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Writer's pictureAbi Yardimci
Sep 10

Meet our newest team members



Collage of head shots showing all ten new members of the Hearts & Minds team

If you follow us on social media or are signed up to our newsletter you may have already seen that we have welcomed nine new people to the Hearts and Minds team. We’re so excited about the wealth of skills and experience that our new team members add to the mix and want to take this opportunity to introduce them properly . . .



 


Working on a freelance basis, we have recruited three individuals to a team of 'Evaluation Partners' and six people to create a team of 'Root Makers'. The idea behind both teams is that we broaden and diversify the lived experience, skills and knowledge that steers and informs Hearts and Minds’ workstreams, embedding our intention to listen deeply and respond to a breadth of voices from across our wonderful sector.

 


Title: 'Evaluation Partners'

These three brilliant people from our community bring a wealth of expertise, blended with first-hand understanding of the intricacies of the grassroots perinatal mental health community. They will work alongside our evaluation consultant to help support and influence our overall project evaluation.


The aim of the role is to co-design this phase of our evaluation work from inception to completion, focusing on the effectiveness of Hearts and Minds to deliver against its objectives and outcomes.

 


Sharon Coaker (She / Her)


Head shot of Sharon Coaker. She is a white-skinned woman with long blonde hair and is smiling

Sharon joins us in a freelance capacity, drawing on her professional and lived experience related to the sector.

Sharon lives in Hertfordshire in an all-boy household (including the dog!). Her passion for perinatal mental health support stems from her own journey to motherhood. As a mum of six; four she holds close in her heart and two keeping her busy daily, Sharon has navigated premature births, neonatal losses, stillbirth, and a termination for medical reasons, alongside caring for her living children. These lived experiences have shaped her compassionate and empathetic support for others.


In addition, she has worked with grassroots charities supporting their strategic development and growth. Opportunities that combine charity management and baby loss support mean she can add invaluable depth to the services she works with.


Sharon says . . .

“For me, being an Evaluation Partner is an opportunity to provide meaningful insights and work collaboratively as a team, to listen, develop and improve services that benefit the wider perinatal mental health community, and that’s exciting!”

 


Ang Broadbridge (She / Her)


Head shot of Ang Broadbridge. She is a white-skinned woman with shoulder-length red-blonde hair, wearing glasses and smiling

Ang is currently a VCSE Maternal Mental Health Services Project Manager with Ways to Wellness.


Ang is a mum of one and experienced postnatal depression after the birth of her daughter, which led to her setting up a peer support service for local parents and developing an interest in perinatal mental health. She has 15+ years of experience leading health and social care projects and an MSc in Social Research.


Ang says . . .


“I am thrilled to be supporting Hearts & Minds Partnership in this capacity, I am passionate about building capacity in the grassroots and developing learning that illuminates the best of our sector, reflects its diversity and builds innovative solutions in the support of expectant and new parents."


Laura Richmond (She / Her)


Head shot of Laura Richmond. She is a white-skinned woman with curly brown hair, wearing glasses and smiling

Laura joins us in a  freelance capacity, drawing on a variety of roles and lived experience related to the sector.


Like most mums, Laura is an adept multi-tasker as an author, researcher, campaigner and consultant who works to improve mental health care, especially for parents and families. Laura’s memoir, All My Wordly Joy, describes how a traumatic journey into motherhood has ultimately transformed her life for the better. She uses her lived experience of complex trauma and autism, working in partnership with a variety of organisations.


Laura says . . .

 

“I’m passionate about the power of peer support, the potential of research to make a tangible, real-world difference, and the holistic, flexible care that VCSE services provide. So the Evaluation Partner role is a dream come true for me in combining these things!”

 


Sharon, Ang and Laura join Dave Salisbury, our Lead Evaluation Consultant: 

 


Dave Salisbury (He / Him)


Head shot of Dave Salisbury. He is a white-skinned man with short, dark hair. He is wearing glasses and smiling

Dave is an evaluation consultant with Clear Impact Consulting and has worked with the Hearts and Minds Partnership since its inception. He has around 15 years' experience as a consultant or in evidence roles within charities, holds an MA in Social Research and is the co-chair of the Charities Evaluation Working Group. Outside of work, Dave is a father of two and a dedicated basketball coach.


Dave says:


"I'm excited to move into a new phase of evaluation with Hearts and Minds, which will involve working even more closely with partners from across the sector. We are always open to learning and improving along the way and that is key to the spirit of our evaluation approach."

 


 



Our six new Root Makers will support our programme of work with a particular emphasis on Equity, Diversity & Inclusion. Working in a genuinely collaborative way, we will develop a more representative, accessible and inclusive approach to our workstreams, ensuring that under-represented voices and communities are heard and held with value and respect at the core of all we do.



Aileen White (She / Her)


Head shot of Aileen White. She is a white-skinned woman with short, spiky, purple hair. She is wearing glasses and smiling

Aileen is Founding Director of My Birth Support CIC.


Aileen has been offering families perinatal mental health support for the past 11 years since overcoming Tokophobia (fear of childbirth) and becoming a parent herself. As a qualified and experienced teacher, she is passionate about helping people to develop a personalised toolkit of creative strategies to help them to flourish and thrive. She offers bespoke childbirth preparation, birth trauma recovery, parenting groups and support for experiences of loss. These are online or face-to-face in and around Canterbury. As the parent of a neurodiverse child, Aileen recognises how important it is to tailor support to meet individual needs, to offer a very warm welcome to LGBTQIA+ families and to those with English as a second language.


