Coming soon!

I am from Shaw and went to primary and secondary school there and I now live in Lees.  I was never interested in education and disliked the whole experience frankly!  I left school after one year doing A-levels, which I kind of fell in to as I was quite poorly when I sat my GCSE’s and for the whole summer afterwards.

After one year of studying towards A-levels and working part time at a taxi firm, I got myself a Modern Apprenticeship and worked at a haulage firm in Royton.  I found that that didn’t really suit me either and left there to go and work in the legal department of a large company in Manchester.

I spent the next 15 years with that company, working my way up from General Office Administrator to Office Manager.  I loved my time there and met many wonderful colleagues, some of whom I am still in touch with.  I had a brief six month change of job during that time, I went to a private law firm in Manchester, hated the cut throat nature of private practice, and went back to my previous job.

Whilst at this company, I trained as a counsellor part time and qualified at 29.  It turns out I like education when I get to choose when and how!  My training was a fabulous experience once I had found the right college after a false start at one.  I worked full time, studied part time and worked at two voluntary jobs part time for around 3 years – I was super busy but super satisfied!

I realised that it was not sustainable so once I was qualified I dropped down to working full time at the legal department and doing voluntary counselling part time at a mental health charity in Longsight, Manchester.

In 2013 I got married to Craig after being together for 15 years and engaged for about 8 years – it was amazing!  I had never wanted all the attention that comes with a wedding but on Christmas Eve Eve in 2012, we were sat wrapping gifts together and I said ‘hey, should we get married next year?’ and Craig said ‘yeah!’ – we made it what we wanted and we loved it.

In 2014/15, after several structural changes within the business that I worked, I was made redundant from my ‘day job’ which left me reeling for a long time.  I took a break from everything in my life.  As I healed, I decided to concentrate fully on my counselling practice.

I continued to do voluntary counselling, after a year off, but soon found out that the charity I was working with was not being managed well and years of funding cuts had left it in tatters.  My experience with my redundancy led me to realise that it was not a safe place for me to be any longer and I decided, with a heavy heart, it was time for me to leave.

After this, I was taking stock of my experiences and an old colleague suggested I look at trustee work.  I researched this a little and decided that I would like to go back to a mental health charity and found that Rochdale and District Mind were looking for a new trustee!  I was very nervous and excited to start this new journey.

I have continued to build a private practice in counselling and I love what I do.  I have worked with lots of clients from different backgrounds and different experiences.  I have worked with some trainee counsellors as they start their own journey.  Importantly to me, I am a counsellor but I am also a client.  I have experienced my own pain and issues and I continue to do so – I am human.  I continue to grow and learn every day.

I feel honoured to be part of the team here at Rochdale and District Mind.  I feel I gain as much as I give – being part of a team again means the world to me and to know that what I do can be helping is awesome.  I have so much respect for all of the staff, volunteers, service users and fellow trustees.

I am sure there is more to me than what is written on this page, and if anyone wants to get in touch please do feel free to grab my contact details from someone in the management team within the office.

Kate

I’m a father, marketer, music-lover, and most recently a Rochdale and District Mind Trustee!

My home is Chester, where my wife grew up. I was born in London, home for me until moving to North Wales as a teenager, and before heading back to the Capital after graduating from Lancaster University. My son was born in London and my younger daughter was born in Germany. Me and my wife have been together for almost 15 years.

My kids preoccupy most of my spare time, much of which is playing board games, embarking on mini-adventures and learning karate together. In my own time, I’m usually found listening to music, taking photos, or badly attempting DIY – and when possible, I’m at a music gig, festival or the cinema.

My career plan was to study design, however I ended up heading to university to read Geography before making a last-minute change to focus on Marketing! Having always enjoyed being creative and following advertising, it was the perfect choice and has led to over 20 years of me working in the industry. I’ve been lucky to work for some big brands including Coca-Cola, Lloyds Banking Group and Adidas – with the latter involving a small stint abroad where my daughter was born.

Two years ago, I joined Zen and am now their Marketing Director. And it is there where I was introduced to Rochdale and District Mind. I’ve had an interest in mental health for many years, beginning from when I was approached by team members and colleagues who needed support, which at the time I was unable or not confident in giving. I trained as a mental health first-aider and joined company network groups to play a more proactive role in supporting others and promoting well-being.

I’m proud to be part of the Rochdale and District Mind family and have been incredibly impressed with its people and their commitment to the local community. I hope my interest, along with experience in marketing, business strategy and people development, will enable us to go from strength to strength.  

Paul

Coming soon!

Hello! I’m Sam, born in Oldham, but now live in Middleton. I am the Early Careers Manager at TalkTalk, which is based in Salford, Greater Manchester.

I love my job, every day is different, really varied, and mainly consists of supporting people to start, or develop in their career by taking on new qualifications through the apprenticeship scheme, providing opportunities within TalkTalk for local students who are studying at university or college, and creating placements for young people to get their first step on the corporate ladder.

My career hasn’t always been in this field though. I started out finishing my A-levels at Oldham Sixth Form, and moving to Liverpool to study a degree in Dance! They were the best few years of my life but I had no idea what I wanted to do once I left. I became a Zumba instructor during my time at uni and wanted to set up my own classes for students, so got involved in the student union and set up my own society. It was through my work there, that I was approached in my final year of uni that I should consider running in the annual elections to become a Vice President for Activities, which is a full time paid position, where you are elected by the student body to represent their views and lobby the university to create a better experience for students. This was so far from what I thought I would want to do, or be good at! But I just went for it and was lucky enough to be elected. I also went on to re-run the following year to be President, and it was in this year I was a governor of the university, a trustee of the student union, set the strategy for the organisation, and was put on a qualification in Coaching and Mentoring. 

Those 2 years gave me so much exposure and learnings, and really put me on a path where I knew I wanted to help people and develop them. I loved working with people and the qualification helped guide me into a career in learning and development. The university kindly put me on a HR qualification as I was leaving, to support me in getting my foot in the door, and I secured my first role in L&D. Over the next few years I did similar jobs in a number of different industries, retail, law, health and safety, and all roles consisted of delivering various training courses, working with teams to develop them to be better, inducting new colleagues into business and setting up mentoring programmes.  

I am really passionate about helping people, whether that be in or out of work. Over the pandemic when our worlds dramatically changed, and seeing how communities came together to support each other, I was inspired to do something new, in a voluntary capacity and give back in some way, but at the same time find a way to continue to develop myself. I came across the position of a trustee at Rochdale Mind, and thought it completely aligned with what I was looking for. Mental Health affects so many of us, and a lot of people close to me. I thought if I could contribute in some way to a fantastic organisation who helps improve people’s lives which is something I’m passionate about, and at the same time continue to learn and develop my skills then it was a no brainer. I was officially appointed as a trustee in October 2021 so I am early into my tenure but already I’ve been blown away by the work the charity does, the team and all the volunteers who work tirelessly to support people. I feel proud to be part of it and hope I can add value in the future.

Sam