Alisdair Cameron has variously been an academic historian, a lawyer and a user of mental health services, in between stretches of generalised community activism. His day job is as team leader at Launchpad, the mental health service user involvement project for Newcastle upon Tyne, and he is also co-chair of the Northumberland, Tyne and Wear Service User & Carer network, and has been a leading light in the establishment of a North East region-wide MH user and carer body, NEt. He is also Chair of Newcastle and Gateshead Arts Studio (NAGAS), Vice-Chair of MHNE, a Governor of the NTW NHS Foundation Trust, and a board member of NSUN, the National Survivor User Network for mental health. In spare moments he shuffles all of the letters from the aforementioned acronyms and sees what they can spell out.