Our Trustees

Trustee (Treasurer) 

Mary Anum 

Mary is a qualified accountant who owns a Finance & Accountancy practice, Blessed Financial. Her career in finance started over 20 years ago as a Finance Assistant and then progressed, through multiple senior Finance roles, up to Finance & Operations Director, before she decided to start her own practice. Alongside working at Blessed Financial, Mary volunteers with charities; she is drawn to supporting organisations that work to support vulnerable people. 

How do you look after your mental health? 

Depending on what I’m going through or where I am, I look after my mental health with gym workouts, spending time with my family, watching comedy, listening to music, singing, and dancing (I’m not the best dancer though!).

Trustee (Chair)

Anna Matthews (she/her)

Anna trained as a psychotherapist and is now the Director of the University Mentoring Organisation (UMO). 

How do you look after your mental health?

To look after my mental health I regularly run and undertake group sports. I really enjoy the engagement with others and the chance to take a break from work and general life commitments as both keep me focussed in the moment. 

I also enjoy spending time with my young family as well as my friends and as much as possible, I plan ahead so that I have breaks to look forward to.

Trustee (Marketing and Communications)

Matt Kempen (he/him)

Matt is the Marketing Manager for the Association for Child and Adolescent Mental Health (ACAMH). 

How do you look after your mental health?

Comedy, cycling, golf, music, film, and walking. Sometimes I need familiarity so will listen to a comedy podcast or favourite album, or watch a film for the hundredth time.

I am a season ticket holder to a football team that are massive, which can be a full of highs and lows, normally lows. 

I am still learning how to manage and cope at times of difficulty, but am making progress.

Trustee

Maria Kordowicz

Maria is a Chartered Psychologist through teaching and research. She is a Professor in Organisational Psychology and Director of Psychology and Research at the School of Psychotherapy, Psychology, and Counselling at Regent's University London. Maria has had a 20+ year career in health and social care, criminal justice, community, acute, primary care, education, and research sectors, holding senior leadership and executive positions. In addition, Maria has over 20 years of business ownership experience, including eight years as the Chief Executive of a health and social care research and evaluation agency. She mentors business leaders and executives. Maria is a School Governor of over a decade, including a three-year term as Chair.

How do you look after your mental health?

Teaching myself how to rest in my 40s has been central to my wellbeing - this took at me at least 5 years to relearn and was not an easy achievement. I walk a lot. I love being near art and greenery. I make my home beautiful so that I also feel beautiful when in it. Having left London for the breath-taking Lincolnshire countryside certainly nourishes me. Finally, I find spending time with the younger generations, be it my students or our five stellar children, a true elixir. I am inspired by how kindness, acceptance, and creativity are such core values among young people today. 

Trustee

Lydia Pell (she/her)

After training as an Art Psychotherapist and a career in student mental health in HE, Lydia is now studying for a PhD and providing supervision and consultancy. 

How do you look after your mental health?

I use a trial and error approach to looking after my mental health. I find that some things that used to help aren't always useful in different situations. 

I try to keep a clear separation between work time and home time, and keep set times to respond to emails, and other time that is for family time.

I get to see green hills every day, and cows and sheep. This really helps, particularly on days when the sky is blue. I practice self compassion, and trying to not compare myself to others, but to be pleased with the achievements I have, and to make sure I have time in my week that is spent with people I love. I have some time to myself when I am not having to prioritise others needs. I also have people around me who remind me to do the above if I am feeling a bit stressed, or have a lot on. 

I also don't drink coffee after lunch time to make sure I get a good night sleep. This is hard because I love coffee, so I make sure I savour the first one of the day.

Trustee

Kristy Robinson

Kristy Robinson, M.S.W., SFHEA, is a mental health practitioner and higher education leader with over a decade of experience spanning both the United States and the United Kingdom. 

How do you look after your mental health?

I look after my mental health in a variety of ways. I like to mix it up depending on where I am at or what I am going through! I enjoy consistent exercise, time with family and friends, dog walks, good books, loud laughs, and music and dancing. 

Trustee 

 Phil Scarffe (he/him) 

Phil is a registered Social Worker, and set up one of the first specialist mental health teams in a UK university. He is Head of Student Experience and Wellbeing, University of Birmingham Dubai and part of the OIA (Office of the Independent Adjudicator) Disability Experts Panel. 

How do you look after your mental health? 

Several years ago there were issues at work which I was finding really frustrating, and was obsessing over, and I made a very conscious decision to choose to stop thinking about work in my free time. I’m not saying that I always achieve this, but if I find myself getting too hung up about a particular issue then knowing I can actively choose to think something else is a great help. I think in the midst of something sometimes things can easily feel overwhelming, and if I feel that happening bringing the phrase ‘this too will pass’ and that in the scheme of things my life and its challenges are of very little cosmic consequence, can be quite grounding too. The biggest boost to my mental health has been getting better at accepting myself for who I am, recognising that what really matters is the people close to me, and ultimately everything else is just noise, which I can choose to tune into or out off, whenever I please.