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  1. About us
  2. Our team
  3. Staff

Staff

NSUN is a small organisation, made up of one full-time and five part-time staff members.

The team works remotely from across the country.

The core team works closely with our Associates.

Akiko Hart

Chief Executive Officer

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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]

Published: 30th August, 2017

Updated: 14th December, 2020

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Zoe Kirby

General Manager

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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

Published: 26th March, 2018

Updated: 15th January, 2021

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Jen Beardsley

Finance and Administration Officer

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Jen Beardsley (she/her), FCA, is NSUN's Finance and Administration Officer.

[email protected]

Published: 1st May, 2020

Updated: 4th November, 2020

Author: Zoe Kirby

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Amy Wells

Communications and Membership Officer

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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]

Published: 23rd July, 2020

Updated: 15th January, 2021

Author: Zoe Kirby

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Ruairi White

Project Manager

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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] 

Published: 3rd November, 2020

Updated: 15th January, 2021

Author: Amy Wells

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Sidona Assefa

Policy Officer

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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]

Published: 10th December, 2020

Updated: 15th January, 2021

Author: Amy Wells

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Showing 10 of 6

Latest

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    SRN Discussion and Support Group for Survivor Researchers

    Second Survivor Researcher Network Discussion and Support Group announced - 17.00-18.30, Thursday 11th February

  • NSUN initial response to the Mental Health Act White Paper 2021

    NSUN initial response to the Mental Health Act White Paper 2021

    "Real change in how people experience detention is not just down to legislation, but will also be contingent on changes in practice and culture, and on the funding which follows." - Akiko Hart, NSUN CEO

  • Still breathing. Not dead.

    Still breathing. Not dead.

    Blog by Alice Smith, founder of NSUN member 361 Life Support. "We believe in emotional evolution - for ourselves and for society as a whole. To see beyond. Was this ever needed more than now?"

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  • Jobs and involvement opportunities

    Jobs and involvement opportunities

    Please bookmark this page as we will share employment offers and involvement opportunities here as soon as they arise.

  • 4Pi National Involvement Standards

    4Pi National Involvement Standards

    Developed by people with lived experience as part of the National Involvement Partnership (NIP) project, the 4Pi National Standards ensure effective co-production, thus improving experiences of services and support.

  • Global Ministerial Mental Health Summit - Open Letters

    Global Ministerial Mental Health Summit - Open Letters

    The UK government is hosting a Global Ministerial Mental Health Summit in London on the 9th and 10th of October, 2018. The Summit aims to “build momentum on global mental health issues such as early intervention, public health, research, tackling stigma, and promoting access to evidence-based services.”. Read the Open Letters to the Organisers, Partners and Delegates of the Global Ministerial Mental Health Summit, London

  • BME mental health service users launch manifesto

    BME mental health service users launch manifesto

    The Kindred Minds BME mental health service user led manifesto is a unique resource, has been written by BME mental health service users and has a comprehensive vision for the policy and practice changes needed to improve the mental well-being of BME mental health service users.

  • History

    History

    About the National Survivor User Network (NSUN) and the wider service user survivor movement. What we have achieved.

  • Join as a member or supporter

    Join as a member or supporter

    We are a user-led network of over 5000 individual and group members or supporters. We aim to connect, inform, influence, and improve the experiences of people who need services and support when in distress.

  • Survivor Researcher Network launch manifesto

    Survivor Researcher Network launch manifesto

    Written by the Survivor Researcher Working Group, the SRN manifesto sets out the background and context to survivor and service user research and SRN's aims and values as a network

  • Alternatives to detention/sectioning under the Mental Health Act 1983. Can you help with suggestions?

    Alternatives to detention/sectioning under the Mental Health Act 1983. Can you help with suggestions?

    As part of her work for the Independent Review of the Mental Health Act, Dorothy Gould is trying to collect as many examples as possible of alternatives to detention/sectioning.

  • Our vision

    Our vision

    Our vision is for the lives of people who experience mental distress, discrimination and disadvantage to be better

  • The Principles of Peer Support Charter

    The Principles of Peer Support Charter

    A collaboration between statutory and voluntary sector organisations has facilitated the production of a peer led and produced Principles of Peer Support Charter.

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© 2020 The National Survivor User Network (NSUN) is a registered charity in England (no.1135980) and a registered company limited by guarantee (no.07166851). NSUN, Kemp House, 152-160 City Road, London EC1V 2NX