An introduction to our board of trustees

Cornwall Mind’s board of trustees is responsible for overseeing all of the work we do as a charity.

The board is accountable for everything we do, including setting our strategic direction, scrutinising our performance and supporting and empowering our CEO.

The board is made up of individual trustees, all of whom bring their own particular skills, knowledge and expertise to ensure that our organisation is running efficiently, effectively and to the high standards expected as a registered charity and company.

We aim to have a board that reflects our diverse communities and most of our trustees have lived experience of mental health problems. Find out more about our current trustees below.

Chris Morse

Chris is a chartered legal executive with over 14 years’ experience as a qualified lawyer, specialising in employment law for the last 9 years.

Chris trained with a local firm in Penzance before relocating to Exeter in 2008 to join Stephens Scown LLP.

Jumping at the chance to return home to Cornwall in 2015 (transferring to Stephen Scown’s Truro office), Chris credits time spent amongst the natural beauty of the Cornish landscape as invaluable at times of high stress or low mental health. It’s his lived experience of mental health challenges that drew him to Cornwall Mind and drives his passion as a trustee.

Chris also sits on the Board of Miracle Theatre, and whilst not one to ‘tread the boards’ himself, he is in awe of the creativity of the people he works alongside at Miracle.

Outside of work, Chris devotes his spare time to enjoying quality time with his fiancée and his son and daughter.

Demelza Todd - Vice Chair

Demelza joined the then Carrick Mind nearly 20 years ago as a volunteer to do one to one befriending. Since then she has been a volunteer at various wellbeing groups, helped with telephone befriending and enjoys visiting our groups and activities around the county.

Demelza is a retired teacher and over the years has been busy locally with Truro City Council and other charities such as fundraising for Cornwall Hospice Care and the Rotary.

She’s been a trustee and vice chair for over 10 years and was part of the merger of the two local Mind’s in Cornwall to create Cornwall Mind.

Her hobbies and interests include sailing, walking and spending time with her grown up children and grandchildren.

Andy Jago

Andy joined Cornwall Mind in 2022, after previously working as a health consultant for an international IT company providing solutions for social and health care organizations. Prior to this he worked for over 28 years within the NHS as a mental health nurse, senior manager and clinical lead for health services across mental health and acute hospital setting.

Joining Cornwall Mind has enabled him to link in and support governance programmes around the use of IT, with a focus that this use supports staff to provide excellent care and support.

Diana Smith

Diana has been a trustee with Restormel Mind and now, after merging, Cornwall Mind for over 5 years. She volunteered with outdoor activities and was also part of a joint music project between Restormel Mind and Wadebridge Creative Hub, where she was a director.

She continues to volunteer with the Cornwall Mind music group at Bodmin.

Diana is retired, but her professional background includes production work in BBC radio and television, and freelance writing.

Life experiences convince Diana that Mind is needed as both a campaigning and practical force. Her ambition is to see Cornwall Mind establish itself as an independent organisation that can support and empower people throughout Cornwall living with mental health challenges.

Zara Mason

Zara currently works for Cornwall Council within housing development. Before that she worked in a variety of posts in both private and public sector, in particular specialising in property, housing and NHS commissioning.

Zara is a qualified counsellor and previously worked for the Samaritans.

Anne Jeffery - Chair

Following a career working overseas in personal development, Anne returned home to Cornwall in 2017 and now works as a mentor within the charity sector and as an advisor with Citizens Advice.

She became Chair of Cornwall Mind in 2021 and is delighted to be working alongside a board of enthusiastic and committed trustees who are passionate about the growth of mental health support services around the county.

Spare time is spent walking with her dog on the coast path and sailing.

David Craddock

David Craddock has had a career in higher education and international businesses. He was previously CEO of High-Performance Computing Wales, a university joint venture. He has also been a director of two manufacturing SMEs and was an international business development manager with a Unilever fragrance and flavour business.

David has been a trustee of a mental health charity in Shropshire, a school governor, a mentor of entrepreneurs starting up new businesses in Birmingham, and a non-executive director of an agricultural consultancy business.

David and his wife Nicola moved to Cornwall in 2020 and is a trustee with the Exeter University Student Guild, a director of the Duchy of Cornwall Nansledan Management Company, and a van driver for the Newquay Foodbank.

David plays golf, enjoys classical music, and is a keen gardener and organic vegetable grower.

Jon Gladstone

Jon has worked in mental health for over 35 years and was a mental health nurse for over 20 of those years working in psychiatric inpatient units, community teams and mental health day resource centres. He has been involved with Mind, both nationally and locally, for over 16 years both as a trustee, a manager and a Mind Quality Mark (MQM) reviewer.

Jon is now retired and enjoys walking, reading and relaxing.

Photo of Kate

Kate Price

Kate has 25 years of HR and industry experience in a variety of global and national businesses including Boots, Unilever and more recently in St Austell Brewery. She is passionate about helping organisations to build positive cultures in which their employees can thrive and fulfil their potential. 

Kate’s relocation to Cornwall, where her husband was born, took place during 2021 and she has thoroughly enjoyed making her new home here with her two daughters. It is her own lived experience of mental health, as well as her experience working as an HR professional, that has motivated her to join Cornwall Mind. She is already incredibly impressed by the meaningful work that the charity does and looks forward to finding ways to support this further.    

Kate is also a trustee at the St Austell Brewery charitable trust and Morvah Schoolhouse, in between St Just and St Ives, both which are thriving charities making a positive difference to their local communities.

Outside of work, Kate loves to spend quality time with her family and friends, focusing on her own wellbeing where she can. This includes spending time outdoors, running, doing yoga and wild swimming. 

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Deborah Stainer

Deborah worked as a town planner for 10 years, before retraining as a teacher in 2001. She has worked in education since then, and for the last 5 years was head of governance in two diocesan multi academy trusts, and brings her governance, strategic and policy experience to her role as a trustee.

Having recently retired, Deborah now spends her time engaged in voluntary and charity work, particularly focused on supporting mental health and wellbeing, and she is in the process of training in counselling skills.

She enjoys painting seascapes, sailing, sea swimming and walks every day to take advantage of the therapeutic environment on her doorstep. She has two grown up children and has just become a grandma for the first time!

Photo of Jade

Jade Houghton

Jade has a background in mental health, having been a counsellor for several years and also having her own lived experience. She also currently works for a mental health charity.

In her spare time Jade likes spending time outdoors with her husband and two children, running, cycling and reading.

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