Norman Blissett (Chair)

Haydn Gott (Vice Chair)
Michael Craven
Sarah Hosken
Ahilan Nithiananthan
Patrick Walsh
John Wilkes

Norman Blissett (Chair)

Norman joined the Board of Bridge at the end of 2009 and was elected as Chair from April 2012. He is currently the Director of Human Resources and Organisation Development at Family Action, the UK’s largest family charity, which provides a range of services throughout England for families with complex needs . Prior to this he spent a number of years in senior HR positions in the NHS and as an Industrial Relations Officer for the British Medical Association. He hopes to bring this experience of the public and third sectors to help the managers and staff at Bridge provide excellent care for service users and the local community.

Norman is a Chartered Fellow of the CIPD, a member of the Institute of Directors, has a degree in chemistry as well as a degree and masters in law. He lives in Kent with his wife and son.

Haydn Gott (Vice Chair)

Haydn joined the board of trustees in May 2011 after 19 years as a district judge. In practice as a solicitor he represented detained mental patients at tribunals starting in the late 1970s when he established a close working relationship with Mind. He continues to sit as a judge, part-time, in the mental health tribunal. He has a particular interest in diverting mentally disordered offenders from prison in to treatment in hospital or in the community.

He hopes that his long experience of working for, and with people with mental health issues and his experience as a lawyer will be of benefit to the managers and staff of Bridge and to the other trustees.

Michael Craven

Michael Craven has spent the majority of his career in the arts and cultural sector. He was Director of Arts for the South East Region of the Arts Council and their first Director of Organisational Development. Since 2006 he has concentrated on change leadership, as an Interim CEO taking organisations through transformational change and as a consultant developing knowledge sharing and collaboration projects working in the arts and charity sectors.

In his spare time he is on a journey to engage with new music, arts, people and places. He lives in London and Brighton.

Sarah Hosken

Sarah’s connection with Bridge was first established in 1985 when she worked as a volunteer at the Tuesday Club, a drop-in managed by Bridge that is held at Greenwich Mind.

Sarah currently works as Crisis Counselling Co-ordinator at Greenwich Mind and runs a private practise in Greenwich. Sarah worked for ten years in the music business prior to qualifying as a Counselling Psychologist and Chartered Psychologist at the University of East London. Sarah holds a BSc in Counselling & Psychology, a MSc in Counselling Psychology and a MSc in Advanced Counselling Psychology. Sarah sat on the advisory board of the Islamic Counselling Course at the Markfield Institute of Higher Education.

Sarah aims to contribute her commitment to working with people with a variety of mental health issues on their unique care pathway. This commitment is undergirded by a strong belief in the concept of recovery and interest in how best Bridge can facilitate, sustain and measure the process of recovery in individuals.

Ahilan Nithiananthan

Dr Ahilan Nithiananthan was invited on to the board of Bridge to compliment the team with his experience in senior management from the pharmaceutical industry & achieving performance turn around in the UK care sector; improving standards & implementing new initiatives. His career spans over 23 years since qualifying as a pharmacist. He has been employed in the pharmaceutical industry holding positions such as Director of Pharmaceutical Sciences & Director of Operations. He is currently the Managing Director of a European Pharmaceutical Consultancy that advises on the development & approval of medicines, devices & biologics worldwide.

Ahilan is also involved in nursing & residential care home management under the inspection & regulation of the Commission for Social Care & Inspection (CSCI). CSCI & independent Council audits have rated the quality of services provided in all areas under his management as “good.

Patrick Walsh

Patrick joined our Board of Trustees in September 2009. He has over 20 years experience working in the statutory and voluntary sectors developing and managing services for vulnerable people. He is a Chartered member of the CIPD.

Patrick currently works as HR Business Partner for the British Heart Foundation (www.bhf.org.uk), the nation's health charity. He is also a local authority appointed school governor in Wandsworth.

John Wilkes

John ended a 29 year Civil Service career at the Department of Health in September 2001 where he had a variety of experiences in the problems of leading, managing & developing people in a way that brings out the best in them. Since 1992 John worked for the Permanent Secretary & management team, on a variety of corporate projects, often facilitating a process rather than telling people what to do.

John now coaches senior managers in the public sector, including Health & Social Care Service deliverers & related Agencies & Commissions, also provides consultancy to them and their teams

Since November 2006 he has served as a Governor of the Tavistock & Portman NHS Foundation Trust

Memberships and Associations
Tavistock Society of Psychotherapists and Allied ProfessionsOPUS (Organisation for Promoting an Understanding of Society)Association for Management Education and Development (AMED) – Secretary of the Council of TrusteesCo-ordinate bimonthly meetings of an Alumni Group for graduates of Tavistock Consultancy Masters Programme.
 
 

Registered Charity no. (England) 802227. Company Registration no: 2162224
Registered office: Deepdene House, First Floor, 30b Bellegrove Road, Welling, Kent DA16 3PY
Please note that some photography used was posed by models