Richard is Director of Estates and Facilities at Leicestershire Partnership NHS Trust. He is an experienced, collaborative Estates professional, with a strong commercial and strategic approach to managing teams, projects, and master planning. Richard has a Chartered Engineer, Project Management, Design, Construction, FM, and Accountancy background across a number of sectors including Healthcare, and owner of a consultancy business.

Jen is an experienced Design Manager with Integrated Health Products (IHP), working predominately in the mental health sector. Over the last number of years, Jen has worked closely with Trusts and suppliers to specifically develop existing mental health products and methods of construction in order to mitigate historical issues. This has led to numerous product enhancements, ultimately leading to a safer environment.

Karen is a Chartered Landscape Architect with over 35 years’ experience. She is Managing Director of Iteriad, a DiMHN member and landscape design practice specialising in the design of outdoor spaces for mental health and healthcare environments. Karen’s interest is in creating sensory spaces that aim to touch nature and that capture a special spirit of place, for all specialisms including Dementia, Learning Disabilities, Acute, Secure and CAMHS.

Victoria is a Project Manager who has a passion for delivering Projects within the Mental Health Sector and has experience both client side, spending many years in the NHS, and consultancy side. Victoria understands the complexities and challenges involved in working within these environments and has conducted research as part of her on-going Professional Doctorate which focuses on how to achieve a balance between safe, secure and therapeutic design, which she has then gone on to implement in her projects. Victoria has contributed to new innovations and product design within the sector by providing feedback on existing products and sharing new ideas which may overcome some of the challenges faced within Mental Health settings.

Mark Childs is Global Head of Marketing for Kingsway Group, a leading door and technology provider for Mental & Behavioral Health providers.  Experienced in developing partnerships and  collaborations to achieve customer centric outcomes, Mark has a particular interest in CAMHS provision and helping create healing and therapeutic environments which promote better outcomes for all. 

Having hosted design review events in the UK, USA and Australia, it has given Mark a good understanding of the different challenges facing Mental Health provision and in his work for  Design in Mental Health he hopes to be able to help promote the good practice going on across the industry, projecting the importance of good design to create appropriate spaces for individuals to receive appropriate support regardless of their background.

Dr Paul Hanna is a chartered psychologist with over 16 years’ experience working in academia and industry. Paul has expertise in mental health, community psychology, innovative and participatory methodologies, and community engagement. He has worked with a variety of people with mental health diagnoses in a variety of settings and has led projects such as ‘Blackout’ which offered an immersive experience to understand what it is like to live with a diagnosis of Bipolar. He has published over 50 peer-reviewed journal articles, two books and several book chapters, alongside the supervision of over 50 doctoral (including clinical doctoral) students. At Hoare Lea, Paul leads the Psychological Insights unit and consults in a range of sectors including Masterplanning, science and research, education, and healthcare.

Neil joined HLM in March 1994, becoming a fully qualified architect in the November of 1995. Working almost exclusively on health projects since then, he was appointed Associate Director in July 2011 in recognition of 15 years in the healthcare sector. He has led on all types of specialism, from inception to completion, across Acute, Primary Care and Mental Health, most notably for the Queen’s Centre for Oncology and Haematology, Hull (RIBA 2009 White Rose Gold Award for Architecture).

Passionate about the NHS and what it can achieve, a key driving factor in delivery of projects is the need to look at the bigger picture; reviewing every scheme holistically, focusing on the wider determinants of health, wellbeing and working environments, as well as the importance the impact the build environment has on healing in acute treatment care.

Paul is a Director of Medical Architecture, and a highly skilled and experienced healthcare designer with over 17 years’ specialised experience. He brings an approach to design that values improved clinical outcomes and enhances the human experience of treatment and care. In 2022, he was awarded Fellowship of the Royal Society of Arts for his leadership in healthcare design. With extensive expertise in mental health, he has led the design of multiple award-winning buildings, including, Hopewood Park Hospital in Sunderland, and Mitford Adult Autism Unit in Northumberland. Paul’s project portfolio has received awards from RIBA, Building Better Healthcare, and the International Academy for Design & Health.

I have 20 years’ experience delivering capital projects in healthcare; working closely with staff, patients, and design teams to create facilities that enhance the healing environment. Whilst I am not an Architect I understand and appreciate the role of design in healthcare facilities, having seen first-hand the impact that a well-designed space can have on staff, patients, and family.

In my role as Client Engagement Lead I work with NHS trust staff on a day-to-day basis and understand the tests that they face in terms of increased expectations on service delivery, increased patient numbers and an increasingly challenged estate. This ‘coal-face’ experience, along with a wider understanding of the political healthcare arena, enables me to both spread the knowledge and experience of Design in Mental Health Network, as well as feeding back some of the working challenges that could potentially be resolved through design solutions.

Alan joined TB+A as an apprentice at 16 and is now a business owner and currently involved in more than £500m of healthcare developments.

A fellow of IHEEM and member of CIBSE, and IET, Alan gained Chartered Engineer status in 2013 and has spent his entire career within the healthcare sector. As well as being an Associate for the Design in Mental Health Network, Alan is also an Ambassador for engineering services and part of the conference committee.

Alan is an authoring member of DoH guidance including HTM 06-01, HBN 03-04, HBN 06-01, HBN 10-01 and HBN 15-03.

A chartered architect, with over 30 years of experience in design and delivery of healthcare facilities.   Susan supports Scottish Government Health and Social Care Directorate, NHS Scotland Boards and their partners by providing professional leadership and technical advice in all aspects of healthcare built environment, property development, planning and design. As Principal Architect she is the custodian of our property and design related NHSScotland facility Guidance publications, such as SHPNs, HBNs, SHTMs.

In addition, Susan supports the NHS Scotland Design Assessment Process (NDAP) on behalf of Scottish Government.  NDAP provides all major investment in NHS Scotland infrastructure projects with an independent review and joint support from both NHS Scotland Assure and Architecture & Design Scotland.  Thereby ensuring local decision making, but with national oversight, plus expertise where required. This process ensures that each project has smart, bespoke quality and sustainability metrics embedded at briefing stage; allowing these metrics to be regularly assessed locally and independently monitored nationally, at each key design, construction and handover stage.

To support sustainable healthcare delivery and outcomes Susan is a regular conference speaker and member of various Scottish and UK-wide working groups e.g. UK NHS Standards Group. She is also a board member of European Health Property Network (EuHPN).

Karen is an Architect, Studio Director and the Mental Health Lead at Arcadis who specialises in mental health design. With over 20 years of experience in designing for mental health and wellbeing she has developed a profound knowledge of both service-users‘ and healthcare professionals’ unique requirements. She has successfully designed and delivered numerous award-wining mental health schemes across different age groups, and security levels.

Karen believes that building environments play a significant role in the behaviour of their users and good design can deliver real and measurable benefits. Her aim at Arcadis is to involve users in all aspects of the design process to create sustainable, uplifting and therapeutic buildings that improve mental and physical wellbeing.