Empowering People Through Staff Networks - Chris Sutton and Pheobe Lionakis, Healthy Minds at Leeds City Council
Chris Sutton is a Leadership Partnerships Manager within Children and Families Directorate at Leeds City Council. Chris led the council’s peer to peer support group, Healthy Minds, for 3 ½ years, exponentially increasing the membership of the group along with the Corporate Leadership Team’s focus on mental wellbeing. Outside of work, Chris has started his own podcast called Mental Conversations, where he takes a light hearted look at some of the challenges of trying to make ourselves mentally healthy.Phoebe is on the Leeds City Council Graduate Programme and currently works in the Child Friendly Leeds Team within the Children and Families Directorate. Phoebe is very passionate about mental health, due to her personal experience with her Bipolar and PTSD diagnoses. Consequently, she founded and was President of an award winning mental health campaigning society at university, called UKC Student Minds. After joining the council, Phoebe became a member of the Healthy Minds Steering Group, before becoming one of the Vice Chairs. She has since become a certified mental health first aider.