Dave Cartlidge has over 14 years experience in supported and special needs housing, formerly as Area Manager for a Housing Trust which specialises in the accommodation and resettlement of ex-offenders, including problem and dependent drug users.

Elizabeth Hamilton works as an independent trainer and advisor, offering a range of courses based on her 23 years of experience of working for both social services and the independent sector. She has been responsible for the development of new services and monitoring of contracts in the independent sector.

Fiona Venner is a freelance trainer who has worked with self harm in a number of settings during the last 14 years. Fiona is currently the manager of the Leeds Survivor Led Crisis Service, which supports people in acute mental health crisis at the point of crisis; many of whom self harm. Fiona has also been the Deputy Chief Executive of Leeds Mind for four years, worked with homeless people with mental health problems in London and managed the Suicide and Self Harm Project of 42nd Street, a service for young people in Manchester. Fiona volunteers as a therapist at the Leeds Women's Counselling and Therapy Service as part of a Person Centred psychotherapy training.

Gillian Wainman is an experienced consultant of eighteen years standing, working for the statutory, voluntary and private sectors.   She is a qualified member of the Institute for Personnel Development. Her extensive experience includes designing and delivering work with individuals, teams and organisations at every level around the issues of violence and aggression. 

Guy Smith, who is a qualified social worker currently working in Leeds, also has extensive experience in mental health in the voluntary sector and managed a residential project and a supported housing project with group homes and single tenancies. He has worked as a community support worker with the hard-to-place mentally ill who exhibited challenging behaviour. 

Heather Levene was an equality policy adviser for a local authority for 5 years. For the last 15 years she has worked in further education and higher education. Currently running a FE teacher training course, she has also taught on tenant participation and access to higher education courses and was the college's Gender Equality officer. She is highly commited to the development of strategies to address inequality and has had many years of experience of trying to put policy into practice.