Lord Stevenson announced as Patron of Suffolk Mind

Dennis Stevenson (The Lord Stevenson of Coddenham CBE) has today been announced as the first Patron of independent mental health charity, Suffolk Mind.

Dennis, who is a serial entrepreneur and has also chaired large companies such as Pearson, HBOS and GPA, is a long time mental health campaigner as a result of his own experience of depression.

He said: “I jumped at the opportunity of helping Suffolk Mind.  It is for me a happy coincidence that one of the leading organisations in the UK concerned with mental health happens to be based in my wife’s home county where we live part of the time.  I look forward to helping Suffolk Mind and its service users in any way I can.”

Dennis was the Founding Chair of MQ: Transforming Mental Health, a charity which supports research in mental health. He also led – alongside the CEO of Mind nationally, Paul Farmer – an independent review into workplace mental health commissioned by the Prime Minister in 2017. The report, Thriving at Work, looks at how employers can better support all employees, including those with poor mental health, remain in and thrive at work. The Government has announced that it will implement all 14 recommendations.

Jon Neal, Chief Executive of Suffolk Mind said: “We are so pleased to have Dennis on board as our Patron.

“The work he conducted for the Government with Paul Farmer around workplace wellbeing chimes very loudly with our own approach and strategy. We believe cultural change and a focus on prevention is the best way to maximise returns on investment in mental health.

“Dennis will help us in achieving our mission of making Suffolk the best place in the world for talking about and taking care of mental health.”