Our trustees
The Association is led by a Board of Trustees – chief executives elected from across our membership and further afield, with an independent Chair. This means that the needs of voluntary sector organisations of every size, delivering services across the country, are represented at the highest level of the Association.
Steve Appleton
Independent Chair
Steve serves as President and Chief Executive of Global Leadership Exchange, an international non-profit organisation that connects leaders in mental health, disability and substance use. GLE creates and supports opportunities for sharing ideas, knowledge, and best practice to help spread innovation and change lives.
Prior to his role with GLE, Steve was Managing Director of a consultancy and research practice specialising in work relating to mental health, housing, disability and older age.
Steve originally trained as a social worker and has held operational and strategic management roles in local government and the NHS performance.
He is the author of a range of UK national guidance and best practice and has played a leading role in population based mental health initiatives in cities across the UK and beyond.
Steve is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts. He is a keen follower of Formula One and historic motor racing.
Sanjay Shah
Independent Trustee
Sanjay has over 20 years experience working within the charity sector and the Health service. He has recently been appointed the Director of Finance for Certitude.
Certitude is the parent organisation of two others which focus on supporting people with Learning Disabilities and Mental health needs – the Southside Partnership and Support for Living.
Prior to this, Sanjay was the Deputy Director of Finance at the MS Society for seven years. He also has extensive experience of the Health Service, having worked in various senior positions in a number of NHS bodies across London.
Professional Qualifications: BSC [Hons]; FCCA, MSC.
Mark Winstanley
Chief Executive, Rethink Mental Illness
Mark Winstanley has been Chief Executive of Rethink Mental Illness since September 2014, but has worked at the Charity for 30 years in various capacities from front-line service delivery to Director of Corporate Affairs. During his time with the Charity he has held a number of public appointments in health, education and criminal justice. These have included being a Chair of a Primary Care Trust, Vice-Chair of a Strategic Health Authority, Non-Executive Director of a mental health Trust, a member of the forerunner of NICE, member of the Specialist Training Authority of the medical royal colleges, Director of the North West Leadership Academy and a lay visitor of police stations. He is currently a Trustee of the Mental Health Providers Forum, a member of the Advisory Forum of the Education Support Partnership, a member of the CQC Death Review Expert Advisory Group and recently served as a member of the Mental Health Taskforce. He was educated at Edge Hill University, The University of Central Lancashire and studied for an MSc in HR Strategy at Liverpool John Moore’s University. By background he is a lecturer and human resources professional. He is a Chartered Fellow of the CIPD, Fellow of the RSA and member of the Chartered Institute of Management. In his free time he is a keen traveller. He is also a follower of Formula 1 and is a member of the McLaren Honda F1 team.
Julie Layton
Chief Executive, Advance UK
Julie was appointed as Chief Executive of Advance in 2015, having worked for the organisation for a number of years as Director of Resources and Deputy Chief Executive. Advance provides housing, support and employment services to thousands of people with a disability and or mental health condition across England.
Julie has also been a member of the Charityworks Board since 2012, and became interim chair in 2017. Advance was one of the founder members of Charityworks, which was set up to create a network of leading non-profit organisations committed to building capacity through collaboration - to increase the reach, quality and impact of our services and improve the lives of the people we serve.
Julie is a qualified accountant and a member of the Chartered Institute of Housing. She has extensive experience in the social housing sector. She is a strategic, visionary leader who is passionate about improving the lives of vulnerable people and believes the non-profit sector has a big part to play in delivering change. Her philosophy is to embed a collaborative and open culture within her organisation and to inspire and empower people to perform well. She acts as mentor and coach to her teams and to Charityworks graduates.
Julie is also a member of the St George’s House Leadership Fellows, whose vision is to effect change for the better in our society.
Linda Bryant
Chief Executive, Together for Mental Wellbeing
Linda was appointed Chief Executive of Together for Mental Wellbeing in May 2018.
Linda first joined the organisation 16 years ago as a frontline Forensic Mental Health Practitioner and became Director of Criminal Justice Services at Together in 2014, joining our senior management team. She has a 25 year history of working in the voluntary and community sector overall.
Linda has worked as a practitioner with people with mental health, personality disorder and complex needs since 1992 – in settings ranging from medium secure units to assertive outreach in the community.
During her time at Together, Linda has led the growth of a portfolio of criminal justice mental health services. Under her leadership, Together is now seen as an expert in the field of Liaison and Diversion and has become the leading provider of this service in the voluntary and community sector. She was recently awarded a Criminal Justice Champion Community Award (2018) by the Howard League for Penal Reform.
Linda has also pioneered Together’s Pathways models of intensive intervention approaches for people with complex and multiple needs.
As a registered Forensic Psychologist, she has also brought her skills and expertise to support the clinical governance of organisations, particularly working alongside service users with complex needs and who experience multiple disadvantage.
