health and Wellbeing Manager.

Diana leads the Transformational Redesign Unit within Healthcare Improvement Scotland which is made up of experts in strategic planning, people-led care, housing and homelessness in health and mental health. Diana brings experience in working in complex and emergent systems of care, and has lead the development of approaches to transforming quality through bringing together QI, the Scottish Approach to Service Design and Human Learning Systems to support  user engagement, service design, ethical commissioning, and partnership approaches to planning.

Previously Diana was the senior leader for Marie Curie’s Divisional Business and Service Development across Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland and UK strategic development. Her work demonstrated her commitment to partnerships, using research and evidence, to deliver improvements in outcomes for patients and their families. Her published evaluations focused on health economics and health and inequality outcomes. Diana also worked in international development in Ukraine and Nigeria, and fundraising for the Red Cross.  She has been a Trustee for SCVO, the National Wallace Monument, and founded Chukwu Trust, providing support in Nigeria.

Relevant experience and expertise include:
Extensive senior national third sector leadership, especially within health and social care
Strong governance experience as a Trustee for national and international charities
15 years experience in designing and securing commissioning for new service models within healthcare
Masters in Economics
ILM Level 7 Diploma in Executive Coaching.
Body of academic publications on inequalities and palliative care
Certified Member of the Institute of Fundraising (MistF Cert)

Julie  has 20 years’ experience in public mental health and is committed to promoting human rights and improving the health and wellbeing of vulnerable groups who experience inequalities, stigma and discrimination.  As the Associate Director for MHF in Scotland Julie  oversees strategic development and operational delivery.

Prior to MHF Julie worked as a Research Consultant with Create Consultancy where she specialised in programme evaluation and led many public sector contracts.  She also worked within the NHS GGC Child and Youth Health Improvement team where she developed youth involvement structures for the NHS and established youth specific health services.

Julie is a member of the Royal Society of Edinburgh Young Academy of Scotland and currently sits on the RSE health inequalities advisory group. She is also a Marie Sklodowska-Curie European grant alumni where, as part of the Citizenship Recovery & Inclusive Society Partnership (CRISP), she undertook a 4-year knowledge exchange with New York University.   She continues to be involved in Scotland wide strategic developments which has included co-chair of the Scottish Governments Advisory Group on Good Body Image and the National Suicide Prevention Leadership Group.

Julie regularly represents the Foundation in the media including coverage on BBC and STV news, radio interviews, and documentaries.

Kaylie is Director of Funds at Inspiring Scotland with responsibility for the delivery of several large third sector funding programmes including the Perinatal and Infant Mental Health (PIMH) Fund and the Survivors of Childhood Abuse Support Fund for the Scottish Government’s Mental Health Directorate. Kaylie has over 20 years’ experience working with independent funders, charities and in vulnerable communities in Scotland. As a funder, Kaylie is focussed on understanding and scaling impact through evaluation and organisational development, responding and amplifying the authentic voice of people who experience poverty and disadvantage, and bringing people together as a collective to learn and share. Inspiring Scotland has a strategic focus on improving the life chances of babies, children, and young people throughout their life journey, which includes support for parents, carers, and wider family to enable them to provide the necessary and nurturing care that children and young people need to thrive. Kaylie has been leading Inspiring Scotland’s work to build on learning from the PIMH Fund, looking at how community-based settings can support wider understanding of the mental health and wellbeing needs of babies and infants, and the importance of connections and relationships for wee ones.

Scottish Recovery Network is a non-profit initiative established in 2004 to promote and support recovery in Scotland and beyond. Our mission is to bring people, services and organisations across sectors together to create a mental health system powered by lived experience which supports everyone’s recovery journey.

I am responsible for developing the national and strategic relationships needed to support our work with people, services and communities and ensuring the learning generated is shared and influences practice and policy.

Before joining Scottish Recovery Network, I was Chief Officer of a social enterprise and prior to that, worked in policy, development and grant-making roles in the public and private sectors.

Jo has been in East Ayrshire since February 2021, leading on Mental Health, Learning Disabilities and Drug and Alcohol services. Passionate about improving services for people, by people, Jo has worked in a range of posts in Scotland and England.
‘The more experienced / older I get in my career, the more I realise that its only through supporting others, and relinquishing power, while retaining accountability, that real change can happen.’
When not at work, Jo likes to walk on the beach in the beautiful Ayrshire village of West Kilbride, spend time with her 3 children, not to mention the 2 dogs, 2 cats and 4 chickens. She also dabbles a bit as an amateur and below average oil painter.

Katriona Paterson is a Clinical Nurse Manager for primary care mental health in NHS Lothian. She manages a team of mental health nurses embedded in general practice and this includes The Access Practice who provide care for those experiencing homelessness and complex needs. Katriona was previously a partner within a deep end practice in Edinburgh and her career has also included managing prison healthcare. Katriona has recently completed an MSc in mental health neuroscience and her dissertation was specifically on the relationship between adverse childhood experiences and psychosis

Mel Hogg is the Chief Officer for the Third Sector Interface (Perth & Kinross). In this role, she manages the Third Sector Hub and advocates for meaningful, purposeful, and sustainable mental health and wellbeing support. Previously, Mel was a response officer for the police, where she witnessed firsthand the impact of mental health conditions on families and communities and became aware of gaps in mental health provision and support. She then worked as a senior practitioner at Women’s Aid, providing direct support for women facing domestic abuse and violence. Inspired to address the systemic barriers to mental health and wellbeing on a larger scale, Mel took on her current role. Here, she pursues strategic-level solutions to enhance service delivery and build capacity for holistic mental health services. Mel is passionate about problem-solving and supporting others to achieve better outcomes. At home, she enjoys spending time with her family and walking her dog.

Lisa joined the SSSC in 2018, holding roles within Fitness to Practise and Regulatory Improvement before being appointed Acting Head of Education and Standards in 2022. She has 20 years of experience working in social services, initially working in social care before qualifying as a social worker. She has worked as both a frontline and senior social worker in Justice and Children and Families settings, as well as working as a trainer, lecturer and Practice Educator for social work students. Her professional experiences have provided her with a solid understanding of the high standards expected of the social work, social care and children and young people workforce, while also remaining acutely aware of the ever-increasing challenges they face through their highly skilled work. She remains passionate about ensuring the workforce have access to high quality support, supervision and training to help them remain – and thrive – in the profession.  Her main interests lie in education and training, child and adult protection, and trauma-informed and rights-based approaches to practice.