Self Help Services Staff
Nicky Lidbetter
Chief Officer
chiefofficer@selfhelpservices.org.uk
Nicky is the founder of Self Help Services. She has a keen interest in agoraphobia and panic disorder, and has a background in applied neuroscience.
Nicky’s extensive career in mental health has included serving as non executive director of Manchester Mental Health & Social Care NHS Trust and prior to this, Manchester Mental Health Partnership; occupying the post of director of the charitable company ‘Anxiety Disorders Conference’ – with responsibility for organizing national mental health conferences. Alongside her work with Self Help Services, Nicky is also Chief Executive of a national anxiety disorders charity, Anxiety UK. She has an MSc in Advanced Practice Interventions in Mental Health (Primary Care) from the University of Manchester and also serves as a non-legal member for the Ministry of Justice with responsibility for hearing Employment Tribunal Claims.
Nicky sits on a range of strategic, national and regional boards including the Improving Access to Psychological Therapies (IAPT) North West Oversight Board. In 2010 she was nominated for the post of Chair of Manchester’s Mental Health Provider Engagement Group and has subsequently chaired meetings for providers of mental health services across Manchester.
In 2010, Nicky was awarded ‘Citizen of the Year’ at the ‘Manchester Be Proud’ Awards for services to the people and communities of Manchester.
Jo Walby
Operations Manager
opsmanager@selfhelpservices.org.uk
Jo joined Self Help Services in April 2010 as Operations Manager. Her background is 15 year’s corporate experience as primary contact to customers– responsible for creation and delivery of projects and services. Personal experience of depression and anxiety led Jo to change career direction and Jo is committed to working in mental health to help improve access to services, supporting service users and ‘helping people to help themselves’. Jo is responsible for ensuring the effective and efficient running of the services we deliver – Community Services, Psychological Therapies and computerised CBT.
Nic Seccombe
Performance & Infomatics Lead
nic.seccombe@selfhelpservices.org.uk
Nic has a scientific background and worked for five years as a researcher in experimental physics. Through his own experiences of anxiety and depression he became interested in mental health.
During a period of high anxiety he started attending many of the drop-in self-help groups run by Self Help Services, which he found to be crucial in facilitating his recovery. In 2007 Nick joined Self Help Services’ staff team, coordinating a new computerised Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (cCBT) service in the Zion Centre. He has personal experience of using CBT techniques in his own mental health self-management therefore feels that it is important to improve people’s access to the therapy.
The success of the Zion centre cCBT project led Self Help Services to be commissioned to establish, develop and manage additional cCBT services in other locations in Greater Manchester. Nick now has the role of cCBT manager, overseeing all of Self Help Services’ cCBT operations, working closely with the coordinators of the individual services. Nick’s interests include socialising, reading history books and watching baseball games.
Carly Hobson
Community Services Manager
communityservices@selfhelpservices.org.uk
Carly joined Self Help Services in November 2011. She has years of experience of working and volunteering in the charity sector in a wide variety of roles, and has a particularly strong background in fundraising, campaigning, community projects and volunteer management. She has a Masters degree in Social Change and Activism and is passionate about the user-led aspect of community services.
Carly’s role is to oversee the delivery and development of community services such as our drop in support groups for those affected by anxiety disorders and depression and structured courses such as Emotional Resilience.
Carly’s interests include hula hooping, yoga, knitting and festivals.
Hannah Paskin
Specialist Services and Project Manager
hannah.paskin@selfhelpservices.org.uk
Hannah has a musical background having studied music for 5 years at University and performed for over 15 years. Following completion of University, Hannah returned to her hometown of Stoke-on-Trent and began working at the local Community Drug Service. During this job, Hannah found her passion for working with vulnerable adults, and began pursuing this as a career. She spent a couple of years working with offenders experiencing drug and alcohol addiction both in the community and in a rehabilitation centre. Following this, Hannah decided to train in mental health and began work as a Psychological Wellbeing Practitioner in Stoke-on-Trent.
Hannah moved to a role in Manchester with Self Help Services in September 2010. Since joining the organisation, Hannah has provided input into a number of services in the charity, working as a Senior Psychological Wellbeing Practitioner, helping to set up a number of new services, managing the Manchester IAPT service, and is now the Specialist Services and Projects Manager for Self Help Services. Hannah has a passion for making services available to everyone and breaking down barriers. Hannah’s interests include attending music festivals, socialising, watching American TV dramas, and reading.
Tabitha Jones
Manchester Clinical Services Manager
tabitha.jones@selfhelpservices.org.uk
Tabitha joined Self Help Services in November 2011 as Clinical Services Manager, Manchester. Her background is varied, having experiences in retail, banking and social housing. After struggling to receive positive support for her own depression, Tabitha embarked on training to become a counsellor, training in Person Centred Cognitive Behavioural and Psychodynamic approaches and has enjoyed working in this field for the past five years.
As well as being a counsellor, Tabitha is a trained Psychological Wellbeing Practitioner (PWP), and her current role is to support a team of PWPs in their delivery of the Manchester Psychological Wellbeing Service (see the “Psychological Therapies” in the “Services” section of our website), as well as promoting recovery and improving access to a range of psychological services across Manchester.
Tabitha enjoys baking, has an interest in home design and criminology and has recently taken up archery as a hobby.
Danny Hulme
cCBT Manager
danny.hulme@selfhelpservices.org.uk
Danny joined Self Help Services as a volunteer facilitator in 1998. He soon developed an interest in Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT) for the treatment of affective disorders and in 2004 qualified with a BSc in Psychology. During this time he developed the first structured CBT course for the organisation which proved to be an effective way of devlivering CBT therapy.
After taking some time out to work in France, he rejoined Self Help Services in 2009 as the Salford cCBT Coordinator before moving on to manage the CBT Service.
He is very passionate about mental health and believes with the right help, that anyone can overcome their difficulties. Danny’s interests include running, music, languages and travel.
Gareth Merga
Halton and St Helens Clinical Services Manager
gareth.merga@selfhelpservices.org.uk
Gareth joined Self Help Services in December 2011 as Clinical Services Manager for Halton and St Helens. Gareth has more than seven years of experience in delivering psychological therapies for depression and anxiety and has trained and worked as both a Primary Care Graduate Mental Health Worker and as a High Intensity Cognitive Behavioural Therapist. He has been involved in the IAPT programme from it’s inception and helped with setting up IAPT services in Salford and Stoke-on-Trent, which was the first IAPT service in the country to be commissioned for a third sector provider. He has a strong belief in the power of talking therapies to help people to help themselves.
Gareth’s current role is to support a team of PWPs and HITs in their delivery of the Halton and St Helens IAPT service (see “Psychological Therapies” in the “Services” section of our website), as well as promoting recovery and improving access to a range of psychological services across the North West.
Gareth enjoys the outdoors, reading, foreign films and playing bass.
Self Help Services Trustees
As part of the Big Life Group, Self Help Services is overseen by a Board of Trustees which manages all three of The Big Life group’s charities (Self Help Services, Big Life Centres and The Big Issue in the North Trust). The Boards meet quarterly and receive reports on progress to targets and financial performance. In 2004, following an audit of the governance arrangements, the Boards adopted the standards of the Combined Code of Practice.
Mark Fitzgibbon – Chair
Fay Selvan
Angela Young
Robert Ritchie
Adrian Jennings
Iphigenia Papoulia
Click here for more information about our Board of Trustees
