Our Team ⋆ Dorset Mind Mental Health

Melanie Woolrych

Active Monitor Practitioner

Melanie is one of our Active Monitoring Practitioners. She finds it rewarding supporting clients taking their first steps to improve their mental wellbeing.

Charlotte Samways

Active Monitoring Practitioner

Charlotte is one of our Active Monitoring Practitioners for Bournemouth Central. She is a real 'people person' & thrives on helping & supporting others.

Smiling man with beard and short dark hair, wearing a shirt

Scott Deakin

Active Monitoring Practitioner

Scott is one of our Active Monitoring Practitioners at Poole PCN. He's a huge advocate for getting outdoors to aid mental health and enjoys running himself.

Smiling young girl with hoop eariings and a striped top

Lauren Kennedy

Active Monitoring Practitioner

Laruen is one of our Active Monitoring Practitioners based at the Southcoast PCN - she enjoys inspiring people to make small changes in their life to improve their wellbeing.

Chandy Green

Ambassador

In his role as an Ambassador, Chandy hopes to challenge/change the way we think about mental health. So that we think people can live well with a diagnosis.

Marie-Clare Gale

Freelance Trainer

Trainer Marie-Clare Gale wants to keep the conversation about mental health going & intends to help normalise feelings and emotions that people experience.

Bethany Cleeve

Senior Mental Health Trainer and Trainee Placement Counsellor

Beth is our Senior Mental Health Trainer and also a Trainee Placement counsellor. She delivers our Training Programme including Mental Health First Aid.

Matthew Pittman

Qualified Counsellor

Qualified Placement Counsellor Matt believes talking therapies are an important practise to offer someone non-judgmental support and care when they need it.

Lucy Crescent

Trainee Placement Counsellor

Our Trainee Placement Counsellor, Lucy, looks forward to help people become more in tune with themselves & develop strategies to cope with everyday life.

Chris Rose

Qualified Freelance Counsellor

Chris is one of our experienced Freelance Counsellors. He become a counsellor to see clouds lift for people, their potential fulfilled and a reduction in daily anxiety.

Leonie Hurrell

Freelance Trainer

Leonie is one of our Freelance Trainers. A former headteacher, Leonie shares her experiences and talks about her own mental health to help reduce stigma.

David Sutherland

Freelance Trainer, Befriending Coordinator, Active Monitoring Practitioner & Group Leader

David is a Trainer, Befriending Coordinator and Active Monitoring Practitioner for Dorset Mind.He enjoys supporting people to make improvements in their mental health through coaching, discussing ways forward and guided self-help.

Liz Clough

Freelance Trainer

Liz is a Freelance Trainer for Dorset Mind Works, since January 2019. During that time she has delivered a wide range of training to our corporate clients.

Amelia Hooley

Training and Partnerships Coordinator

Amelia is Dorset Mind's Training and Partnerships Coordinator. Amelia's background has predominantly been in the sport and leisure industry. Her strengths are attracting and maintaining strong relationships alongside community development,…

Victoria Heeley

Business Support Manager

Victoria is the Business Support Manager for Dorset Mind, overseeing all the Core operations for the charity. An advocate of supporting people to their fullest potential, Victoria has practiced as…

Ty Temel

Ambassador

Ty's aim as ambassador is to inspire men who are less likely to talk about mental health, to follow his example and build their resilience through talking.

Lucy Lewis

Ambassador

Lucy represents the charity as an ambassador. A former placement student, Lucy now works as an assistant psychologist - and still finds time to write for us.

Josh Parker

CYP Practitioner

Josh is a Children & Young Persons Practitioner who is passionate about breaking the stigma of Mental Health and creating awareness to help as many young people as possible. Previously…

Helen Whittam

Board of Trustees

Helen is a qualified solicitor and mother, and has lived and worked as a solicitor in Dorset since 2007. She enjoys the great outdoors and tries to go running, swimming,…

Dan Willis

Ambassador

Dan's goal as our ambassador is to inspire other men to speak out about and live positively with their mental health. His two key strategies to help maintain his wellbeing are to regularly reflect and stay active.

