Meet the team

About the College

We recognise that people are expert in their own wellbeing and recovery. Our FREE wellbeing courses help people over the age of 18 in Hertfordshire to better manage their wellbeing. People with mental and/or physical health challenges help to create and deliver our courses. Our courses are produced with a focus on mental health recovery and help to increase knowledge, skills and promote self-management. Our courses are taught in a friendly and relaxed environment and allow people to connect. You can find out more about recovery, recovery colleges and co-production on our about recovery page.

The core principles of the College are:

Partnership and co-production
Educational: encouraging self-management
Strengths-based and person-centred
For everyone: people with health challenges, their relatives/carers, and staff
Helps people identify and reach their own goals.

The College aims to foster hope, optimism and control, enabling people to strengthen and self-manage their mental health and recovery.

College Objectives are to:

Co-produce all aspects of the College
Provide a safe place to learn new skills and expand on existing ones through connectedness with others.
Provide an environment that enables creative thinking of all.
Maintain performance and quality by providing an ethos of reflection and ensuring learning for all.

About recovery

Our team

	Alex Lived-Experience Tutor Alex supports the delivery of our courses. Alex is a music enthusiast and brings the courses to life by sharing about his lived-experience and the tools he used to manage his personal recovery. Read more about Alex's experiences as a lived experience tutor and why he finds this role fulfilling.
	Alison Team Administrator Alison sits at the heart of the team and is involved in all areas of the college, supporting the team with general project administration and ensuring the efficient running of the office.
	Chris College Registrar Chris is the College registrar and is the friendly voice you will most often hear when you call the college. Chris is responsible for managing student enrollments and the college database. We often hear Chris advising students about what courses would best aid their recovery journey too.
	Dawn College Development Manager Dawn is committed to developing person-centred recovery-oriented services from a lived experience perspective. Dawn is responsible for supporting the involvement of people who use services, their carers and partners in the design, delivery and review of services to achieve best quality outcomes and service provision. Dawn is passionate about using her experiences to bring about change to services and enjoys delivering College courses to staff and College students. Read more about Dawn and how she plans to use her lived experience to help shape the College.
	Geoff Student development Lead Geoff oversees our student development programme and helps students to engage with involvement opportunities at the college.
	Joining us soon Lead Tutor As Dawn steps up from Deputy Manager to College Development Manager, a new Lead Tutor will be joining the College very soon.
	Joanna Student development co-ordinator Joanna oversees our student development programme and helps students to engage with involvement opportunities at the college. Joanna has worked within mental health for a number of years and provides a supportive ear for students who want to build their confidence and fulfil their goals.
	Judith Team Administrator Judith sits at the heart of the team and is involved in all areas of the college, supporting the team with general project administration and ensuring the efficient running of the office.
	Karen Tutor Karen has supported people experiencing mental challenges for over 20 years. Her background is in counselling. She is an artist and has used art to provide people with a creative outlet. She ran the first course with the college and continues to be a tutor supporting the development of the college and delivering wellbeing courses.
	Louisa Marketing and Communications Officer Louisa is the college’s social media guru with responsibility for marketing, from producing content for the website to designing the timetable. Louisa has worked across a number of sectors and roles, including HR, finance and events and has a degree in Marketing.
	Practice tutors, lived experience tutors and student council Practice tutors have specialist subject knowledge, and lived experience tutors have personal experience of using recovery focused practices to manage their own mental health and wellbeing. Some of our lived experience tutors also make up the student council. These together support our courses to ensure students have a quality learning experience. If you are a student and would like to explore getting involved, please call 01442 864966 or contact us. You may also like to read aboout the student development programme.