Stefanie Nankervis – Project Support Manager at Open Mental Health (Maternity Cover)
I would like to say a warm hello and a Happy New Year 2023!
As a Project Support Manager, I am so excited to be a part of Rethink Mental Illness and the Open Mental Health Alliance. I have witnessed firsthand the great work the Alliance has achieved helping to transform people’s lives that are in crisis or in need of access to treatment in Somerset.
I understand how important it is to have access to place-based services. I’ve lived in South Somerset for 8 years and have great access to my local health and wellbeing community centre (The Balsam Centre) allowing me to meet my mental health and well-being needs.
So I believe that as an Alliance we are paving the way to create a better quality of life for people in communities by working together towards a common value and having compassion towards enabling people in our communities to have a fulfilling and enriched life.
Alex Nelson – Co Production Officer
Hello to everybody both new and old, and welcome to 2023! Hopefully we’ll all have a great year.
As the newest member of the Co-Production team, I get to continue the life-changing work Rethink Mental Illness is doing with the Open Mental Health Alliance by empowering people with lived experiences of our Mental Health services in Somerset to literally change the way services are thought of, services are perceived and create better outcomes for everybody. I’ve worked with the Alliance as an Expert by Experience Leader for a year now, and I’m thrilled to continue that work.
Throughout my year with the alliance, I’ve met all sorts of individuals who each have their own story to tell and are each on their own journey, both volunteers and staff. I can’t actually explain how much of a privilege it is to be working with such a warm, welcoming and talented group of people.
In Rethink and in the Open Mental Health Alliance, we are creating a new, innovative way of working that has proven records of delivering, and I’m looking forward to the year ahead to continue delivering and continue changing services and lives alike.