Local Mental Health Charity Announce Appointment of Four New Trustees to its Board
Local mental health charity, Norfolk and Waveney Mind, are delighted to announce the appointment of four new Trustees. James Ingham, Duncan Double, Namita Matkar and Jules Steed have all joined Norfolk and Waveney Mind’s Board of Trustees.
Norfolk and Waveney Mind is governed by a Board of Trustees who volunteer their time and together support the staff to implement the charity’s vision and strategy which focuses on community wellbeing, crisis resolution and preventative practices.
Commenting on how these new trustees will strengthen the charity’s already established Board, Louise Jordan-Hall, Chair of the Board of Trustees at Norfolk and Waveney Mind, said: “I am delighted to welcome James, Duncan, Namita and Jules as trustees and I look forward to working closely with them.
“Our newly appointed trustees have backgrounds spanning a range of sectors and their expertise and enthusiasm will greatly benefit the charity as we continue to enhance our service offering and grow our network to reach and support more people in their local communities.
“Norfolk and Waveney Mind has become one of the largest local Mind organisations in England and Wales and probably the largest mental health charity in Norfolk and Waveney, so this is a really exciting time to be joining the charity.”
Norfolk and Waveney Mind welcomes the following new appointments:
James currently works as a Community Liaison Manager at a regional telecoms company, engaging with political and community organisations across Norfolk and Cambridgeshire.
A Loughborough University graduate, starting his career at a Premier League Football Club progressing onto a Partnerships Manager role before joining a Sports Marketing Agency based in Norfolk working across multiple sports and with national and international brands.
He moved into a new industry in 2018, challenging himself in the communications and technology sector by working with a global Satcomms company. During this time James led and championed Mental Health in the business, including the introduction of the first Mental Health First Aiders course that was oversubscribed by staff.
Away from work, James is a big sports fan - both participating and spectating, as well as a keen runner, either outdoors or after his young child while spending time with his family! Like other trustees he is also a keen Norwich City supporter
.
Duncan is a retired consultant psychiatrist and remains a member at Norfolk & Suffolk NHS Foundation Trust where he used to work. He was a founding member of the Critical Psychiatry Network and has tried to promote a more relational approach for psychiatric practice. His Relational Psychiatry blog is available, click here to read.
Duncan is keen to help develop Norfolk and Waveney Mind as a non-medical provider of mental health services in the area. He has also recently returned to work as a Bank Mental Health Act Reviewer for the CQC. In retirement, he enjoys the opportunity to have more time for family, playing bridge and watching cricket.
.
Namita is a solicitor, specialising in commercial property law. She is from Norfolk and trained at Mills & Reeve LLP in Norwich in 2012. In 2019, Namita moved to Flagship Group, a not-for-profit social housing provider, where she currently works as Head of Commercial Property within the legal team. Namita has also trained as a coach and a mentor and provides support to others in these capacities. Namita also really enjoys teaching and has had a couple of roles in higher education as a law tutor which she does alongside her work as a lawyer.
She’s extremely passionate about the valuable work which Norfolk & Waveney Mind do, and feels her values align with those of the charity. Namita’s keen to provide support to Norfolk and Waveney Mind to enable it to continue to provide effective support to others.
.
Originally from the Great West Midlands, Jules has lived in Norfolk for the last 30 odd years and is now close to being naturalised. After a brief foray in IT with Marks and Spencer and Norwich Union after university, Jules re-qualified as a solicitor and has been with Mills & Reeve, based primarily in Norwich, ever since. Although an experienced litigation specialist, Jules is usually more keen on finding a way out of or around a problem than taking it to the Court of Appeal, where he has appeared on several occasions acting for a wide variety of landowners in connection with their property related disputes.
In what seems to be increasingly limited spare time Jules dabbles in amateur dramatics and is also an active musician and poet, all of which leaves a vanishingly small amount of time for road cycling and other forms of exercise. Jules' first contact with Mind was fundraising (cycling the Tour de Broads) after the loss of a friend to suicide and he has maintained a close interest in the work of the charity ever since then. Jules is passionate about the need both to reduce the remaining stigma around mental health and to enable positive action to combat its effects on both sufferers and their loved ones.
.