Meet the new cohort of researchers shaping mental health for all

Sandev Panaser 

With over a decade of experience in wellbeing, disability, and inclusion services across higher education, the NHS, and the charity sector, I specialise in designing and leading non-clinical, early intervention mental health services. 

In my current mental health work, I design, implement, lead, and evaluate non-clinical, early intervention services within higher education. I oversee the University Peer Support Service, which supports students taking a break from their studies due to mental health challenges. 

Holding a BSc in Psychology from the University of Warwick and an MSc in Occupational Psychology, I apply co-produced approaches to create inclusive, student-focused support. 

Charlotte Crowl 

I am a peer support worker, author, and public speaker with lived experience of cancer where the treatment led too steroid-induced psychosis and brain injury. I founded a holistic lifestyle advisory company and wrote Cancer: The Hidden Truth (2016).

I have spoken at Parliament, hospitals, prisons, and radio shows on self-awareness and mental resilience. I contribute to the Black and Asian Peer Support Network and co-created a compassion-based workshop with ‘With You.’

As a Project Lead for The Leanne Pero Foundation, I support women of colour through cancer. My insights helped shape KCL’s EMBody mindset tool and the Enrichment peer support research on mental health in black and brown communities. 
  

TJ Richards 

I am a Lived Experience Lead ensuring co-production is the norm in my NHS Trust. I have worked in the homelessness sector with charities and councils in London and Manchester. I developed a keen interest in mental health through my career so recently moved to work in the NHS in Northamptonshire. 
 
I have my own lived experience of rough-sleeping and mental health challenges, which has been the primary motivator in my work as I don't wish for anyone to have the same experiences as me. I also know people can make a positive change in their lives because I have done so. 
 
I have been involved in research projects but have never led them. From what I have seen research can be very influential in creating positive change in people's lives. I am therefore very excited for the year ahead with MHALL. 

Labiba Rashid 

I am currently working in Talking Therapies as a Senior Psychological Practitioner. My current role consists of both patient-facing elements as well as managerial. I am the BAME Lead in the service and take part in projects that involve increasing access to mental health services for people from minority ethnic backgrounds. Previous experiences consist of work as an assistant psychologist, research assistant and social prescriber.   

Fiona Emmerson 

A late-diagnosed autistic, passionate about research and supporting people currently struggling with an eating disorder. I work as a Peer Support Worker in Adult Eating Disorder Services, using my personal lived experience of an eating disorder to come alongside, support and provide hope for those currently struggling.

I have a particular focus on the intersection between autism and eating disorders and connecting with people through what is important to them, building relationships and supporting people to work towards their own personal goals through the lens of recovery. 

Emma Flint 

I am Peer Lead at Devon Partnership NHS Trust and have a 30-year career in public- and third-sector service, with a focus on lived experience involvement in service delivery since 2012. In this time I've worked at all levels from voluntary support worker to service manager, and also used services myself.

As a late-diagnosed autistic adult and a 5-year student of somatic psychology, I'm developing a research proposal that examines whether somatic education can be used at scale in the late-diagnosed autistic adult population, where waiting lists are long and few tailored interventions exist. 

Tamara Batchelor 

I currently work as the mental lead for a mental health and wellbeing charity in Essex. Previously I have worked as an assistant psychologist in community mental health.

I have also worked in the Memory Service for several years, both in an inpatient hospital and in the community mental health team. Completed my Bsc in psychology and my research masters MSD in Psychology.  

Angela Kinn 

I have lived my own recovery for 18 years and worked in peer roles for 12. I worked in a Recovery College for 12 years in a variety of roles and now, following a career break, I am working with The McPin Foundation as a trainee researcher.

I have bipolar disorder and complex trauma, neither of which define me but they have had a profoundly destructive impact on my life until I began to work out how to turn things around.

I am most definitely a survivor both of the devastating impact of severe mental health difficulties and systemic malpractice in mental health services. I have always believed that people who use mental health services should be leading and co-leading research even before I discovered The Survivor Movement or Co-Production. 

