Staff Team
Our dedicated staff team delivers the wide range of services and projects that support people with mental health issues in our local community. Most staff have lived experience of mental health issues, and have professional experience of working with people with mental health issues and other disabilities.

Rianne Eimers
Chief Executive Officer
Rianne is responsible for the operational management of Mind in Kingston which includes implementing and reporting on our strategy, responsibility for finances, generating income, managing staff and volunteers and other HR matters, implementing policies and procures, developing and overseeing services and projects and supporting the Board of Trustees with governance and strategic development. Rianne is also responsible for overseeing Safeguarding, Health & Safety and GDPR and ensuring Mind in Kingston meets legal requirements and adopts good practice.
Rianne works Monday-Friday.

Rachel Dykins
Director of Development
Rachel’s role is to oversee the development of our services, including identifying new opportunities, supporting funding bids, tenders and contracts and supporting partnership and collaboration. Rachel manages the Magpie Project (supporting the Korean Community), the Activity and Inclusion Project, Outreach & Engagement, Champions for Change Kingston and the Advancing Mental Health Equality (AMHE) Collaborative. She works closely with our Volunteer Coordinator to support the recruitment, supervision and training of existing and new volunteers.
Rachel is the Safeguarding Lead for Mind in Kingston.
Rachel works Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Friday.

Jana Gray
Director of Operations
Jana is responsible for operations, which includes overseeing, developing and maintaining our services, ensuring they meet our beneficiaries’ needs and are run in line with our commissioners’ and funders’ expectations. These include the Floating Support Service, Counselling, Drop-in Cafe, Kingston College Drop-in Cafe, Mental Health Awareness Training and Peer Support. Jana is also involved in developing and maintaining our partnership with our Mind colleagues in South West London. In addition, Jana supports our HR (Human Resources) function and works closely with partners and stakeholders to develop better relationships and build new partnerships.
Jana is the Health and Safety Lead for Mind in Kingston.

Vicky Bourne
Counselling & Wellbeing Manager
Vicky manages our Counselling Service, Drop-in Café, the Kingston College Drop-in Cafe and Wellbeing Wednesdays services which offer a wide range of emotional and practical wellbeing support. She also provides free mental health awareness training to local schools, charities and partners, with a focus on increasing awareness and understanding of mental health issues, how to build resilience, sharing practical tips on how to support others and developing a robust mental wellbeing policy.
Vicky works Monday-Thursday and provides support to the Drop-in Cafes and Counselling Service outside of normal working hours.

Lisa Blackman
Alfriston Outreach Manager
Lisa is the Manager of Alfriston Outreach, which provides practical and emotional support to people who are lonely and isolated and who are less likely to have someone to help them at home. Support includes delivery of cooked meals, laundry, shopping, picking up prescriptions as well as regular check-in to ensure people are well. Lisa manages the Alfriston Outreach Team and Volunteers, as well as their building in Surbiton, including room hire. She also supports the development of the services, looking for new opportunities and working closely with referrers such as the Social Care Team at the local authority.

Michael Dayer
Kingston Peer Support Service Manager
Michael is responsible for overseeing the Kingston Peer Support Service, a partnership between Mind in Kingston, Southwest London & St George’s Mental Health Trust, Kingston Carers Network, Kingston Kingston Race and Equalities Council, Staywell and the Working Well Trust to support people with SMI (severe mental illness) in Kingston. Michael line manages the peer support team at Mind in Kingston, works closely with the partners and oversees the service.
Michael works Monday – Friday.

Lou (Louisa) Valentine
Executive Administrator
Lou’s role is to support the CEO and two Directors with their work, including preparing and circulating minutes, notes, reports and presentations, supporting recruitment campaigns, managing diaries and emails, booking meetings, and supporting the board of trustees with administrative tasks.
Lou works Monday to Friday.

Alex (Alexandra) Schnabl-Bell
Communications Officer
Alex is now on adoption leave until March 2024. Recruitment for adoption cover will start in June 23.
Alex is responsible for overseeing our social media, website and newsletter; supporting our fundraising activities both online and in the community; supporting our mental health awareness campaigns, and working with the team to promote Mind in Kingston’s services and activities.
Alex works Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday mornings.