Jane Hughes
CEO, Mental Health Matters
Jane Hughes joined Mental Health Matters as Chief Executive in October 2019, restructuring the organisation which has subsequently doubled in size and scope. Mental Health Matters is a national charity with almost 40 years of experience in delivering innovative, life-changing mental health support for individuals and communities across England.
Jane has worked in the VCSE health and social care sector for over 25 years, in both children’s and adult services. She has played an active role in community development and as a regional representative for the sector. Through membership of various national working parties, she has contributed to the shaping of policy and services, particularly around children, young people and safeguarding.
Leadership roles in both operational delivery and business development reflect Jane’s passion for quality and innovation, with a focus on personalised care and support enabling people to realise their goals and live the life they choose. An advocate for a collaborative approach to working, Jane is a firm believer that the not-for-profit sector has a major role to play in creating change.
Jane has an MBA, is a Chartered Manager Fellow of the CMI and is an alumna of the Windsor Leadership Trust.
Quote: ‘I am passionate about the role of the VCSE sector in improving access to person-centred mental health and wellbeing support and services. I am therefore delighted to join the Board of the Association of Mental Health Providers and be a part of the incredible work it achieves and the impact delivered with and on behalf of its member organisations.’
Raymond Sheehy
CEO, Bridge Support
Raymond took over Bridge Mental Health (now Bridge Support) in 2009 as CEO. Wellbeing, recovery and community integration became founding principles for the development of the award-winning innovative services that are delivered by Bridge today.
Raymond is masters level qualified in leadership coaching and mentoring from the Institute of Leadership and Management (ILM), was the elected Lead Governor of Oxleas NHS Foundation Trust for 9 years, a Panel Member on the Monitor (NHS Improvement) Independent Advisory Panel and has chaired a Health and Wellbeing Board for a London Borough to design a whole population mental health strategy. He completed the Business Growth Programme at Cranfield University in December 2015 and has returned as a guest lecturer in social entrepreneurship. As CEO of Bridge Support the organisation has grown significantly while developing a culture where people thrive in supporting people with a mental health problem to live as independently as they can.
Quote: ‘I am excited to be part of such an important organisation doing it’s best to keep members up to date and well informed about developments in mental heath service provision while influencing and shaping policy and innovation at the highest levels of Government and across social care systems.
I am committed to getting the recognition and resources our sector needs to be able to do the things we are good at and for the system to realise that social care is an equal partner with health in the lives of everyone, including those with an ongoing mental health problem’.
Alun Thomas
Chief Executive, Adferiad
Alun Thomas is the Chief Executive of Adferiad and was appointed to this role when the charity was created in 2021 through the merger of 4 Welsh based mental health and substance use organisations. He was previously Chief Executive of Hafal, and had been with Hafal since 2001 when the organisation was the Welsh arm of the National Schizophrenia Fellowship (now Rethink Mental Illness). Adferiad is a member-led charity that campaigns for and provides services to people affected by mental ill health, drug or alcohol use, gambling harms, and other challenging circumstances. The charity aims to be a rights affirming organisation and has recently merged with Diverse Cymru to enhance its inclusivity approach.
Alun is a Registered General Nurse who has worked in the NHS, developed a neurological rehabilitation service in the private healthcare sector, and in the charity, has worked across all aspects of organisational development, campaigning, political and local engagement, HR, finance, and service delivery. While working with the charity, Alun achieved a first class LLB, a Master’s in the Ethics of Social Welfare, and is just completing his PhD in mental health and human rights law at the Hillary Rodham Clinton School of Law at Swansea University. Much of his interest in law developed from the Mental Health Bill campaigns in the early 2000s, and his involvement in the creation of the first Welsh mental health law since the 10th Century.
Alun is a founding Trustee of Mental Health UK and a Trustee of Developing a Caring Wales and is delighted to be able to contribute to the excellent work of the Association and hopefully its further development in Wales.
Philippa Mariani
Independent Trustee
Philippa brings to the Board an extensive career spanning mental health, social care, social work education and supported housing, combining deep operational expertise with strategic leadership at both local and national level.
She recently retired as Chief Executive of Think Ahead, the unique national mental health social work charity, where she advocated for investment in the mental health workforce and championed social approaches to mental health care and treatment. Prior to this, she led community-based mental health services at Mind in Croydon, Sussex Oakleaf Housing Association and Independent Lives.
Throughout her career, Philippa has focused on person-centred, community-led responses to mental health and housing, pioneering integrated models that bring together VCSE, NHS, local authority and community partners in Sussex and South London, and has contributed to service transformation and development as a former member of the South West London Mental Health Transformation Board and the West Sussex Health and Wellbeing Board. She has a particular commitment to lived experience in service design, and equity, diversity and inclusion.
Philippa sits on the Board and is a member of the Finance, Audit and Risk Committee at Sussex Housing and Care; and is a former Chair and Trustee at Sussex Nightstop, the community response to youth homelessness in Brighton and Hove.
She is currently a Head Judge for the National Lived Experience Awards Social Care Star Award.