Zachary Howarth 

I’ve been a Patient and Public Involvement consultant for 13 years, drawing on personal experience of brain damage, epilepsy, psychosis and service use. I’ve been fascinated by the mind and brain since being a child studying my own brain damage.

Patient and Public Involvement research work inspired me to go to university where I studied International Politics and Philosophy with the aim of going into journalism. I maintained my involvement in research throughout and decided to do a Psychology MSc and pursue a career in mental health research. In my spare time I love to read about neurobiology, quantum physics and history.     

Giulia Carrara 

I am Senior Peer Coach. My fellow peers and I run our service Choice and Control and perform coaching for clients with mental and physical issues. 

Before moving to London to explore more about myself, I was in Italy where I gained a degree in Psychology and completed an internship focused on how to support parents, children, and hospital staff in managing emotions at the Paediatric Emergency Department of Cervello Hospital.

Then I got a master’s degree in Clinical Psychology of Life Span and completed an internship at the University of Palermo doing quantitative research focusing on attachment style and personality traits.  

Ian Callaghan 

I work as a Programme Manager in the Lived Experience Programmes team at the national mental health charity Rethink Mental Illness, where I co-ordinate and facilitate a wide range of involvement and co-production programmes for a internal and external commissioners.

A passionate advocate for lived experience driving changes to mental health systems, I also bring my own lived experience to my work, having experienced a variety of mental health services throughout my adult life.

I have a working background in healthcare and involvement and co-production, and a postgraduate qualification in recovery and social inclusion. I have worked in mental health for 15 years, supporting people to have their voices heard to effect positive change. I believe strongly in the power of research to effect positive change to mental health outcomes.  

Jane Faulkner 

I am an accredited therapist and Forest Bathing lead.

I have delivered workshops at international conferences, supervised an Erasmus-funded art and mental health project in the Balkans, and have worked in the NHS as a psychological therapist, Recovery College manager and a Lived Experience practitioner. 

Helen Boyle 

I work as part of a multi-disciplinary team at the Involvement Recovery and Wellness Centre at Cheshire and Wirral Partnership NHS Trust. I work with service users from primary and secondary care on goal setting, self-management and recovery planning. The service is person centred, and trauma informed with lived experience and co-production at the heart of our practice.  

I design, organise and deliver a range of psycho-educational workshops alongside colleagues including Anger Management and Living Well with a Long-Term Health Condition (Expert Patient Programme). I also do engagement and participation work, both internally and externally, to promote our service to the public, GPs and colleagues to encourage referrals and volunteering.  

Alongside my role I am involved with a variety of EDI projects including acting as an Autism Ambassador, delivering training to clinical support workers on how to deal with Neurodivergent service users and delivering training to HR on how best to support Neurodivergent applicants and colleagues via reasonable adjustments. I am also a member of the LGBTQ+ Rainbow Network looking at inclusion initiatives for staff and service users. 

Danny Orchard 

I’m an osteopath with 20 years of clinical experience, half of which has been focused on understanding how the brain and our perceptions contribute to chronic pain. I currently teach pain management to undergraduate osteopaths and run a charitable pain clinic supporting people with long-term pain, many of whom also face significant mental health challenges.

My initial focus as an osteopath was on treating the ‘body’ to fix dysfunctional tissues but now I find myself turning full circle to explore how treating the body can help make patients with pain feel more connected in and of themselves. By using a combination of manual therapy, pain science education and cognitive restructuring, I encourage them to be more active and resilient to their pain. 

Stacey Smith 

I am an experienced programme manager and practitioner with lived experience of mental health systems, which deeply informs my work. Currently, I lead on the governance, development, and operationalisation of a new relational, holistic approach to mental health services, aiming to create more compassionate and person-centred care.  

My focus is on bridging the gap between policy, practice, and lived experience to drive meaningful system change. My fellowship is allowing me to further explore innovative, inclusive, and sustainable models of mental health support that prioritise relationships, wellbeing, and empowerment.