Ronnie Hannah
Finance & IT Officer
Ronnie is responsible for providing Mind in Kingston with financial support, including bookkeeping, invoicing, monitoring income and expenditure against the budget and supporting the Finance Sub-Committee. He also provides the charity with ICT and digital support.
Ronnie works Monday-Friday.

Simon Montague-Taylor
Floating Support Officer
Simon supports clients to live independently in the community, either in shared housing which Mind in Kingston manages, or in their own homes. As well managing our property, he works with clients to move them on into their own independent accommodation, ensuring they receive all the necessary practical and emotional support to achieve this. This service is delivered in partnership with Hestia.
Simon works Monday-Friday.

Persephone Pickering
Outreach & Engagement Officer
Persephone is currently on long-term sick leave. Alice Zhao is covering the Empowering Minds and other Outreach & Engagement work.
Persephone oversees the Outreach & Engagement service, which includes reaching out to all parts of the borough, engaging with our local community, and engaging with our beneficiaries through the Empowering Minds Forum.
Persephone works Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Friday.

Sarah Hollebon
Champions for Change Kingston Coordinator
Sarah coordinates Champions for Change Kingston (CCK), which is led by Champions (people with lived experience of mental health issues) and which seeks to challenge stigma and discrimination in mental health. She supports the Champions and CCK Steering Group meetings, and organises activities that open up discussions about mental health, and challenge stigma and discrimination.
Sarah works Monday afternoons and Wednesdays.

Alice Zhao
Volunteer Coordinator
Alice works closely with the team to recruit and induct new volunteers and provide ongoing support to existing volunteers including supervision, training and development. Alice ensures that volunteers are matched to the right service, and have a positive experience whilst volunteering with us.
Alice is currently covering the Empowering Minds Forum and other Outreach & Engagement work on behalf of her colleague Persephone.
Alice works Monday, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday.

Liam Burke
Alfriston Outreach Deputy Manager
Liam works closely with Lisa and the Alfriston Outreach team to support their beneficiaries, promote the service and help with practical issues, such as managing the Alfriston building, getting new beneficiaries signed up and working with volunteers.
Liam works Monday to Friday.

Tim Carter
Alfriston Outreach Cook
Tim has worked for Alfriston Outreach for many years, cooking excellent nutritious meals for people visiting Alfriston, and to be delivered to the people they support. Tim plans the meals every week, ensuring that there is variety and something for everyone.
Tim works Monday to Friday.

William Young
Alfriston Outreach Driver
William supports the Alfriston team to deliver a wide range of items to the people they support, including cooked meals, laundry, food, and prescriptions. He drives an accessible minibus which ensures he has plenty of space and he can also drive people to/ from appointments, as well as on day trips.
William works Monday to Friday.

Flora Clifton
Office Administrator
Flora provides administrative support to the team, including supporting the team meetings and taking minutes, updating database, helping with monitoring and other reports, and updating internal information and data.
Flora usually works Wednesday afternoons.

Soyeon Park
Magpie Project Outreach Coordinator
Soyeon coordinates the Magpie Project, an outreach service for the Korean Community. This service focuses on providing advice, information and outreach activities to help improve the emotional wellbeing of the Korean Community in Kingston, which is one of the largest outside of Korea. As well as reaching out to local Korean groups, Soyeon coordinates health and wellbeing sessions and runs the Korean Drop-in Cafe on Mondays in New Malden. Soyeon is Korean and can communicate in Korean and English.
Soyeon works Monday to Thursday.

Johnny Murwill
Activity & Inclusion Coordinator
Johnny’s role is to organise and coordinate our wide range of physical, social and inclusive activities such as the Happy Feet Walking Group, Kingstonian Mind FC, Jog Together and the weekly Quiz (online). As well as connecting with a wide range of providers of activities, Johnny is responsible for ensuring our activities are inclusive, accessible and open to all our beneficiaries. He is responsible for developing leaflets and posters and promoting activities to other local voluntary and statutory organisations, on social media and the website.
Johnny works Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Friday.

Sarah Aref Taha
Peer Support Worker Older People
Sarah is part of the Kingston Peer Support Service, providing older people with mental health issues with peer support. Working closely with colleagues at Alfriston Outreach, Sarah supports people to set and achieve goals, increase their self-confidence, access services and support and help improve their overall mental wellbeing.
Sarah works 3 days per week on Monday, Tuesday and Thursday.

