DeSTRESS Project - Understanding and Dealing with Stress

Project Advisory Board

We are delighted to have a diverse expert advisory team:

Debbie Roche

Debbie is a mother of three and is the Chair of Pembroke Street Estate Management Board as well as a board member of Plymouth Community Homes.

A former Health and Social Care Lecturer Debbie, is now an accredited Mental Health First Aid (MHFA) Instructor. She facilitates mental health awareness sessions through her social enterprise business, Snapshot Mental Health.

Her lived experiences of poor mental health, and those of caring for her son battling with anorexia nervosa, encouraged her to write the book, Anorexia: A Son’s Battle, A Mother’s War.
She is also founder of NotED (No to Eating Disorders), an eating disorder information and support group.

Helping Hands Support Group Teignmouth

is a Community led Support Group based in Teignmouth, which brings its expertise of the positive benefits of peer support. The group includes: Keith Guppy, Rachel Guppy, Hilary Richardson and Jenna Finch.

Karen Coombes

is an active volunteer at St Budeaux Community Centre as well as a local Timebank broker. She is a resident of Barne Barton & a member of C2 National Network of Connected Communities

Val Anstice

is the Chair St Budeaux Community Association & the Co-ordinator of Plymouth Dystonia Support Group and a resident of St Budeaux

Glynis Lidster

is the Centre Manager Welcome Hall, Devonport, Plymouth which is a community resource centre supporting volunteers from the local community as well as internationally but working with language schools to help people develop language and social skills. Glynis is involved locally with Devonport Neighbourhood board and also the ‘ Money Tree’ panel for Plymouth Community Homes and believes that everyone should have a fair and equal access to all services. Help and support

Chris Dowrick

Chris is Professor of Primary Medical Care in the University of Liverpool and a general practitioner in Aintree Park Group Practice. His research interests cover common mental health problems in primary care, with a focus on depression and medically unexplained symptoms. Chris is also Board Advisor for Mersey Care NHS Trust, Member of the World Organisation of Family Doctors’ working party on mental health, and a technical expert for the World Health Organization’s mhGAP programme

Lynne Friedli

Lynne is a freelance researcher with a special interest in the relationship between mental health, inequalities and social justice. Lynne is a Fellow of the Centre for Welfare Reform and a collaborator on the Wellcome Trust’s Hubbub programme.

Olivia Craig

Olivia is the CEO of Mind Plymouth and District. She is keen to develop community partnerships and to improve quality of life and positive mental well-being amongst people from all backgrounds. She is an active member of the Plymouth Mental Health Network.

Hazel Stuteley OBE

Hazel is Programme Director of C2 Connecting Communities at the University of Exeter Medical School, an evidence based intervention, with a track record of consistently delivering transformative health outcomes to challenged communities in the South West and nationally. Hazel’s 40 year NHS career was as a frontline community nurse practitioner and she co-founded the Beacon Project reversing the decline of a deeply disadvantaged community in Falmouth.

Pip Smithson

Pip is a GP in Exeter, working with homeless and vulnerably housed people in the South West.

Tina Henry

Tina is a Consultant in Public Health with a focus on Health Improvement and Health Policy. She is the Senior Responsible Officer for Health Improvement and Health Inequalities and has spent most of her career working in partnership roles in the Local Authority and NHS.