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Who are we?

David Scoffield

David moved to Dorking from London in 2013 and has become active in a variety of community projects in the area.  

After completing a degree in fine arts David’s career took him into a range of community development projects and third sector organisations where he developed a particular interest in mental health.  With over 20 years experience of working for a local Mind Association David has worked as a practitioner and in senior management roles with particular interests in employment support, social enterprise, ecotherapy, service development, quality management, income generation and sustainable healthcare.  

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With personal experience of supporting family members experiencing mental health issues, David is committed to service user empowerment and involvement at all levels of the project.

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David remains connected to the world of arts through work as a trustee of The Portland Sculpture and Quarry Trust and as an occasional broadcaster and promoter of live music events.

Susan McGrath

Susan has lived in Dorking for the past three years with her partner and has two sons.

She started her career as a scientist working in the pharmaceutical and IT sectors.  After the birth of her first son and whilst living in Tokyo she became directly acquainted with the distress of postnatal depression.  On her return to the UK she trained as a counsellor and psychotherapist and worked at the University of Surrey for 9 years supporting staff and students in the Centre for Wellbeing.  She is now running her own private practice in Surrey working with adolescents, adults and couples.  She also teaches self-development courses and supervises trainee counsellors for two psychotherapy training organisations in London.

Chris Crook (CBAP, PMP)

Chris has lived in Dorking for more than 25 years, is married with 2 children, and suffers from mental illness.

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He works fulltime as a Business Analyst and Project Manager, and has over 35 years’ experience in IT, 20 years of which was running his own software consultancy.

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He is very active in Surrey having volunteered with the police (Special Constable), sports clubs (PR Officer BJA Surrey and Hon Secretary of MVDC Sports Council) and the carer’s organisations Carers UK (Carers Ambassador) and Action for Carers Surrey (Trustee).  At his work place in Essex he chairs a Carers Network with over 60 members.

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Chris has trained as a First Aider and more recently as a Mental Health First Aider.  He has also completed a 2 day Applied Suicide Intervention Skills Training (ASIST).  

Sally Elias

Born in London, Sally has lived in Dorking and district all her adult life and is proud and grateful to be an active part of the Dorking community scene. A secondary school teacher for most of that time (with the odd year out trying to escape) she is keenly aware of the increasing need for earlier intervention for young people facing mental health challenges. She has always been a strong advocate of creating resilience in young people through the PSHE programmes in schools. Sally practices mindfulness as part of her coping mechanism for periodic bouts of depression.

She has a Stress and Health Management Diploma, a PARKES Inner Child Therapy qualification and is also an NLP master practitioner. Having raised two children herself Sally would love to see a space created locally where young people could feel safe sharing their worries and fears before they become debilitating.

Jeff Zie

Jeff has lived in the Dorking area with his wife and son for over 13 years, and has benefitted from therapy for depression in that time.

As a businessman, Jeff has held senior strategy and management positions at Electronic Arts, BSkyB, Microsoft and Emap. He has successfully led and run multimillion dollar P&Ls, built and managed international businesses in both corporate and start-up environments.

As well as being a Board Advisor, Angel Investor and business founder, Jeff is active in various voluntary mentoring and advisory roles, including University of Arts London's Artquest programme and Google Campus London.

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Get the T-Shirt!

We designed some nice gear so that you can show folk that you support what we're doing - and each with each sale, the profit goes towards providing and subsidising more Mental Health First Aid Training! (Plus, they're printed in the UK on organic, ethically-sourced garments.)