Message from the Chief Executive Officer

Welcome to Mind in Enfield. My name is David Hart and I was appointed to the role of CEO. I wanted to say a few words to introduce myself although I hope I will be meeting many people in Enfield face to face to learn more about the borough and the needs of people and communities living here.

I feel incredibly privileged to lead the team in Mind in Enfield. The work we do is vital to the health and wellbeing of so many people with one in four of us likely to directly experience mental health issues and many more encountering mental health problems indirectly through family and friends.

The challenges that people face are often misunderstood and research shows that the UK under invests in mental health services. That’s what makes Mind in Enfield so vital and frankly why I find the work done by the people in the organisation so inspiring.

I am determined to play my part with all those involved with mental health in Enfield to build an even stronger, sustainable and viable Mind in Enfield. Our role is simple; to be passionate about improving the lives of people whether they are people who use mental health services, care for people with mental health problems or who are the families affected by mental health problems. I am passionate about that as I can already see so many others are too.

While that goal is simple delivering it is very challenging because the world is changing – perhaps that is my single biggest personal challenge – making sure that we keep abreast of developments and adapt our services to meet the new demands. In the coming 12 months we will need to focus on the following:

• tailor the services we offer so that they meet the needs of the individual and enable the user to choose how best to use the resources available to them –this is the personalisation agenda and whilst this may make sense to policy makers, I want to make sure it makes sense to those who matter most – the people who use and rely upon our services;

• make the most of limited resources by working collaboratively with other voluntary and community organisations (VCOs) and groups both in Enfield and in neighbouring boroughs;

• raising the profile and growing services and projects via outreach activities across Enfield and capacity building other VCOs on working with mental health service users.

Perhaps I should tell you a little more about me. I am married with two teenage children and live just over the border in Barnet. Before joining Mind in Enfield I was the Deputy CEO at CommUNITY Barnet (formerly Barnet Voluntary Service Council).

I have spent most of the last 25 years working on the frontline with people with learning difficulties and experiencing mental health problems in training and employment services. I also have experience of capacity building in local VCOs, working to improve social inclusion, equality and diversity in north London as well as in education and training. I hope that my broad experience, knowledge and range of skills will help me bring a different dimension to helping people with mental health issues.

Working with my colleagues, I am determined to keep Mind in Enfield at the forefront of mental health services and developments.

We aim to give our members and service users more choice and control in how they live their lives and provide the support structures necessary for this to take place. We will remain focused on strengthening the organisation by fundraising, supporting national Mind campaigns and initiating new and creative local strategies for income generation.

Thank you for visiting our website which we will be redesigning in summer to make it more interactive, user friendly and accessible whether you are a service user, partner, funder or otherwise and please contact a member of the team if you need any information on our services and activities.

I am looking forward to working with you during what is bound to be both a challenging and very exciting period.

David Hart
Chief Executive Officer
Mind in Enfield