Aileen says . . .

 

“I take great delight in seeing parents, carers and organisation leaders find hope and inspiration in their individual uniqueness and journey. I am looking forward to bringing my fun and multisensory approach to teaching and learning to this role as a Root Maker.”

 


Alex Paterson (He / Him)


Head shot of Alex Paterson. He is a white-skinned, bald man with a short beard, wearing glasses and smiling

Alex is currently Head of Impact and Business Development at Best Beginnings.

 

Alex leads the delivery of Best Beginnings’ data, research and evaluation activities, localisation programme and new business development. He started at the organisation as Project Manager for LGBTQ+ projects, including their ‘They Call Me Dad’ initiative, creating an inclusive pathway into Baby Buddy app for LGBTQ+ parents, ensuring they have the support and confidence they need to thrive as parents.

Alex’s professional background is as an Early Years Teacher and he has spent most of his career leading Nursery and Children Centre Services. He has a post-graduate diploma from the Tavistock and Portman NHS Trust in Infant Mental Health. Alex is passionate about improving outcomes for all families and their babies. He is a proud member of the LGBTQ+ community.


Alex says . . .


“I am inspired and humbled to be a Root Maker. This work to support the VCSE and their presence within perinatal mental health is important for every family in the UK.”

 


Ameena Rahman (She / Her)


Head shot of Ameena Rahman. She is a brown-skinned woman with a pink head scarf. She is smiling

Ameena is Head of Wellbeing at Sister Circle.

 

Ameena has been advocating for community-based programmes for decades, ranging from preventative health, maternal health, perinatal mental health and end of life care. Ameena is strongly driven by the passion to serve people from all walks of life, and to instil in people that health is not a commodity for only the rich, but that we all should own the right to take care of themselves and have access to services that complement our health and wellbeing. It is the social responsibility of us all to do what we can for each other; to be generous with our skills, time and energy to prosper as a healthy community.


Ameena says . . .


“Being a Root Maker is an opportunity to collaborate and address health inequalities that have existed for decades. For me, it's being part of a collective approach, that shares a common goal and feels positive, encouraging and exciting."

 

Lauren Parr (She / Her)


Head shot of Lauren Parr. She is a brown-skinned woman with pulled back brown hair. She is smiling

Lauren is Community and Business Development Lead for Make Birth Better.

 

Lauren helps to provide birth trauma support, education and awareness to families in the perinatal period and healthcare professionals. Outside of this role she is a mum to a six-year-old boy, a yoga teacher and doula. She loves creating safe and accessible wellness spaces for individual and families.


Lauren says . . .

 

“I love that the team is made up of such diverse individuals with a broad range of professional and lived experiences and am excited to learn more from them, while helping to create safe, diverse and accessible services."

 

Manisha Sheth (She / Her)


Head shot of Manisha Sheth. She is a brown-skinned woman with a grey head scarf and she is smiling

Manisha is Co-founder of Support Me CIC.

Manisha’s background is in supporting ethnically diverse families during perinatal care and training maternity staff on cultural safety through Support Me CIC, which she co-founded in 2021. The organisation supports Muslim and Polish-speaking families, offers a doula service and support programme and trains healthcare professionals on Culturally Aligned Practice. She is also a Maternity and Neonatal Advocate, an infant loss bereavement counsellor and a co-lead for Nottingham’s Race Health Inequalities programme. She is passionate about reducing race health inequalities, especially in maternity care, and has spoken at conferences such as the Nottingham Race Health Inequalities Summit and Maternity and Midwifery Festival.


Manisha says . . .

 

“Having had lived experience of perinatal mental health challenges, I understand the importance of making support accessible to everyone. Also, as the co-founder of a not-for-profit organisation, I have experienced the challenges that come with it. I’m really excited to be joining Hearts & Minds Partnership as a Root Maker to help empower VCSEs and improve perinatal care in the UK."

 


Matt Taylor-Roberts (He / Him)


Head shot of Matt Taylor-Roberts. He is a white-skinned man with short, curly blonde hair . He is wearing glasses and smiling

Matt Taylor-Roberts is the Founder and Managing Director of Proud 2 b Parents. With his husband, Matt is a parent to their amazing son through adoption. As an independent panel member, he feels privileged to work for a regional adoption agency and a local foster agency. Matt and his Husband are also foster carers for two children in long-term placement with them. He also sits on the Department of Health and Education Adoption Reference Group and is the LGBTQ+ representative for Adoption Voice UK.

 

“It's about laying the foundations for future generations, nurturing growth, and developing a sense of belonging and community for all families. As a Root Maker, I see my role as one that not only supports but actively encourages the flourishing of diverse families. It's about creating an environment where every family, regardless of their background or structure, feels supported and valued, and authentically themselves. This role allows me to contribute to a legacy of inclusivity, empowerment, and resilience, ensuring that all families have the roots they need to thrive."

 

We’d like to wish a very warm welcome to our new team members! We’re excited to be working  closely with our Evaluation Partners and Root Makers as we collectively shape this programme and reflect the needs, aspirations and intentions of this incredible VCSE community.


 

 

To stay up-to-date with Hearts & Minds, and to engage with all that we do, you can:

 


Please also feel free to email us with any queries: hello@heartsandmindspartnership.org


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