Claire Sirmulis

Active Monitoring and Counselling Team Leader; Qualified Counsellor

Claire is a Team Leader for our Counselling and Active Monitoring services. Claire became involved with Dorset Mind in March 2018 in a variety of roles. These included Coordinator for…

Alan Badenhorst

Befriending Volunteer

My name is Alan and I volunteer as a Befriender for Dorset Mind - I also volunteer for some of the events and fundraisers where possible. I started volunteering because…

Chris Tshuma

Ambassador

Ambassador Chris understands the need to break the stigma surrounding mental illness and talk about it openly. He believes we can achieve much together by understanding and supporting each other.

Sarah Hopkins

Ambassador

Sarah has a passion for sport, having played indoor volleyball to national level. Her advice is to develop your own ‘mental health first aid kit’ as you would for physical injuries.

Craig Mathie

Ambassador

Bournemouth 7's MD Craig is an events geek and a passionate sportsman. Craig believes that by talking about our experiences we can make real change in our community.

Nick Rowe

Dorset Community Mental Health Alliance Project Manager

Nick is Project Manager for the emerging Dorset Community Mental Health Alliance. This is a newly forming network of non-statutory organisations who wish to work together with statutory sector organisations…

Karen Butcher

Finance Assistant

Karen is Dorset Mind's Finance Assistant and is responsible for bookkeeping, bank reconciliations and other exciting and essential tasks! Karen comes from a long background in charities and ran a…

Cathy Crammer

Active Monitor Practitioner

Cathy is one of our Active Monitoring Practitioners, who is also a qualified counsellor. She works with clients who struggle with mental health issues including anxiety & stress.

Talya Disagciyan

Active Monitor Practitioner Team Leader

Talya is our Team Leader for the Active Monitoring programme. She joined us in 2019 to help build the programme for Poole that runs in partnership with Shore Medical. The…

Craig Eldridge

Ambassador

Our ambassador Craig loves speaking to audiences about mental health - and his lived experience. Craig hopes to inspire others to reach out for professional help, or to help others find emotional support.

Andy Howe

Ambassador

Andy is passionate about fitness and knows it's his vital coping strategy should he have any down days. By speaking about his mental health, Andy hopes to inspire many people of his age.

Maddie Crawford

Ambassador

Maddie works in digital marketing and hopes her role as an ambassador will help reach a wide range of people, including workplace leaders. Being an ambassador has improved Maddie's confidence and encouraged her to be more open.

Ross Duncan

Ambassador

Ross has been an ambassador for Dorset Mind for several years. He's passionate about helping others by sharing knowledge and his lived experience to ensure support networks can be better informed.

Sharon Best

GAP Project Coordinator

Sharon is the GAP Project Coordinator. Sharon has a background in Public Health & Wellbeing. She has a unique skill set developed over the past twenty years working with various…

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Vicky

Young Ambassador

Our Young Ambassador Vicky aspires to become an educational psychologist to help those who get looked over and don’t receive the help and support they deserve. She also hopes to make a difference in the area of mental health.

Rosie

Young Ambassador

Rosie is a Dorset Mind Your Head Young Ambassador. Currently studying, Rosie understands what a large impact mental health can have on herself and those close to her. Her advice is to try a digital detox and switch off your technology.

Olivia

Young Ambassador

Young Ambassador Olivia has learnt the importance of putting her mental wellbeing as her top priority as this is will help hers to reach her goals. She hopes to eventually work in the field of neuropsychology or forensic psychology,

Lydia

Young Ambassador

Lydia became a Dorset Mind Young Ambassador to help other young people understand about mental health problems and learn ways to cope. She has seen how things can improve with the right support.

Young girl with dark hair in a cream jumper

Claudia

Young Ambassador

Claudia volunteers as a Young Ambassador for Dorset Mind for an opportunity to be involved in different ways to fundraise and increase understanding of Mental Health problems and where to get support.

Becky

Young Ambassador

Young Ambassador Becky wants to help schools to increase awareness so that the students know it’s okay to not be okay ALL the time. She hope this will help others to learn how to deal with negative life/school events.

Join our movement…

Dorset Mind is an organisation that comprises a team of enthusiastic, driven people who are passionate about removing the stigma around mental health and ensuring people have access to appropriate support in their time of need.

We are responsible to our Board of Trustees and Chair who guide the charity and set its governance, and our CEO and Management team help deliver our strategy.Our Patron, Ambassadors and army of volunteers are crucial to helping us support local people, we simply can’t do without them. To become a valued member of our charity, click the button below to view our paid vacancies,
or follow this link to find out how you could volunteer with us.

Our current vacancies

Join our movement…

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Live life mentally healthy