Adele Kempton
SMI Health Checks Engagement Officer (job share)
The SMI Health Checks project supports people with SMI (severe mental illness) across South West London to access regular health checks with their GPs. This service is run in partnership with South West London Minds. Adele’s role is to support people with SMI in Kingston, providing one-to-one support, confidence building, and accompanying people to appointments.
Adele shares this role with Ayesha Masood.
Adele works full days on Monday, Wednesday and Thursday. Adele is also employed as a Drop-in Cafe Worker – see the Drop-in Cafe Team for details.

Ayesha Masood
SMI Health Checks Engagement Officer (job share)
The SMI Health Checks project supports people with SMI (severe mental illness) across South West London to access regular health checks with their GPs. This service is run in partnership with South West London Minds. Ayesha’s role is to support people with SMI in Kingston, providing one-to-one support, confidence building, and accompanying people to appointments.
Ayesha shares this role with Adele Kempton.
Ayesha works 15 hours per week, on Monday (4 hrs), Wednesday (7.5 hrs) and Friday (3.5 hrs).

Edit Biro-Hannah
Art Therapist (self-employed)
Edit provides regular free art therapy sessions which offer people emotional and therapeutic support in a safe and non-judgemental space. Using a wide range of art techniques, Edit helps beneficiaries to explore their feelings through creative activities and encourages them to share their art works (although this is entirely voluntary).
Edit works on Mondays.
Drop-in Café & Kingston College Drop-in Cafe Team
Our friendly team at our Drop-in Cafes provide a welcoming, non-judgemental and inclusive space for people to meet and connect with others, access advice and information, join various activities and receive low-level mental support. The Drop-in Cafes are free and open to anyone over 18; the Kingston College Drop-in Cafe is open to male learners and male staff at the College.
The Bridge Drop-in Cafe
Welcare House
53-55 Canbury Park Road
Kingston upon Thames
KT2 6LQ
The Bridge Cafe is open on Monday evenings from 18:00-21:00.
The Star Drop-in Cafe
Alfriston Day Centre
3 Berrylands Road
Surbiton
KT5 8RB
The Star Cafe is open on Thursday evenings from 19:00-21:00.
Virtual Drop-in Cafe
We run a virtual Drop-in Cafe for anyone that does not wish or is not able to attend in person. Sessions are run via Zoom which you can download for free.
To join the Cafe, please email [email protected] and you will be sent a Zoom link and passcode.
Sessions are run on Tuesdays from 18:00-19:00.
Kingston College Drop-in Cafe
Term-time Cafe open to male learners and male staff, to support their mental wellbeing and provide advice, information, signposting and mental health support.
This Cafe is open on Thursdays.

Vicky Bourne
Drop-in Cafe Manager
Vicky oversees the Drop-in Café service, including line managing the staff, organising shifts and cover, promoting the service and encouraging new beneficiaries to attend.
Vicky works Monday-Thursday.

Hereward Hill
Drop-in Café Supervisor
Hereward supervises Drop-in Café sessions, providing visitors with support, organising activities, providing refreshments (COVID permitting) and line-managing other Café staff.
Hereward works on Thursday evenings at the Star Café.

Adele Kempton
Drop-in Café Worker
Adele works with Hereward to deliver regular sessions at the Star Café. She provides support to beneficiaries, helps to organise activities, and provides refreshments (COVID permitting).
Adele works on Thursday evenings at the Star Café.

Rachel Sinclair
Drop-in Café Worker
Rachel works for the Virtual Drop-in Café, which is currently delivered on Tuesdays. Rachel advertises the sessions, supports beneficiaries to attend and organises different activities and themes for each session.
Rachel works Tuesday evenings.

Yasmin Dob-Johnson
Drop-in Café Worker
Yasmin works for the Virtual Drop-in Café, which is currently delivered virtually. Yasmin advertises the sessions, supports beneficiaries to attend and organises different activities and themes for each session.
Yasmin works Tuesday evenings.

Isabella Askey-Brown
Drop-in Café Worker
Isabella works for the Virtual Drop-in Café, which is currently delivered virtually. Isabella advertises the sessions, supports beneficiaries to attend and organises different activities and themes for each session.
Isabella works Tuesday evenings.