The
staff teams and contact details |
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Stella Blair
Chief
Executive
Email: stella@afmh.org.uk
Telephone: 020 8968 2603
Stella came to ‘Advocate’ from
City and Hackney Mind where she managed and developed mental
health advocacy provision in the community, acute inpatient
and forensic settings. She was also responsible for developing
volunteering opportunities and supporting service user
involvement initiatives. She has worked in the fields of
mental health and advocacy for the past nine years having
previously worked in the private sector. |
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Mark Tame
Office
Manager/Advocate
Email: mark@afmh.org.uk
Telephone: 020 8968 2600
Mark joined ‘Advocate’ in July 2007. Mark
has worked in mental health since 1999, when he was employed
as Office Manager for a local Mind association. It was
here that he became interested in supporting people with
mental health issues and at AfMH he combines two roles,
providing administrative support to the AfMH offices in
St. Charles square, along with providing mental health
advocacy support to patients at the St. Charles hospital.
He is also responsible for providing support to the Patients’ council
meetings at the hospital. |
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Bilal
el Harras
Senior Mental Health Advocate
Special responsibilities –Arabic Speaking
Clients
Email: bilal@afmh.org.uk
Telephone: 020 8968 2612
Bilal joined ‘Advocate’ in
June 2001. He obtained his BA (English and Linguistics)
from Morocco, his MA (English/Arabic/French Translation)
from the University of Westminster and his RSA Certificate
in Counselling from Thames Valley. He has recently completed
his Certificate in Management with the Open University.
He came into mental health work by way of his interpreting
work with people from BME communities and he brings particular
language skills (French/Arabic) and cultural understanding.
“What I like is that I am able to work with people
to ensure that they are heard when decisions are made about
their treatment. I have a particular responsibility for
Arabic speakers and I enjoy the fact that I am able to discuss
issues with them in their own language and to help with
an understanding of their culture”. |
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Cordula
von der Assen
Mental Health Advocate
Email: cordula@afmh.org.uk
Telephone: 020 8968 2600
Cordula joined ‘Advocate’
in July 2004 as Patients’ Council Support Worker
and now combines two roles. She currently works as a Mental
Health Advocate providing support to service users in hospital
and the
community.
A period spent volunteering as a live-in project worker
in a hostel for homeless people reinforced her interest
in working with people with mental ill health.
Cordula is presently pursuing an Open Degree from Open
University, centring on mental health and social care studies.
“It is exciting to work with such a wide range
of people, to be able to network between voluntary and statutory
sector organisations within the two boroughs, and to create
a new project from scratch.” |
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Linda
Nemcova
Mental Health Advocate/Patients’ Council
Facilitator
Email: linda@afmh.org.uk
Telephone: 020 8968 2606
Linda joined ‘Advocate’
in May 2005 as Patients’ Council Support Worker.
She now combines two roles, supporting the Patient's Council
as a facilitator
and providing mental health advocacy support to service
users in hospital
and in the community.
Linda is presently studying towards her Psychology Degree
with the University of East London. Her course and working
with homeless people have strengthened her interest in
working in the field of mental health.
“It is worthwhile and rewarding to be able to
create confidential and non-judgemental space for vulnerable
people in hospitals and enable them to air their views and
concerns. I also like working in a supportive environment
where I have open space to develop new ideas.” |
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Bernadette
Isturis
Senior Mental Health Advocate
Email: bernadette@afmh.org.uk
Telephone: 020 8968 2604
Bernadette joined the organisation
as an advocate in July 2002. Her interest in mental health
issues developed from her work as a para-legal representing
clients at mental health review tribunals. She was the
Forum Coordinator for the Patient and Public Involvement
Forum for Central and North West London NHS Foundation
Trust from 2003 until March 2008. She now manages the hospital
advocacy provision in Westminster and Kensington & Chelsea. |
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Sadia Abdi
Mental health Advocate
Email: sadia@afmh.org.uk
Telephone: 020 8968 2611
Sadia joined ‘advocate’ in December 2006.
Sadia provides mental health advocacy support to service
users in hospital and in the community. Her interest in
mental health developed from her voluntary work for the
Somalian community, while she studied for her BSc in Human
Biology. Sadia now combines 3 roles; providing mental health
advocacy support to service users in hospital, providing
first language advocacy support to Somali service users
and as a Patients Council support worker.
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Emma Turner
Older
Persons Advocate
Email: emma@afmh.org.uk
Telephone: 020 8968 2601
Emma joined ‘Advocate’ in April 2008. She
is currently working on setting up and establishing an
Advocacy Service for Older Adults providing support to
service users in the borough of Kensington & Chelsea.
Emma has a wide range of advocacy experience in a variety
of settings. Within Mental Health Advocacy these include;
working within a medium secure unit, working with patients
in hospitals as well as in the community.
Emma studied Drama and English at Brunel University and
went on to gain her MA in Gender Studies at Middlesex.
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| Special
Responsibility Posts
In line with our equal opportunities
policies, these posts were created to promote equality
of access to our services. It was recognised that cultural
or language difficulties, life experiences, or social
discrimination may make it difficult for some people
to feel they can build a working relationship with an
advocate. Thus the special responsibility posts - if
you are Somali French Arabic speaking, you have
the option of speaking to someone who shares that background.
Obviously, this is not compulsory. You may choose whichever
available advocate you wish - the advocates all work with
people from outside their responsibility groups.
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