Speaker information

Ann Davis
Ann Davis is Professor of Social Work at Birmingham University and Director of the Centre of Excellence in Interdisciplinary Mental Health. Ann has a longstanding teaching and research interest in poverty and mental health and in service users and survivors experiences of health and social care services. She is a member of Suresearch, a West Midlands user led network of mental health service users and their allies interested in teaching and research.

For further information visit: www.ceimh.bham.ac.uk

Richard Exell
Richard Exell OBE works for the Trades Union Congress, where he is a Senior Policy Officer, specialising in social security and labour market issues. Richard was a member of the Disability Rights Commission 2000 - 2007, and was the lead Commissioner for the DRC's formal investigation into the health standards applied to people entering nursing, teaching and social work. He represents the TUC on the Board of End Child Poverty and the Social Security Advisory Committee, and was a member of the union team that negotiated the European Directive on parental leave. He has a history of clinical depression, is 51 years old, is a graduate of Bristol University, and is married with a daughter, Madeleine, aged 15.

Jim Fearnley
Jim is currently Head of Research and Policy at the Money Advice Trust, and is engaged in a range of initiatives that aim to help coordinate the activities of the money advice sector. Jim has worked in the not-for-profit advice sector for ten years in a range of capacities, including as a specialist welfare rights adviser, manager of a national support, information and training service for advice agencies, freelance consultant, and policy officer at both local and national level. Jim is currently a member of the Money Advice Liaison Group (MALG) Mental Health Working Party, the body responsible for preparing MALG's Mental Health Awareness Guidelines, which set out good practice regarding debt collection and management in relation to people with mental health problems. A number of years ago, Jim did some work in a consultancy capacity with Mind on promoting the development of local Mind associations’ advice services.

Chris Fitch
Chris is a Research Fellow at the Royal College of Psychiatrists, where he leads a research programme on money, financial services and mental health. Chris has an interest in the everyday financial challenges experienced by service users and survivors, and in particular issues of debt and poverty. In close collaboration with colleagues at Royal College of Psychiatrists and Bristol University (Simon Tulloch and Sharon Collard), Chris undertook the research informing Mind's 2008 campaign on debt, poverty and mental health.

Martin O'Kane
Martin currently divides his time between managing a Mental Health and Welfare Rights service at Chesterfield Community Mental Health Services and acting as Project Manager and Training Officer with Derbyshire 'Supporting People'. His Supporting People remit involves developing a strategy to involve service users in housing related support services in Derbyshire. Both jobs focus upon accommodation and income issues for people who use a variety of statutory and independent support services in Derbyshire. Martin has presented at many of Mind's national conferences over recent years, primarily on issues relating to welfare rights for people who experience mental health problems and is the regular author on welfare updates to the Openmind magazine. He is joint author with Ann Davis and Alex Davis at the University of Birmingham of, 'Claiming Disability Living Allowance - an information pack for people using mental health services, their Carers and Advocates' which can be downloaded at the address below. In July 2007 he wrote the 'Managing on Benefits' booklet, a practical guide for people with mental health problems, for Mind. He has also taught at the Universities of Sheffield and Birmingham on these issues.

For further information visit: www.ceimh.bham.ac.uk

Teresa Perchard
Teresa Perchard, Director of Policy at Citizens Advice since 2000, leads the development of policy on a wide range of social and consumer policy issues, including debt and financial exclusion and consumer protection. Prior to joining Citizens Advice, Teresa has had over 12 years' experience of developing and implementing policy on regulation, consumer protection and consumer representation through posts she has held at the Office of the Rail Regulator, the Office of Water Services and the National Consumer Council.

Judy Stenger
Judy has been Welfare Rights Adviser with Neath Port Talbot Mind since 1997. During that time she has given evidence to the Social Security Select Committee, addressed the All Party Parliamentary Group for Mental Health and has been involved in numerous benefits consultation processes and campaigns. She writes 'The Big Book of Benefits and Mental Health', is a columnist for Mental Health Today magazine and trains both independently and for the Child Poverty Action Group.

Alex Tambourides
Alex is 34 and has worked for Mind for four and a half years, starting as an employment worker at City and Hackney Mind, before going on to become Deputy CEO at Hammersmith and Fulham Mind. There he has been involved in a variety of employment initiatives such as starting the Mind London employment network. Prior to this Alex has had private sector experience including recruitment and project management.

Colin Trend
Colin has worked across the voluntary, public and private sectors. He is presently the Project Manager of Money Advice Plymouth: an Advice UK agency based in deprived communities of the city with five offices and sixteen staff. He also tutors on a number of subjects nationally, but specifically in debt and mental health for both the Money Advice Trust and the Institute of Money Advisers. Colin was also a member of the two Money Advice Liaison Group's Working Parties from 2005-07 looking into the problems of debt and finance for people with mental health issues which has started to significantly change the way that creditors, advisors and health professionals deal with debt.