Akiko Hart Chief Executive Officer Expand Akiko Hart (she/her) is the CEO of the National Survivor User Network. She has previously worked as the Hearing Voices Project Manager at Mind in Camden and the Director of Mental Health Europe. She is a Trustee of ISPS UK, the English Hearing Voices Network and National Voices. [email protected]
Zoe Kirby General Manager Expand Before joining NSUN in 2016, Zoe (she/her) worked as a project manager for Volunteering Matters. Prior to that she worked for some time in the private sector in Reading before travelling extensively and subsequently living in Cambodia where she taught English and did other voluntary work. After returning to the UK, in 2013 Zoe set up a now award-winning mental health peer support group in her native South Wales SWADS. She is a passionate advocate of peer support and its ability to transform, and indeed save lives. Outside of work, Zoe's interests are playing tennis, hiking, cycling, travelling, photography and pub quizzes. Zoe works Monday-Wednesday and you can contact her at [email protected] or call on the office number 020 7820 8982
Jen Beardsley Finance and Administration Officer Expand Jen Beardsley (she/her), FCA, is NSUN's Finance and Administration Officer. [email protected]
Amy Wells Communications and Membership Officer Expand Originally from Grimsby, Amy (she/her) graduated from the University of Leeds with a degree in Zoology and is still based in West Yorkshire. Amy's lived experience of mental health difficulties led to her time working and volunteering in various roles relating to peer support and mental health. After graduating, she was elected as the Welfare Officer on Leeds University Union's Student Executive team, and served as a director and trustee of the charity alongside Unipol Student Homes. She worked on health and wellbeing campaigning and advocacy, particularly around mental health, drug harm reduction, and period poverty. She is part of the Welfare Team at the Nightline Association a current member of the student mental health charity Student Minds' Advisory Committee. Amy works on Mondays, Tuesdays, Thursdays and Fridays and can be contacted at [email protected]
Ruairi White Project Manager Expand Ruairi White (they/he) is the Project Manager for NSUN’s London Community Groups project, supporting user-led groups in London to connect with each other and build for the future. They live in Brighton, where they also work at Switchboard (switchboard.org.uk) facilitating the Trans, Non-Binary and Intersex Survivors Project. They have a particular interest in learning about and developing community-led responses to individual and collective trauma. Ruairi works Mondays, Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Fridays and can be contacted at [email protected]
Sidona Assefa Policy Officer Expand Sidona Assefa (she/her) is NSUN's Policy Officer, delivering NSUN's rights-based policy function and working on a 3-year project looking at the social determinants of mental health issues. Sidona works Monday-Thursday and you can contact her at [email protected]